Twice-baked sweet potato tzimmes

THROUGHOUT HER 20s Kenden Alfond travelled all over the world, leaving the US in 2005 to volunteer in India with the American Jewish World Service. She started writing her blog, Jewish Food Hero, in 2014 when she was living in Cambodia. She had moved to the city of Battambang with her husband and daughter, and found herself yearning for a taste of home. “I felt really alone. I was trying to live a Jewish life. I had this longing to be part of a community. I also realised there were lots of Jewish women trying to create healthier families, so I decided to create a community around this common desire for Jewish health.”

She had sought out Jewish communities wherever she was, and when she moved to Cambodia, Alfond decided to build a community of her own, by making her own Shabbat dinners – even if there were no other Jews around. She would ask a mixture of guests — non- Jews and any Jewish travellers in the area — to join her, her husband and their seven-year-old daughter, Yael.

The nearest shul is a five hour drive away, which can make it a challenge. “I’m doing the best I can with the reality that we are living a rural and geographically isolated Jewish Life.” These Shabbat dinners are her way of inducting her daughter into the Jewish community via food.

Alfond’s favourite meal is matzah ball soup — “I like the smells, the memories, the texture” — but her recipes incorporate the flavours of Asia with her Jewish

traditions.

www. jewishfoodhero. com

Jewish Food Hero Cookbook: 50 Simple Plant-Based Recipes for Your Holiday Meals

A new twist on classic tzimmes: a twice-baked sweet potato version. I’ve adapted a traditional tzimmes recipe with healthy ingredients that are all plant based.

Serves: 4 - 6

INGREDIENTS:

4 large sweet potatoes (or yams)

Juice of 2 oranges

2 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp sea salt, or to taste 60g raw sugar or 60 ml maple syrup

30g prunes, coarsely chopped

Garnish:

2 spring onions

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 190°C.

Place the sweet potatoes on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour, or until completely baked

Remove from the oven and set aside to cool

When cool enough to handle, slice them in half lengthwise and use a spoon to scoop out the orange flesh and place it in a large bowl. Reserve the sweet potato skins.

Mash the sweet potato flesh, adding the orange juice, cinnamon, sea salt and raw sugar. Stir in the chopped prunes.

Fill the empty sweet potato skins with this mixture and place them on a baking sheet. A tasty twist on an Ashkenazi favourite

Bake for 15 minutes, until they are golden on top. Serve garnished with thinly sliced green onion before serving, if desired