Delicious as they may be, matzo ball soup, challah, brisket and other Ashkenazi Jewish favorites will not be at the table when Beejhy Barhany celebrates Rosh Hashana this month.
The chef and owner of Tsion Cafe in Harlem, one of the few Ethiopian Jewish restaurants in the United States, suggests a Jewish New Year menu of beg wot, a lamb stew brightened with the Ethiopian spice blend berbere and ground, roasted korarima, akin to cardamom. For sides, she recommends dubba wot, a lush pumpkin stew with date honey, and a salad dotted with black-eyed peas, tomatoes, barley and arugula. Dabo, a spiced whole wheat bread, can soak up all the flavors. She’d top the feast off with ma’arn tzava cake, which mingles sweetness from honey with a slight tang from Ethiopian coffee extract.
Barhany, who was born in Ethiopia and grew up in Israel, is the author, with Elisa Ung, of a new cookbook, Gursha: Timeless Recipes for Modern Kitchens, From Ethiopia, Israel, Harlem and Beyond—the first major title to share Ethiopian Jewish food with home cooks. Gursha, in Amharic, one of the primary languages in Ethiopia, refers to the Ethiopian tradition of feeding others a mouthful by hand to show affection and respect.
“The base of Ethiopian cuisine as a whole is very much Jewish, more than anything else,” says Barhany, given that people practiced Hebraic traditions in Ethiopia prior to the arrival of Christianity in the fourth century.
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