This Pesach, dress up your Seder spread with some of our original recipes that highlight Israeli flavors. Whether you find yourself in the streets of New York, the corners of Tokyo, or fulfilling last year's promise of "next year in Jerusalem," let every mouthful of this holiday season be a celebration of Jewish unity and bring a taste of Israel to your home.
This Passover especially, as Jews and Israelis face one of our toughest years in decades, let us remember our deep connection to Israel, the land, its people, culture, traditions, and flavors by adding ingredients and dishes that remind us of our deep connection to our home.
Chopped Herb Salad with Pomegranate
Yield: Enough for 6 people as a side, recipe can be easily doubled
Prep time: 20 minutes
With fragrant herbs and vibrant pomegranate seeds, this salad adds a healthy and flavorful touch to the seder while being kosher for Passover. We especially love using pomegranate molasses, which is an ingredient celebrated in Israel and across the Middle East.
As one of Israel’s “seven species” of plants from Israel mentioned in the Torah, pomegranates are most closely associated with Rosh Hashanah, where the fruit is a main feature. However, the pomegranate symbolizes a lot more than a “new fruit” to eat on the Jewish New Year. Sephardic Jews often include pomegranates on their seder table to remind themselves to be full of mitzvot as the pomegranate is full of seeds. As a bountiful Israeli fruit, pomegranates also often adorn many Torah scrolls.
Pomegranates also have a deep connection to the Passover story. After the Israelites left Egypt and wandered through the desert for 40 years, they sent 12 spies into the Holy Land, who came back to report their findings and came back with fruit, one of which was a pomegranate. As the first taste of the Holy Land for ancient Israelites, pomegranates represent the promise of freedom and self-determination in our homeland.
Salad ingredients
1 bunch arugula
Large handful of herbs like parsley or cilantro (optional)
2 stocks of celery with leaves
2-3 small radishes
1/2 red onion
Small handful dried cranberries
Small handful fresh pomegranate seeds (if available)
¼ cup Toasted seeds and nuts of choice, such as pumpkin, sliced almonds, sesame, sunflower
Dressing
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses (silan/date syrup can serve as a substitute)
2-3 tbsp lemon juice
2-3 tbsp olive oil
Pinch of salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp sumac
Directions
Chop the arugula, celery, and herbs finely and toss together
Thinly slice the celery, radish, and onion and add it to the leaves
Add the pomegranate seeds and cranberries
In a separate bowl, mix the dressing and adjust with additional salt, pepper, or spices to taste
Add the dressing to the chopping salad and toss to fully coat
Add the seeds and dressing right before serving to stay crunchy
Chickpea Salad with Preserved Lemon
Yield: Enough for 6 people as a side, recipe can be easily doubled
Prep time: 20 minutes
For those who eat kitniyot (legumes) on Passover, this salad will be a hit. It highlights two quintessential Israeli ingredients – chickpeas and preserved lemon. Chickpeas salad is a great way to add a healthy option that’s both light and filling to your Seder, and preserved lemon gives this salad a citrusy pop perfect for the spring season.
For kitniyot eaters, adding chickpeas to your table is more than just a protein-filled side. The humble legume, called hummus in Hebrew (referring to both the bean and the dish), can be traced back to the land of Israel for thousands of years. Chickpeas have been grown and cultivated in the Middle East since biblical times, connecting this mighty little food with Jewish culinary tradition for centuries and further illustrating the Jewish bond to the land.
Fun fact: This chickpea-preserved lemon salad is also a fan favorite in our Moroccan cooking class menu!
Ingredients
2 cans chickpeas, rinsed
1 carrot, grated
½ red onion, finely minced
1 handful roasted pistachios, de-shelled
½ cup parsley and/or cilantro, chopped ( optional)
1 cup of arugula or baby spinach, torn or chopped
2 dates minced or a small handful of dried cranberries
Dressing
1 tbsp preserved lemon (In Israel, we buy this in paste form. If you're only able to find whole preserved lemons, blend what you are using so it will mix with the other salad dressing ingredients)
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 small pinch of cumin
1 tbsp date syrup or honey
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
Directions
Combine in a large salad bowl the chickpeas, grated carrot, minced onion, chopped herbs, arugula or spinach, and dates or cranberries.
Combine dressing ingredients to taste and add to salad.
Top with the roasted pistachios right before serving and enjoy!
How Is This Night Different Than All Other Nights?
Even without these dishes on your Seder table, you can still add Israeli flavor to your holiday in other ways. Try and add new Israeli spices to your dishes, like za’atar, sumac, or baharat. Add some Israeli sweets to your dessert, such as tahini or halva, and consider Passover dishes from other Jewish cultures! While Jews all over the world celebrate Passover, our varied cultural backgrounds mean everyone’s Seder table might look a little different. To mix things up, try and add Moroccan, Yemenite, Tunisian, Turkish, or other Passover foods from around the world.
Finally, we cannot overlook that this year’s Passover seder is different. This year’s bitter herbs will undeniably be a little bit more bitter. While the youngest will recite the Mah Nishtana, asking why this night is different than all other nights, we will inevitably think of our hostages who are still not home and the thousands of Israeli families who are missing loved ones at the Seder table this year.
As a show of solidarity, in addition or instead of an empty table setting for Eliyahu, many families are also leaving an empty table setting to represent our hostages who we are waiting for to come home. As we retell the story of our ancestors’ struggle for freedom and their arduous journey to get back to the Promised Land, we can look towards the future and hope that when we recite the part of the Haggadah that calls for “next year in Jerusalem,” we take it to heart. Whether spiritually or physically, we can only hope that next year we find ourselves more connected than ever to Israel, to Jews around the world, and to each other.
On that note, our team at Citrus and Salt wishes you a happy Passover and we hope to see you next year in Jerusalem (but more notably – in Tel Aviv at our cooking studio).
If you tried one of our Passover salad recipes, let us know how it came out in the comments below! We’d also love to hear what your staple Passover dishes are, too.