Jewish cuisine - Most tzimmes - 6 recipes

On the eve of Rosh Hashanah, it's time to talk about tzimmes, which must be on the New Year's table. Bright carrot circles in tzimmes take on an additional meaning during the holiday: they represent money and the desire to increase wealth.

As they say, every cloud has a silver lining. Although how bad it is: my grandfather - famous in the town of Kalinkovichi, in the Gomel region, tailor Khaim Ruchaevsky, zichrono levrakha - was a loving man. Thank God, his genes were passed on to me. Grandfather was married probably ten times, and if his first two marriages were legitimate from the point of view of the law, then the rest turned out to be from the category of what are now called civil ones. Grandfather wrote dress uniforms for local pilots on his Singer and used to hum while he worked. And when he sang under his breath the song “Do the Russians want war?”, famous in the 60s of the last century, with a Jewish accent, of course, and reached the line “Ask your mothers, ask my wife,” I didn’t I could deny myself the pleasure and not ask which wife. But, as it turned out later, it was the abundance of grandmothers that played a positive role in my culinary activities.

In any national cuisine, and in Jewish cuisine this is always the case, each dish has many versions, and each housewife considers her recipe to be the only correct one. And everyone who has an interest in cooking uses in later life, first of all, what they learned at home, from their mother or grandmother. And since each of my ten grandmothers shared their tsimmes recipe with me, in the future I only increased their number.

I won’t retell the stories about how tzimmes were invented to make a delicacy out of cheap carrots in extreme poverty. I will just say that tzimmes is perhaps even more Ashkenazi food than gefilte fish. Everyone knows this word - both Jews and non-Jews, both of them use it regardless of cooking, thereby expressing the highest degree of admiration, delight and joy. “The most tsimes” (or “tsimus”) - this is what they say about something worthy, good, tasty, wonderful. They say, sometimes without even knowing what this tsimes is. Working outside of Israel, I was able to treat many, many people to a wonderful Jewish dish. And everyone who tried my tsimmes for the first time agreed that its taste corresponded to the name.

And the name apparently comes from “tzim esn” (translated from Yiddish as “for food” or simply “snack”). And this is not just one dish, this is a theme for variations. What they all have in common is carrots and dried fruits. Here are half a dozen recipes - try them and decide which is best.

Grandma's classic tsimmes (with meat)

Ingredients: 700 g beef brisket, 600 g carrots, 200 g pitted prunes, 50 g animal fat, salt and sugar to taste, 100 g sugar for caramel, 1 tablespoon starch.

Choose the fattier brisket, the better - historically, Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine is generally fatty, and let them say that it is not healthy, but it is tasty. For tzimmes, take a thick-walled pan, melt the fat in it and fry the brisket cut into pieces in it. Fry until golden brown. Add carrots cut into centimeter-thick slices, mix with meat and simmer over very, very low heat. Add water, but try to use as little as possible. Simmer under the lid for two hours, add prunes 30 minutes before the end of cooking and continue to simmer, adding spices. Melt the sugar in a frying pan into caramel, transfer to a saucepan and 5 minutes before removing from heat, pour starch diluted in 100 ml of cold water into the saucepan.


Festive tsimes

Ingredients: 1 kg of carrots, 3 tablespoons of chicken or goose fat, 0.5 teaspoon of salt, 0.5 tablespoon of raisins, 1 tablespoon of prunes, 6 tablespoons of burnt sugar, half a stick of cinnamon, a quarter teaspoon of ground cloves, 1 tablespoon a spoonful of lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of candied orange peel, 3 tablespoons of honey.

Peel the carrots and cut into slices 3 mm thick. Although it is now fashionable to use dwarf carrots, which look very decent in tsimmes. Heat the fat, put the carrots in it and simmer for 5 minutes, without letting it brown. Add a little water, sugar, bring to a boil. Add other ingredients and simmer over low heat for 2 hours. If necessary, add a little boiling water - the tsimmes should not be dry or liquid. Remove the lid and simmer for another 20 minutes.

Tsimmes with apples

Ingredients: 4 cups of grated carrots, 1 tablespoon of flour, 5 apples, better sour ones - you can take Granny Smith or Antonovka, 100 g of raisins, 3 tablespoons of butter, half a glass of water, 0.6 teaspoon of salt, 2 teaspoons sugar, cinnamon to taste.

Grate carrots and apples on a coarse grater. Heat oil in a saucepan, add carrots and apples, which will immediately release juice. To prevent everything from burning, pour in a little water and leave to simmer for 40 minutes, reducing the heat under the pan to low. Add raisins before finishing cooking. Mix flour with water, pour into a saucepan, stir, add salt, sugar and cinnamon and cook everything, stirring, for another 5 minutes.


Potato tsimes

Ingredients: 8-10 medium-sized potatoes, 100 g raisins, 10-12 pitted prunes, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 tablespoon starch, 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, salt to taste.

Place peeled potatoes, cut into halves, in a saucepan, add vegetable oil, washed raisins and prunes, add cinnamon and sugar, add hot water so that it covers the food, and simmer until half cooked. Then add salt and starch diluted with cold water. Cook until the potatoes are ready.

Carrot tzimmes with kneidlach

Ingredients: 600 g carrots, 100 g raisins, 2 tablespoons butter, 2 tablespoons sugar, salt to taste; for kneidlach: a quarter cup of semolina, 1 egg, 1 tablespoon of butter, salt and pepper to taste.

Cut the peeled carrots into slices one centimeter thick and fry them in oil until golden brown. Add water to cover the carrots, add raisins, sugar and salt and simmer over low heat for about 50 minutes. 20 minutes before being ready, add the kneidlach to the carrots. To prepare kneidlach, you need to cook semolina, quite thick, in water with butter, add an egg, stir and cool. Roll small balls from the resulting mass and place them in a pan with carrots.

Golden carrot tzimmes

Ingredients: 750 g carrots, 2 tablespoons butter, 100 g raisins, 100 g pitted prunes, 100 g dried apricots, 100 g sugar, salt and cinnamon to taste, 2-3 clove buds, juice of half a lemon, 2 tablespoons honey , a glass of orange juice.

Cut the carrots for tzimmes into centimeter-thick rounds. Fry it in hot oil, stirring constantly and not letting it brown. Pour in the orange juice, squeeze in the lemon juice and leave it all to cook over low heat. In another pan, cook the caramel, melting the sugar and turning it into a light brown molasses. Add honey there and transfer the resulting mass to the carrots. Simmer for about an hour and 15 minutes until ready, add dried fruits.

With all the nuances of different tsimmes recipes, there are general rules. The first is a thick-walled saucepan, which you cannot do without. And second: remember that tzimmes should not be dry. If the liquid boils too much, add water, but just a little, the main thing here is not to overfill. And you will have tzimmes for the New Year.

And today we have for dessert a glorious sweet guest of Jewish cuisine - tzimmes! The name is promising, isn't it? When you find out that preparing this Lenten delicacy will require a minimum of time and a lot of healthy ingredients, you will definitely want to try this sweet delicacy with tea or an afternoon snack.

A fragrant dessert stew with carrots, prunes, raisins and dried apricots - sweet tzimmes - can lift your spirits and give your body vital energy, charging you with positivity for the whole day.

It is customary to serve it during Lent or for the New Year, but I’ll tell you a secret: “It’s not at all necessary to wait for this holiday!” Prepare tsimmes at any time of the year - it tastes incomparable and is healthy for everyone.

Take the products according to the list. Plus, if desired, you can add cinnamon flavor, salt and pepper. There are no spices in this recipe only because this tsimmes was prepared for the birthday of my eldest daughter. Girls love Jewish carrot dessert.

Peeled carrots are cut into circles or slices. If you already have fresh carrots in your garden, throw them whole into the dish.

Take a saucepan or any convenient container and generously grease it with olive oil. And in this very oil the carrots lightly brown. You definitely need to add honey to it.

Simmer the carrots with honey until “stretchy”, remembering to stir. During the stewing process, you need to add dried apricots, raisins and prunes (without pits). A little water. At the same stage, spices are added if desired. Tsimmes is prepared until the carrots are ready.

Our bright, sweet and vitamin-packed tsimmes is ready! Served as a dessert with herbal tea.

I would like to note that dessert carrot tzimmes is not the only one of its kind. Jewish tzimmes can be both vegetable and meat. I will introduce you to these variations of tsimes in the near future.

On holidays or on Saturdays, it is customary to prepare various treats. This is a traditional national dish. No special or expensive products are required to create it. The basis of the dish is carrots. Other ingredients may vary. We offer the most popular recipes.

Tsimmes recipe with honey

To prepare the dish according to the first recipe, you will need: carrots, any dried fruits, honey and a little Ingredients, take according to the number of eaters. You can use special dwarf vegetables, such vegetables are sold peeled and frozen. You don't need to do anything with them. And you should wash an ordinary vegetable, remove the skin from it and cut it into mugs or cubes. Take any dried fruits: raisins, dried apricots, prunes. They should be washed in hot water. After preparing the ingredients, pour a little vegetable oil into the pan, about 50 ml. Place a layer of carrot slices. Drizzle them liberally with honey. Approximate calculation: 5 (heaped) tablespoons per 400 grams of carrots. Don't skimp on honey - the more, the better. Place the saucepan over low heat and cover with a lid. Don't forget to stir so the food doesn't burn. After 10 minutes, add the washed dried fruits to the saucepan and stir. Add a little water if necessary. Simmer for 20 minutes. The carrots should become very soft. Taste it. Tsimes is ready.

Tsimmes recipe with meat

Tsimes can also be prepared with meat. For this you need:

  • ripe carrots (can be a dwarf variety or a regular one) in the amount of 1 kg;
  • 70 g;
  • fatty meat (lamb is best);
  • butter sugar, spices;
  • raisins and prunes - 100 g each.

Tsimmes with meat: cooking technology

Wash the carrots, peel and cut into strips as thin as possible. Mix it with flour. Wash the raisins and prunes and add to the carrots. Season with salt, sugar and butter. Place the ingredients in a saucepan and simmer over low heat. In this case, you should pour in half a glass of water. Meanwhile, chop the meat and fry in a separate pan. Add dried fruits to it. Cook until the meat is tender. Serve, garnished with greens. The tsimmes recipe is designed for 4-5 people. Bon appetit!

Tsimmes recipe with beef

To prepare this dish you need:

  • a piece of beef pulp weighing 500 g;
  • fresh onion;
  • carrots - 4-5 large root vegetables;
  • potatoes - 6-7 large root vegetables;
  • dried apricots, figs, dates, prunes, raisins;
  • vegetable oil and sour cream - a couple of spoons each;
  • salt, paprika, any spices.

Cooking technology

Cut the beef into pieces and fry in oil for 10 minutes. Salt and pepper. Cut the onion into half rings and fry in oil until golden brown. Salt and sprinkle with paprika. Wash the potatoes and carrots, peel and cut into circles. Rinse dried fruits. Pour a little oil into the bottom of the pan and add a couple of spoons of sour cream. Place a layer of carrots and potatoes. Next, lay out the layers in the following order: meat, onions, potatoes and carrots, dried fruits. Cover tightly with a lid and place in the oven for 2.5 hours. The dish turns out very tasty and aromatic. Bon appetit!

Jewish cuisine is one of the most delicious in the world.

“When Saturday or some other holiday comes, I have challah for him, and fish, and a good piece of meat, and the like. On holidays, I certainly have to have tzimmes: for Easter, tzimmes made from plums, for kusha - from carrots.”
Sholom Aleichem. "Holiday tsimes"

The recipe for tzimmes can be found in any book about Jewish cuisine.
This is a traditional national treat, as popular as gefilte fish or potato kugel.

Tsimes is easy to prepare and does not require any special, rare or expensive ingredients. The fiery carrot dish looks beautiful on the table. Plus it's delicious. And also universal. On Saturday, tzimmes is a side dish for meat; on Rosh Hashanah, carrot dishes are an important New Year's treat.

In Hebrew, carrots are “gezer”, which is similar to the word “gezera” (sentence). By eating a little carrot and saying a special wish in Hebrew, we seem to be asking for a good sentence.


Besides, tsimmes is, in general, almost a dessert. Which is also suitable for Rosh Hashanah, when Jews eat sweets and wish each other a good and sweet year.

True, in addition to the classic one with honey, there is potato tsimes with prunes (“floymen-tzimmes”), and also carrot tsimes with meat.
The main thing is that tzimmes is a favorite dish in Jewish families. One likes sweet carrots or potatoes, another chooses prunes and dried apricots, and the third simply dips bread in honey sauce.

It’s not for nothing that the word “tzimmes” quickly passed from culinary terms into common speech. And in Russian, and in Yiddish, and in Hebrew, “tzimmes” is something special, tasty, piquant. And when we want to emphasize, highlight the main detail in the story, we exclaim: “This is the real point!”

To prepare carrot tzimmes we will need:

Carrots (sliced ​​into regular or mini, or baby, or dwarf slices - whoever calls them)
Dried fruits of your choice: prunes, dried apricots, raisins
Honey
A little vegetable oil.

Cut the carrots into slices. The thinner they are, the faster the tzimmes will cook and the more transparent the dish will be.

The second option is to take dwarf carrots, they are sold frozen. It does not need to be cut or defrosted. Quick and convenient - pour it straight from the bag into a pan with oil!


As for ordinary carrots, pour a little vegetable oil into the bottom of a small saucepan in the same way and place carrot slices. Sprinkle generously with honey. Let's say, five heaping tablespoons per 400 grams of carrots. And you can also pour it on top. In general, the more, the better.
Place the saucepan on low heat and cover with a lid.

While the carrots are happily gurgling in the golden sauce, wash the dried fruits, put them in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Stir the carrot-honey brew so it doesn’t burn.
Place dried fruits in a saucepan with carrots and stir. If necessary, add a little water.
Simmer for 15-20 minutes, the carrots should become soft.
Let's try.
Well, tsimes?

Tzimes is a dish of Jewish cuisine. In the old days, tzimmes was considered a dessert. But time passed, and some adjustments were made to the recipe for its preparation. Nowadays this dish is prepared from carrots with the addition of fresh or dried fruits and berries. In addition, there are meat tzimmes and even bean ones. We will now tell you how to prepare tzimmes.

Tsimmes with meat

Ingredients:

  • carrots – 2.5 kg;
  • beef – 700 g;
  • onion – 1 pc.;
  • potatoes – 2 pcs.;
  • zucchini – 1 pc.;
  • olive oil – 50 ml;
  • beef broth – 2 l.;
  • red wine – 150 ml;
  • dill greens – 50 g;
  • raisins – 50 g;
  • dried apricots – 100 g;
  • prunes – 100 g;
  • salt, pepper, paprika - to taste.

Preparation

Peel carrots, potatoes and zucchini and cut into cubes. Pour 20 ml of olive oil into a heat-resistant pan and fry the boiled beef, cut into pieces. Then we take out the meat, add more oil and fry the prepared vegetables, salt, pepper, and add paprika to taste. Then add meat. Pour all this over with meat broth and wine, simmer over low heat for about 2.5 hours, stirring occasionally, until the beef is soft. Almost at the very end, add washed and dried raisins, prunes and dried apricots. Simmer for about 15 more minutes. Tsimes is ready!

Bean tzimmes

Ingredients:

  • beans – 200 g;
  • carrots – 4 pcs.;
  • honey – 100 g;
  • prunes – 200 g;
  • butter – 40 g;
  • chopped nuts – 50 g.

Preparation

It is advisable to rinse the beans and soak them for 10 hours, and then boil them until tender. Finely chop the carrots, add a little oil, add salt and simmer until soft. When the beans are ready, drain them through a colander, add carrots, prunes, honey and the remaining oil. Mix everything well and simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes. Before serving bean tzimmes, sprinkle it with toasted chopped nuts.

Carrot tsimes

Ingredients:

Preparation

Wash the carrots, peel and cut into slices. Fry in oil until done. Then transfer it to a saucepan, add 200 ml of boiling water, raisins, prunes, sugar and honey, add salt to taste and simmer for about an hour. To prevent our tzimmes from burning, it must be stirred. After an hour, add lemon juice to the pan, pepper to taste and simmer for about another 30 minutes. Carrot tsimmes is ready!