Info about Passover
Passover Cuisine
Passover is one of the most important festivals for the Jews. It has a big significance in Judaism as it commemorates the Exodus of Hebrews from the Pharaoh’s rule in Egypt. There were some significant things that took place around that time and modern Jews recreate the same even today during the week long Passover festival. One of the striking things is the cuisine. There are specific Passover dishes that are prepared during this time.
• History behind Passover
According to the Exodus narration, to force the Pharaoh to release the Hebrews from his slavery God cursed the land with ten plagues. The last among them was the death to the firstborns both in man and animals. However, the Hebrews were asked to mark their doors with the blood of a spring lamb. So when God’s spirit came to kill the first born and saw the blood cross, it would skip or pass over that house. Hence the name of the festival.
Another important thing that happened during that occurred during that time was that in the eagerness of getting released from the clutches of the Pharaoh, the Hebrews did not bake the bread properly. Hence the bread they ate did not rise and it was flat. This bread is called the matzo. This is the most significant aspect of Passover Cuisine.
• Some great Passover Dishes
As stated above the most important aspect of Passover is the unleavened bread. So during the entire festival no one is allowed to eat regular bread, all must consume jut flat bread to commemorate the Exodus and the tenacity of the Jews over the centuries.
Most of the popular Passover dishes have matzo as an important ingredient with meat and vegetables. Given below are some popular dishes prepared specially for Passover
• Matzo Ball Soup: This is a great appetizer that is quite popular during Passover. Typically it consists of balls made with matzo and delicious spices like parsley and onions cooked in chicken broth. There are many variations to this dish. Typically the fat used to cook the matzo balls is chicken fat but there are vegetable oils and margarine alternatives too. However butter is never used and Jew’s cooking laws do not allow mixing milk or milk products with meat. You can also get fat free matzo ball soups if you are calorie conscious.
• Passover Pizza: This is probably one of the modern variations of Passover is quite popular with the kids. To prepare the Passover Pizza apply a thin layer of marinara sauce on matzo bread and fill it with spices, vegetables and cover it with cheese. . Once baked you have delicious pizza. Again, as per the Jewish law Passover Pizzas are strictly vegetarian with no meat due to presence of cheese.
These are two simple dishes you can make for this Passover and impress your family as well ass guests. Of course there are many more delicious dishes that you can prepare and if you look online you can get details on the dishes and the recipe.