Muslim cook adds charoset samosas to hybrid menu
SOME 30 Jewish and Muslim women joined Nisa-Nashim’s Pesachthemed virtual cookalong.
Rabbi Hannah Kingston of Alyth Reform in Golders Green gave a flavour of the history and rituals of the festival while the cooks — from as far afield as St Louis, Missouri — were led by Stacey Friedman, co-chair of the new Nisa-Nashim North Manchester group.
Ms Friedman used an Indian charoset recipe based on mango, toasted almonds and dates to illustrate the variety of festival traditions.
Four other participants then shared their own family festive favourites. Karen Maxwell in Suffolk discussed the joys of boiled eggs in salt water; Lynda Ford–Horne in Bournemouth explained her family’s love of almond pudding; Miriam Gitlin in Edgware offered an appreciation of matzah brai and Doreen Samuels in Harrow was sweet on chocolate cakes.
While some women then sealed their charoset away for the Seder, others were more creative. The following day Ms Friedman shared photos of her Indian charoset baked into braided fruit bread and Hifsa Haroon-Iqbal, the Nisa-Nashim chair, produced charoset-filled samosas. She said it had been “wonderful to hear about the different family traditions and foods around the Seder. As Jewish and Muslim sisters, it is so important that we are able to be there for each other as we face our festivals in lockdown for a second year.” Nisa-Nashim co-founder Laura Marks said “the appetite for learning, sharing, laughing and eating has become a hallmark of Nisa-Nashim events over lockdown. A charoset-filled samosa may be a novelty but for us, it just epitomised the joy of togetherness at Pesach.” Nisa-Nashim has grown to a network of 27 UK groups.
It was great to hear about the different family food traditions’