Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year 5773, began on 16 September.The white tablecloth, the silver goblets and candlesticks, the reciting of Kiddush, the blessing over wine, and the breaking of the bread by my son-in-law, the passing round of apple slices with bowls of honey, the chanting of Hebrew hymns and prayers, give the New Year's Eve meal at my daughter Anna's a sacred character. To me they trigger childhood memories of Cairo.
Preparations for the new year started days in advance in Egypt, with the dressmaker coming to the house to make us new dresses. We all helped – my mother cutting the material on paper patterns, children pulling out tacking threads and picking up pins from the floor with a magnet. Then family members got together for the cooking. The cooks podded, washed, trimmed, pitted and pounded in the kitchen, while my mother and aunts sat around the dining table wrapping, stuffing, rolling, making little delicacies and gossiping.
In the afternoon before New Year's Eve we went to the great synagogue in Sharia Adli to hear the shofar, the ram's horn, being blown with sobbing and wailing notes followed by a long, shrill, piercing sound that recalled Abraham's offering of his son Isaac as a sacrifice to God. It was a solemn and dramatic start before the joyous celebrations at the table.
Food plays an important part and has a symbolic role in the rituals and celebrations of Jewish holidays. At Rosh Hashanah, it is to bring all that one hopes for: sweet things "so that the year be sweet and happy"; green things representing a new beginning; round things signifying continuity and the hope that the year be full and rounded; golden things as a symbol of prosperity and good fortune; beans, chickpeas and seeds symbolising fecundity and abundance. It is a widespread custom to start with a piece of apple dipped in honey while a prayer is said asking God for a sweet year. In Egypt we dipped the apple slices in sugar.
Traditional new year foods of Ashkenazi Jews whose ancestors came from eastern Europe include a round hallah with raisins because it looks like a crown and symbolises continuity and the hope that the year will be rounded like a circle. Chicken soup is eaten with round pasta – farfel or mandlen instead of vermicelli. A fish, symbol of fertility, is cooked with the head on to express the hope of being at the head or, as some prefer to say, to be first with good deeds. In Yiddish folklore, sliced carrots are associated with gold coins and carrot tzimmes are eaten as a symbol of prosperity and good fortune or, according to another interpretation, to increase merits over shortcomings. Honey cake and apple strudel are new year pastries.
In the Muslim world Jews ate a sheep's head so "that they may be at the head and not at the tail and hold their heads up high". This very ancient tradition also recalls the offering for sacrifice of Isaac by his father Abraham. God, who had demanded it, stopped it in time. At that moment Abraham and Isaac saw a ram and sacrificed it. The sheep's head was more commonly substituted by brains or by boiled tongue.
In Egypt we were a mixed community and there were no holiday dishes common to all. What families cooked as symbolic foods depended on where they originated. Mine was from Syria and Turkey. Pilafs, omelettes, gratins, salads, fritters and pies were made with green vegetables such as chard, spinach, broad beans, green peas, green beans, courgettes and okra. Our round foods were meat balls, green peas, chickpeas and ring-shaped breads.
The new year is everywhere a time for sweet things. Potatoes are replaced by sweet potatoes, onions are caramelised, meats are cooked with quince, prunes, dates and raisins and sometimes also with honey. Meals end with new fruits of the season – fresh dates, figs and above all, pomegranates – all of which are mentioned in the Bible.
The food of the ancient Hebrews has always been important to a wandering people who have used their ancient history and the continuity of their culture to define themselves. In Egypt we ate the pomegranate seeds sprinkled with orange blossom water and sugar. We ate pastries with sesame seeds and aniseed, or stuffed with nuts or dates and soaked in sugar syrup. Jams made with quince, figs, dates and apples, coconut jam which evoked purity and golden pumpkin jam, which evoked joy and happiness, were exchanged between families and offered to Muslim and Copt neighbours.
Apple strudel
Strudel is of Hungarian origin. The pastry appeared in the coffee houses of Budapest and of Vienna when it was the capital of the Austro-Hungarian empire. It was part of the cultural baggage the Jews who left these cities during the second world war brought to the Jewish baking repertoire and a new year speciality. Not very long ago housewives still made their own paper-thin dough.
Makes 4 strudel rolls
filo sheets 20, a thick quality
unsalted (sweet) butter 175g, melted (or vegetable oil)
icing sugar (confectioners') to dust
For the filling
dessert apples 1kg, tart ones, such as Granny Smiths
lemon juice of 1
sugar 4 tbsp, or to taste
walnuts 100g, coarsely chopped
golden raisins 40g
ground cinnamon 1 tsp
dry fine breadcrumbs or ground almonds 75g
Prepare the filling. Peel and core the apples. Squeeze the lemon juice into a bowl and turn the apples around in it so that they do not brown. Then coarsely chop or finely dice them.
Return the apples to the bowl and mix with the rest of the ingredients. (The breadcrumbs or ground almonds are there to absorb the juices so that the pastry is not too soggy.)
Open the packet of filo just before using. Open out the sheets and leave them in a pile. Brush the top one lightly with melted butter and put it on one side. Brush four more with melted butter and put them on top. Put a quarter of the filling in a line along one long edge, about 6cm from the edge and 2.5cm from the sides. Lift the edge up over the filling and roll up like a fat baggy sausage, tucking in the sides halfway so that the filling does not fall out. Then lift up the roll carefully and place on a greased baking dish or tray, seam side down.
Do the same with the rest of the filling and all the sheets of filo, making four flat rolls, and arrange them side by side. Bake in a preheated 180C/gas mark 4 oven for 30-40 minutes, until crisp and golden and puffed up. Serve warm or cold, sprinkled with icing sugar.
Honey cake
Honey cake has been a favourite Jewish cake since the early Middle Ages. It is mentioned in 12th-century records in Germany, when it was the custom for young boys attending heder (Jewish school) to bring a piece on the first day.
It is the traditional cake of Rosh Hashanah, symbolising the hope that the new year will be sweet. This version is moist and delicious with a great richness of flavour. It should be made at least three days before you want to eat it.
Makes 1 cake
large eggs 2
sugar 200g
light vegetable oil 125ml
dark liquid honey 250g
rum or brandy 2 tbsp
warm strong black coffee 125ml
baking powder 2 tsp
baking soda ½tsp
salt a pinch
ground cinnamon 1 tsp
ground cloves ¼ tsp
orange grated zest of 1
plain flour 300g, plus extra to dust the dried fruit and nuts
sultanas 40g
walnuts or slivered almonds 50g, coarsely chopped
Beat the eggs with the sugar until pale and creamy. Then beat in the oil, honey, rum and coffee.
Mix the baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves and orange zest with the flour. Add gradually to the egg and honey mixture, beating vigorously to a smooth batter.
Dust the sultanas and the walnuts or almonds with flour to prevent them from dropping to the bottom of the cake and stir them into the batter.
Line a 24cm cake tin with greaseproof paper or with foil, brushed with oil and dusted with flour, and pour in the batter. Or divide between two 24cm x 13cm loaf tins.
Bake the large cake in a preheated oven 180C/gas mark 4 for 1¼ hours, or longer, until firm and brown on top, and the smaller ones for 1 hour.
To order a copy of the Book of Jewish Food by Claudia Roden (Penguin) for £20, with free UK p&p, go to guardian.co.uk/bookshop or call 0330 333 6846
