Traditional Foods for Breaking the Fast

Everyone has their holiday traditions, especially when it comes to food. And breaking the fast is no exception.

“Joy and relief mix together once we arrive at the break the fast following a long day in synagogue,” Rabbi Paul Kipnes of Congregation Or Ami told the Journal. “Even before I became a rabbi, I looked forward to the sumptuous spread awaiting us after Neilah. Our Kipnes-November family break-the-fasts combined delicious sweetness with tasty comfort food to refresh and renew.” 

Kipnes said his Ashkenazi family, as well as his wife’s, enjoyed bagels and cream cheese, lox and smoked whitefish and capers. Mixed in were sweet cheese blintzes with a choice of sour cream, applesauce or jam. Fresh fruit along with coffee, tea and sodas to address caffeine withdrawal, as well as an assortment of sweets, were also served. As the Kipnes-November family gathers for the break the fast, they think of their dearly departed loved ones and reminisce about past holiday gatherings. 

“Of course, I cannot confirm reports that as a high school senior, I would drive my younger siblings through the fast food drive-thru on the trip from temple back home,” Kipnes said. “But that never stopped us from piling our plates high.”

For Chef Leonardo Nourafchan of Lenny’s Casita, break the fast food is all about the memories and feelings it evokes. 

“The ultimate Jewish comfort food, chicken soup, is also the Persian Jewish comfort food of choice,” Nourafchan told the Journal. “It’s called chelloh ob gusht, and instead of serving it with knaidelach, we eat it with basmati rice and gondi and top it with dried lemon powder.”

The moment he would hear the shofar blow, signaling that the fast was over, Nourafchan knew it meant going to his grandmother’s house, where she would have a steaming pot of cheloh ob gusht ready to be served. 

“There is nothing more comforting to me to this day than the indescribable joy and simplicity of a warm bowl of chicken soup,” he said.

Chef Lenny Nourafchan’s Chelloh Ob Gusht

Ingredients
4 yellow onions
5 chicken leg quarters skinless
3 tablespoons ground turmeric
2 pounds chickpeas
Kosher salt
Black pepper
4 cups basmati rice
Dried lime powder

The Rice

• Boil the rice with a liberal amount of salt until al dente.
• Strain and cool with cold water.
• Bring the pot back to medium high heat and add 2 cups of oil and a tablespoon of turmeric, as well as a couple drops of water, to the pot.
• Scoop in the parboiled rice and poke a few holes in the rice to allow the steam to distribute evenly.
• Wrap a towel to the bottom of the lid and cover tightly.
• Cook on medium high for 15-20 min to develop the Tadig (crispy rice) while not allowing it to burn.
• Lower the heat and let cook on low for 30 min or so.
• Flip over when ready to serve
• Serve over the rice and some dried lemon powder.

Jewish Journal columnist Tabby Refael, whose family hails from Tehran, also has a strong connection to this Persian dish.

“Recently, my mother told me that her mother always served ob goosht after the Yom Kippur fast, but refused to prepare or serve khoresht (decadent Persian stew),” Refael said. “My mother never learned the reason for this, but I can only guess that my grandmother deemed it inappropriate to conclude such a serious,  solemn day with a dish as rich and fancy as khoresht. But ob goosht, on the other hand, is simpler and more modest. It embodies a wise lesson to cherish on Yom Kippur.”

A traditional break fast food roundup would not be complete without Meme Suissa’s Moroccan Harira Soup published in the Journal many years ago. This is her recipe as written down by her daughter, Kathy Shapiro. 

Meme Suissa’s Moroccan Harira Soup

2 cups diced onions
2 cups diced celery
1 cup chopped parsley
1 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon dried red chili (optional)
1-2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 cup green lentils, rinsed
1 can (15 ounce) garbanzo beans, rinsed
1 can (15 ounce) crushed tomatoes or
4 medium chopped fresh tomatoes
2 quarts or more good chicken broth*
1 egg
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup flour
4 cups cold water
3/4 cup extra fine egg noodles
Half of a cooked chicken, cubed or
shredded, white and dark meat
(from chicken used to make broth)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

• Whisk together flour and water, set aside.
• Beat egg and lemon juice, set aside.
• Heat oil and add onion, celery, cilantro, parsley, turmeric, chili (if desired) and 1 teaspoon salt.
• Sauté over medium/high heat until well-cooked and blended, about 10 minutes.
• Add 1 quart of the stock, lentils, garbanzos and tomatoes, bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat and simmer until lentils are tender but not too mushy, about 20-25 minutes.
• Add remaining stock, chicken, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon pepper and continue to simmer another 5 minutes.
• While stirring slowly, stream in egg/lemon mixture, followed by half of the flour/water mixture.
• Bring to a low boil. Stir in noodles.
• At any point, add a bit of stock, water or flour mixture to desired consistency. The soup should be hearty and somewhat thick.
• Stir in remaining 1/4 cup cilantro. Add salt to taste.

*Meme makes hers with a whole chicken, water and onion, salt and pepper, simmered for a couple of hours. For a vegetarian version, you may substitute vegetable broth and omit the chicken. That’s our suggestion, not Meme’s.