Ancient Jewish Food for Modern Times

Hey GOLDA gang! 

I hope your Seders were great. I’m pleased to report that our toddler Seder was a chaotic and beautiful success. Sure, there was no ketchup for the extremely dry K4P chicken nuggets, and none of the tables were set up when guests arrived, and we definitely piled in more people than our apartment could fit, but it felt authentic and unpolished the way a kid-filled holiday should. Our friends all stepped up, bringing brisket and tahdig and wine and dessert from Breads Bakery, and gamely helped us clean up. Later that night, as I rinsed an entire rainbow of Le Creuset cookware belonging to friends, I realized that this is exactly what community looks like. 

It was also a chance for my three-year-old daughter Edith to get excited about putting our own spin on a Jewish ritual. Together she and I made and printed an “extremely abridged” Haggadah that included Recustom’s coloring book Haggadah pages plus a few thoughtful resources that her nursery school sent around. Inspired by Ariel Stein’s Passover Hotline advice, we set up the kids table (a rental that came with the cutest tiny banquet chairs) as a craft table at first, with placemats to color and Ten Plague paper bag puppets to decorate. 

When it was time for the Seder, we muted the Masters Tournament and loaded the kids table with matzo pizza and grape juice. Our elementary school ringers helped with the prayers, one of Edith’s friends did the Four Questions, and another deftly dipped his pinky in a tiny cup of grape juice for each of the plagues. It was adorable.  

We’re now in a period known as Chol HaMoed, or the “intermediate” days of Passover. They’re not as holy as the first and last two days of Passover, which are shut-your-phone-off holidays for observant Jews, but there is a sense of heightened spirituality and meaning during this time. It feels fitting to feature my interview with Ethiopian Israeli chef Beejhy Barhany today. Talking with her was a reminder of all the best Jewish values–hospitality, generosity, and caring for those around you. I’ve been thinking about our conversation—and the delicious plate of Ethiopian food she served me—ever since I left her restaurant last week. 

Beejhy Barhany is an Ethiopian-born and Israeli-raised chef who runs Tsion Cafe, a kosher, vegan, and organic restaurant in Harlem. Her fantastic new cookbook, Gursha, features tastes of all the places she’s called home.  

But first, here’s my interview with Beejhy. 

I hate to talk while eating, but you just whipped up the most beautiful spread for me. Will you tell GOLDA readers about the amazingness that I’m eating right now?

You are eating sambusas, which are filled with nice, mild brown lentil. Sambusa is a pocket food filled with deliciousness. You can do collard greens, you can do meat, you can do chicken, whatever you want.

And on the platter hare, the base is injera, the traditional Ethiopian flatbread. On it we have an array of stews such as collard greens, cabbage, the ancient and famous red lentil stew, and, of course, organic mixed greens. You rip a small morsel and you feed yourself. That act is called gursha: you take a bite and you either feed yourself or feed somebody else. Gursha is feeding, loving, caring, and nurturing. 

Gursha is also the name of your new cookbook, which we will get to! But it's special to be here for a number of reasons today, right before Passover. One of the theories of how Judaism got to Ethiopia goes all the way back to Moses. So it feels very powerful to be here right now.

It's very ancient. There are different stories and legends, but one of them is in the Midrash, in Sefer HaYashar. It says that when Moses fled Egypt after he killed the Egyptian taskmaster, he went to Ethiopia and married an Ethiopian princess, and he ruled there for 40 years.

That's the interaction, and it is believed that the Hebraic or Israelite traditions came around that time to Ethiopia. So we've been practicing those biblical traditions from around that time, if not before.

I feel like when we think about diaspora, a lot of us think about a place like New York. But the Beta Israel community in Ethiopia, that’s a major diaspora.

The Jewish diaspora comes from many tribes. We are diverse. We have Ethiopian Jews, we have Yemenite Jews, we have Indian Jews, we have Nigerian Jews, we have Ghanaian Jews. That's all part of the Jewish diaspora. 

Ashkenazi Jews might think that they are the only Jews…

We really do! [Laughing] 

But it's not the case. We thought we were the only Jews as well! We have to build a better understanding by accepting everybody. 

What distinguishes Jewish Ethiopian food from the broader Ethiopian cuisine?

There is no difference, none at all whatsoever. Ethiopian cuisine is more Hebraic Jewish than anything else. 

We spoke about Moses. So imagine, we're talking about ancient biblical time, that cuisine is almost the same today. Even the story of the red lentils: this is what Jacob cooked and Esau ate.  

These lentils are so good. It’s like, I get why he gave up his birthright for them. You write in the cookbook that there are only three things you need to cook Ethiopian food. Tell us what they are. 

To have a basic Ethiopian flavor, if you do onion, garlic, and ginger, you're good to go. 

If you want to make something mild and light, like a yellow split pea stew, what you need is onion, garlic, ginger, and turmeric. If you want to add a little bit of spice, you slice a couple of jalapenos and you throw it in. But the base, the foundation, is those three ingredients. 

If you want to make something more on the spicy and hearty side, like a spicy red stew, you need the spice blend, which is called berbere. I keep my recipe to 10 to 12 spices, with the main ingredient being chili pepper. You can add paprika, coriander, cardamom, ginger, all powder. You sift it all together and you have a nice mix you can drizzle over a fish or sprinkle it on roast vegetables. Once you have this spice blend, you’re introducing your household to some nice Ethiopian flavor. 

I try to make it very accessible. You can go and get about eight ounces of each ingredient and mix them together, and you have a nice mix that you can rub, roast, or saute with. And if you don't feel like doing it, you can buy it online from my store.

Your new cookbook, Gursha, is the first Ethiopian Jewish cookbook, right? 

This is the first Ethiopian Jewish or even Ethiopian cookbook by a major publisher. I hope I’m not the last! People all over the world need to be exposed to these delicious and ancient flavors. There is a lot more to explore and learn about. This is just a glimpse, a window into my rich community and our rich heritage, tradition, and flavors. And I hope I did justice to my people.

Gursha features “timeless recipes for modern kitchens from Ethiopia, Israel, Harlem, and beyond.” What are the places and influences that this book represents? 

This book is basically an autobiography of myself. These are the foods and flavors and aromas that shaped me throughout my journey, throughout my life. Of course, you have the base, the foundation of the Ethiopian flavors, such as the berbere spice mix recipe and the traditional doro wat. 

Then I'm going to take you down to Sudan, where I lived for almost three years. You're going to get the delicious quick donuts, called luquaimat, and the fava beans that I ate as a kid in Sudan. Then we're going to travel to Uganda and Kenya, that's where I ate a lot of papayas, mangos, and pineapples. 

And from there we finally arrive in Israel. You're going to see the malawach that I ate with my Yemenite neighbor, and the matbucha or the schnitzel that I ate there.  

Then we get to New York. Harlem, where I live and run my restaurant, is the melting pot of the world with the deliciousness of food we have here. We have cornbread on a skillet, and cocktails that honor different giants that walked through those very doors throughout the Harlem Renaissance.

This idea of gursha, of really nurturing and caring for other people, it feels like a way of life for you, beyond just hospitality or running a restaurant. 

It is foundational within my culture. You have to take care, you know? 

And you're doing that in this beautiful, modern way. You’re bringing that energy and that spirit to your restaurant, and to this cookbook. It's a way of life that seems so ripe for this moment where we feel disconnected in the modern world.

This is something that I was immersed in. It's in my DNA. It's who I am.

I love that. The book came out this week, and you’re doing a ton of events. I saw one of them was at the James Beard House, where you literally fed people. I feel like for people who have never experienced that, it must have been so special.

Oh, I think so. I think it changed their life and their approach towards food and what it can do. They didn't know anybody across the table when they got there, and I asked each of them to introduce themselves and share something. And by the end of the night, people couldn't stop talking.

My dream is to have a humongous table in Times Square, where we invite people from all walks of life. Let's come share a meal and have a dialogue. Is it possible?

That’s amazing. I want to be there when you do that. 

I think food is a wonderful tool to engage with people. Whatever prejudice, misunderstanding, misconception, or stereotype you have, once you engage with someone over delicious food, all those walls and barriers will eventually break. 

Thanks to Beejhy Barhany for welcoming me into Tsion Cafe and feeding me the most delicious meal, and to GOLDA contributor Gabriella Gershenson for connecting us. 

We’ll be back in your inbox on Friday with some Jewish wedding gift advice (we’re entering high season, people!).

Stay GOLDA, 

Stephanie