I find exploring other cultures through food an endlessly fascinating experience. And mostly, it can be done at home. Through cookbooks, blogs, social media and having a few ingredients at home.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I received Leah Koenig’s book ‘The Jewish Cookbook’ for Christmas last year (the irony of that statement is still not lost on me I promise!), and it has remained one of the books I have been reading through most since then.
Towards the back of the book, in the chapter ‘Condiments, Spices & Drinks, there are quite a number of recipes for charoset. Charoset is part of the Passover seder, it’s a mixture made of fruits with much symbolic meaning for that particular religious holiday. Like many recipes within the Jewish diaspora, the ingredients change depending on what part of the world the recipe and Jewish community live or have come from. There are six different recipes for charoset in Leah’s book, and she mentions there would be many other variations.
All of the recipes use fruit, often dried fruit with some fresh apple, some spices and some sweet red wine. Some charoset is chopped, some pureed into a smoother paste and others rolled into balls. This got me thinking - taking a bit of inspiration from each of these recipes, I could make some really nice dried fruit and nut balls. Not like those weird protein (or ‘bliss’) balls, but something really tasty made with great quality dried fruits, and spices like those used in many of these recipes.
The Kurdish Charoset recipe was rolled into balls, many of the recipes used dates and the Yemenite Charset recipe used dried figs and a great selection of spices (including ground coriander which I never would have thought of using otherwise). I was starting to create a version of my own, taking what I liked from all of these very diverse charoset recipes. I used slivered almonds as the nut inside the balls, as we always seem to have a good supply of them, and the pistachios on the outside just look so good. I substituted vanilla extract for sweet red wine, but if you are making these for Passover, you can still use the wine instead.
Often the best recipes are heavily influenced by the work of others and the foods of other cultures (and what you have in your pantry!). So these are my Passover Charoset Inspired Fig Date and Pistachio balls, that could equally be just Fig Date and Pistachio Balls ready for a nice healthy snack.
Passover Charoset Inspired Fig Date and Pistachio Balls
Ingredients:
200g black and white dried figs
110g pitted medjool dates
50g golden sultanas
50g slivered almonds, lightly toasted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
25g blanched or raw pistachios, finely chopped
Method:
Add all the ingredients, except the pistachios, to the bowl of a food processor. Blitz until all the ingredients are combined and it clumps together. The mixture does not need to be smooth. Some of the almonds will remain in chunks.
Roll into balls, then roll into the finely chopped pistachios to cover. Place on a tray and leave in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. The balls can then be stored in an airtight container in the fridge.
Makes 18-20 balls.
Reference: ‘The Jewish Cookbook’ by Leah Koenig (Phaidon Press Limited, 2019), pp.406-409.
