Kasha with Mushrooms from Hazana: Jewish Vegetarian Cooking by Paola Gavin + book review

Nutty, buttery, savoury kasha with mushrooms.
Recipe from Paola Gavin’s book Hazana: Jewish Vegetarian Cooking.

Traditional Jewish food can sometimes seem a bit meat-centric, so I was giddy with delight when I discovered this beautiful new recipe book by Paola Gavin. It’s stuffed to the gills with delectable Jewish vegetarian recipes from around the world.

The first thing I noticed about Hazana: Jewish Vegetarian Cooking, is that it is a beautiful object, as well as a useful and well-researched recipe book. The cover is decorated with stylish illustrations of vegetables, fruits, herbs and spices. These striking drawings appear throughout the book, at the start of each new chapter, alongside Jewish proverbs and interesting introductory comments. The pages are thick, matt paper which has a lovely feel as you leaf through. The whole book is weighty and impressive.

Chapter and verse

The chapters cover appetisers and salads, soups, pasta and dumplings, grains, main courses, eggs, vegetables, and desserts. There are also highly informative sections about Jewish holidays and festivities, and Jewish history and culture. These help to give the recipes context and also provide a valuable background for readers without much knowledge of Judaism or the Jewish people.

Familiar and unfamiliar

There are of course many familiar Jewish vegetarian dishes in this book, although perhaps not as many as I anticipated.  I found a great deal of new (to me!) and interesting ones. On my ‘to make’ list are Algerian tomato, onion and egg salad (Slata tomatem); Russian potato dumplings stuffed with curd cheese and chives (Pampushki); and a fantastic sounding Moroccan dish – artichoke and broad bean tajine with green olives and ginger (Tajine d’artichauts et de feves).

Beautiful illustrations

As well as the gorgeous drawings, Hazana is also illustrated with mouth-watering photographs of some of the dishes. These all entice the reader into the kitchen to get busy cooking up something delicious! 

The recipes are generally straightforward and have modest lists of ingredients. However, a few call for speciality items such as regional cheeses or slightly unusual seasonings like caraway or pomegranate molasses. With the exception of some of the cheeses, I doubt it would be too hard to search out any of the ingredients.

Eggs and dairy

Many of the recipes in Hazana call for eggs and dairy products. So while this is a great book for vegetarians, it would be less useful for vegans. And while the author notes the prohibition in kosher cooking of serving milk and meat dishes together, she has missed the opportunity to offer parve substitutions in some of the  more obvious candidates.

For instance, a potato and carrot kugel lists butter as one of the ingredients. However I suspect that many readers might want to serve this at a meaty meal. I doubt that figuring out modifications would be beyond the abilities of any competent cook though.

Feeling nourished

Hazana means feeding, nourishment or nutrition in Hebrew. It seems like a highly appropriate name for this lovely book of Jewish vegetarian recipes.

All the dishes – even the desserts – are bursting with vegetables and fruits, seasoned with fresh and dried herbs and exotic and familiar spices. The country of origin of each recipe is given, and often its name in the local language alongside its English title. 

Kitchen library

Overall, Hazana: Jewish Vegetarian Cooking is a gorgeous, inspiring book.  It would be a terrific addition to the kitchen library of vegetarians and meat-eaters alike – and regardless of their religion or ethnicity! Hazana is published by Quadrille and is available from Amazon and all good bookshops, RRP £25.

Kasha with mushrooms

I tested out the recipe for kasha with mushrooms (kasha met schveml) which originates in Poland and Russia. Despite my Ashkenazi heritage, kasha was not something I grew up eating, so this recipe was new to me.

It was easy to prepare and the results were nutty, buttery, savoury and delicious! I was bracing myself for resistance from my daughter Kipper, who can be a bit funny sometimes about both mushrooms and grains, but it even got a thumbs up from her. Result! 

If you want deliciously easy, family-friendly recipes like this one delivered straight to your inbox, simply click here to subscribe. (Of course, I’ll never pass on your email address to anyone.)

📖 Recipe

Kasha with mushrooms (Kasha mit schveml)

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Kasha, or roasted buckwheat, is a favourite food of Ashkenazi Jews from Poland and Russia. It has a delicious nutty flavour and is a very good source of protein, iron and calcium. Kasha is often cooked with beaten egg, which is said to help separate the grains. If you add 200g (7oz) pasta bow-ties or wide egg noodles broken into 2.5cm (1in) lengths, that have been cooked separately in lightly salted boiling water, then this dish becomes the well-known kasha varnishkes – often served by Eastern European Jews for Chanukah and Purim.

5 from 4 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Save Saved!

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Course Side Dish

Cuisine European, Jewish

Servings 4

Calories 281 kcal

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• 180 g kasha (roasted buckwheat groats)
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 450 ml hot water
• grating of nutmeg
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 medium onions, thinly sliced
• 250 g small white (button) mushrooms, thinly sliced
• sour cream or smetana to serve

Instructions

 

• 180 g (1 cup) kasha (roasted buckwheat groats), 1 egg, lightly beaten
  Place the kasha in a heavy saucepan and add the beaten egg. Stir well, so each grain is well coated, then cook over a gentle heat for 5 minutes or until the egg is set.
• 450 ml (2 cups) hot water, grating of nutmeg, salt and freshly ground black pepper
   Pour in the hot water and season with nutmeg, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the kasha is tender and the liquid has been absorbed.
• 3 tablespoons butter, 2 medium onions, thinly sliced, 250 g (9 oz) small white (button) mushrooms, thinly sliced
  Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large frying pan and add the onions. Cook over a gentle heat until they start to turn golden. Add the mushrooms and continue to cook until they are tender and any liquid has evaporated.
• Stir the onions and mushrooms into the cooked kasha and simmer for 1–2 minutes.
  
• sour cream or smetana to serve
  Serve at once, with sour cream on the side.

Notes

Recipe reproduced with permission from Hazana by Paola Gavin (Quadrille, £25) 

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Kasha with mushrooms (Kasha mit schveml)

Amount per Serving

Calories

281

% Daily Value*

Fat

 

11

g

17

%

Saturated Fat

 

6

g

38

%

Trans Fat

 

1

g

Polyunsaturated Fat

 

1

g

Monounsaturated Fat

 

3

g

Cholesterol

 

63

mg

21

%

Sodium

 

96

mg

4

%

Potassium

 

504

mg

14

%

Carbohydrates

 

39

g

13

%

Fiber

 

6

g

25

%

Sugar

 

4

g

4

%

Protein

 

10

g

20

%

Vitamin A

 

323

IU

6

%

Vitamin C

 

5

mg

6

%

Calcium

 

31

mg

3

%

Iron

 

2

mg

11

%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Keyword buckwheat, kasha, mushrooms, onions

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

More delicious mushroom recipes

If you love mushrooms you might also enjoy:

• secret ingredient baked garlic mushrooms
• baked wild mushroom risotto
• easy shakshuka with mushrooms
• mushroom bourguignon with garlic mashed potato