Tara (Kavkazi Beef and Chard Soup)
Ingredients
- 1 pound hearty greens, such as mallow or Swiss chard, rinsed and dried
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
- 1 pound ground beef or lamb
- ½ bunch cilantro, cleaned and coarsely chopped
- 3½ cups boiling water
- ½ tablespoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin (optional)
- ½ cup short grain white rice
- Matzo, broken into bite-sized pieces, for serving
Chudo (Kavkazi Flatbread Stuffed With Pumpkin)
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 1 pound (3⅓ cups) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1½ to 1¾ cups lukewarm water
For the filling:
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (or canola oil for a parve or dairy-free version)
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- ¼ teaspoon whole cumin seeds
- 2 pounds peeled and coarsely grated (about 8 cups) fresh pumpkin (or butternut squash if fresh pumpkin is unavailable)
- 3 ounces (⅔ cups) shelled walnuts, finely ground in a food processor
- Kosher salt, to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, for brushing (or canola oil for a parve version)
Ingar Poli (Kavkazi Pasta With Walnut Sauce)
Ingredients
For the sauces:
- 2 ounces (⅓ cup) walnuts
- 2 teaspoons water
- Kosher salt, to taste
- ½ cup dried sulfured apricots, soaked in hot water for 30 minutes
For the dough:
- 1 bunch chives, finely chopped (about ½ cup)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
Tara (Kavkazi Beef and Chard Soup)
Ingredients
- 1 pound hearty greens, such as mallow or Swiss chard, rinsed and dried
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
- 1 pound ground beef or lamb
- ½ bunch cilantro, cleaned and coarsely chopped
- 3½ cups boiling water
- ½ tablespoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin (optional)
- ½ cup short grain white rice
- Matzo, broken into bite-sized pieces, for serving
Chudo (Kavkazi Flatbread Stuffed With Pumpkin)
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 1 pound (3⅓ cups) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1½ to 1¾ cups lukewarm water
For the filling:
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (or canola oil for a parve or dairy-free version)
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- ¼ teaspoon whole cumin seeds
- 2 pounds peeled and coarsely grated (about 8 cups) fresh pumpkin (or butternut squash if fresh pumpkin is unavailable)
- 3 ounces (⅔ cups) shelled walnuts, finely ground in a food processor
- Kosher salt, to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, for brushing (or canola oil for a parve version)
Ingar Poli (Kavkazi Pasta With Walnut Sauce)
Ingredients
For the sauces:
- 2 ounces (⅓ cup) walnuts
- 2 teaspoons water
- Kosher salt, to taste
- ½ cup dried sulfured apricots, soaked in hot water for 30 minutes
For the dough:
- 1 bunch chives, finely chopped (about ½ cup)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
Read more about Alona Eisenberg in “Finding a Route to the Kavkaz Mountains in the Kitchen” and try her recipes for ingar poli (Kavkazi pasta with walnut sauce), kurze (Kavkazi beef-filled dumplings with garlic vinegar), and chudo (Kavkazi flatbread stuffed with pumpkin).
When Alona Eisenberg was growing up in Makhachkala, a city in Dagestan along the western coast of the Caspian Sea, there was a large community of Kavkazi or mountain Jews in the region. Her family lived in that community, but largely as secular Jews. “I didn’t know at all [about] Shabbat,” she says. “The only Jewish holiday I knew was Pesach.”
Before the holiday, her family would visit a rabbi, who was also a shochet (a person who slaughters meat according to Kosher tradition and laws) to purchase meat for the holiday. The first night was always marked in their family with steaming bowls of tara, a soup of ground beef or lamb with rice, onions, cumin, and mallow or Swiss chard, topped with broken matzo. Alona remembers rushing to finish the soup in her bowl while the matzo was still crunchy.
Unlike other recipes cooked by Kavkazi Jews, like plump beef-filled dumplings called kurze, tara is one of the few that’s not prepared by other communities in the region. It is a uniquely Jewish dish, Alona explains. In some homes, the rice is left out or the meat is chopped instead of ground, and in Azerbaijan, Jewish families often add chestnuts to the recipe.
Alona learned to make the soup from her grandfather Matitya who raised her and her sisters after their mother died when Alona was just six-years-old. A soldier for 25 years, he was strict, an elegant dresser, and an avid tender of a vegetable garden at his dacha, or mountain cabin, where Alona would spend afternoons with him. His cooking was practical and simple.
When Alona makes tara, she says, she thinks of him.
