Passover is a celebration that recalls the Jews’ enslavement in Egypt and subsequent exodus into freedom. The Passover Seder—an elaborate meal dominated by symbols and rituals—also poses challenges, particularly to us bakers who are asked to forego so many ingredients taken for granted throughout the rest of the year. In addition to flour and yeast, nothing can be used during Passover that contains barley, wheat, rye, oats, or spelt. These grains are considered chametz, leavened foods that are forbidden during the holiday. 

This interruption of day-to-day baking gives us pause, a time for reflection and gratitude. Today, many products and alternative flours are available that meet kosher-for-Passover guidelines, providing dessert options well beyond those embraced by our grandmothers. (Do note, however, that these products cannot always be used interchangeably; for best results, always match recipes with flours for which they are intended.) 

Food memories and cherished family recipes play an integral role in any Passover celebration, linking multiple generations to those who came before. The homemade Passover desserts of my childhood made a lengthy Seder bearable. My grandmothers followed Ashkenazic practices mirroring their ancestors’ ties to Central and Eastern Europe. They relied on a number of trusted cookbooks and recipe pamphlets created in tandem with various advertising campaigns of the times. The combination of old and new recipes kept traditions alive while also Americanizing our grandmothers’ kitchens. 

Maxwell House Coffee published a Haggadah in 1932, making it free with a purchase of their coffee. Other companies quickly capitalized on the Jewish holiday, publishing recipe pamphlets highlighting their products. Among them Borden’s Farm Products, whose slim Passover Cook Book from 1940 is one to which I still refer. Based on the faded spatters and smudges, “Borcas Eingemacht” and “Chremslach” have clearly been the best-loved recipes in the book.  

A favorite of my maternal grandmother Dorothy, borcas eingemacht (Russian-style beet preserves) is traditional in eastern Ashkenazic households. A ruby-colored sweet enjoyed by the spoonful alongside a “gleyzele tay,” (Yiddush for “glass of tea”), the jam-like confection is made from sliced or grated beets, honey, and vinegar. Commonly part of Passover preparations, when the tradition was brought to America, lemon juice replaced vinegar and different families added their own spins on the slow-cooked preserves. Eingemachts can even be cooked down beyond the jam stage, resulting in more of a candy texture. Over the years, commercially prepared kosher-for-Passover versions became available, and for many, the homemade tradition faded. 

My father’s mother, Minnie, never fretted over the health ramifications of using a dozen eggs in a single sponge cake, or of feeding several pints of heavy cream to the Sunbeam mixer as she whipped up the filling for her Passover schaum torte. Minnie also had in her repertoire a recipe for sweet fritters known as chremslach. Made from crumbled matzo, eggs, dried fruit, and almonds, chremslach are common among many cultures and recipes date as far back as the Roman Empire. It’s the Ashkenazi Jews, however, who are credited with incorporating this treat into their Passover tradition. One of the earliest recorded recipes for Pesach chremslach can be found in Esther Levy’s Jewish Cookery Book on Principles of Economy Adapted for Jewish Housekeepers (1871), considered the first Jewish cookbook published in America. 

For me, adaptation is an important part of the Passover tradition too; I like to swap out Mama Minnie’s dried fruit for seasonal fresh rhubarb. The crispy fritter can serve as dessert at the conclusion of the Seder or for breakfast the next morning, with a dollop of sour cream or yogurt and fresh berries—or a side of Dorothy’s earthy, crimson eingemacht.

The Passover holiday spans eight days, offering plenty of time for experimentation in the kitchen. When preparing your menu, be mindful of the varying degrees of observance amongst your Seder guests. The orthodox union provides a list of permissible Passover products here. Fresh fruit, chewy macaroons, and a tray piled high with matzo brittle should satisfy even the most devout celebrants’ cravings. For more tempting options, check out these recipes from our archives.

Rhubarb Chremslach with Beet Preserves

A fresh take on tradition: matzo fritters, spring rhubarb, and sweet beets create a memorable dessert or brunch. Get the recipe >

Eli Zabar’s Chocolate Caramel Matzo Ice Cream

As the owner of several iconic markets in New York City, Eli Zabar is always on the lookout for other smart uses for his products. “My motto has always been “waste not, want not,≈and I firmly believe that just about everything I make can become even more delicious in its “second” life,” he says. Enter this knockout Passover dessert recipe that marries homemade vanilla ice cream with store-bought matzo. Get the recipe >

Zabaglione Pavlova with Pineapple and Black Pepper

Zabaglione and tropical fruit gild the lily of this ethereal meringue cake. For observant guests, feel free to swap out the Marsala for a kosher wine. Get the recipe >

Poached Pears

Fernet Branca, a bitter, aromatic spirit, is made from more than 40 herbs and spices, among them myrrh, rhubarb, chamomile, cardamom, saffron, and parsley. Technically not kosher for Passover, the liquor is grape-, not grain-based, making it appropriate for those less strict with kosher laws. Get the recipe >

The Best Flourless Chocolate Cake

If you like, feel free to substitute a Passover brandy for the coffee in this rich, flourless chocolate dessert from the legendary Zuni Café. Get the recipe >

Roasted Strawberry-Rhubarb Tart with Mascarpone Cream

The true harbingers of spring, strawberries and rhubarb shine in a crunchy tart shell with a rich layer of mascarpone cream. Get the recipe >

Flourless Pistachio Cakes with Rosewater

Forsaking the flour, these petite cakes are enhanced with the addition of pistachios and rosewater, then gussied up with rose petals. Stored in an airtight container, these elegant bites hint at spring while sweetening Passover’s eight-day holiday. Get the recipe >

Coconut “Macaroonies”

Coconut flour and white chocolate update the traditional coconut macaroon. Get the recipe >

Chocolate Sorbet

Vegan and dairy-free, this rich sorbet has an intensity of flavor to satisfy the most serious of chocolate hankerings. Get the recipe >

Dark Chocolate Matzo Brittle

While we adore the combination of dark chocolate and pistachios in this crisp brittle, you can tailor the recipe by swapping in white or milk chocolate, or finishing with different add-ins like sliced almonds or dried cranberries. Get the recipe >

Flourless Chocolate Soufflé (Soufflé au Chocolat)

A decadent-yet-airy dessert for any night of the Passover week, this small-batch recipe is ideal for a more intimate gathering. Get the recipe >

Double Chocolate Macaroons

In these luscious cookies from cookbook author Leah Koenig, the traditional shredded coconut macaroon gets hit with a double dose of chocolate: cocoa powder and semisweet chocolate chips. Get the recipe >

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The late, great American cookbook author Marion Cunningham famously carried with her a photograph of a table loaded with angel food cakes, all slightly different: some tall, some short, some white and fluffy, some in a Bundt shape. The photo was taken at a meeting of the Baker’s Dozen, a group of pro bakers including Alice Medrich and Carol Field who met regularly to exchange problems and solutions. Each of the cakes was baked by the members from the same recipe. “If all our results were this different,” Cunningham sympathized, “think of the plight of the poor home cook.” This recipe in question is this one, from “cookie baker for the stars,” Tom Roach, adapted with a bit of Cunningham’s gentle advice.

This recipe originally ran alongside Christopher Hirsheimer’s 1999 article, Baking Lessons.

Order the SAVEUR Selects Artisan Series Angel Food Cake Pan here.

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As soon as we decided to put a birthday cake on our cover, I knew just where it should come from: Tartine, the San Francisco bakery behind what Alice Waters described as “the platonic ideal of a birthday cake.” Waters wrote that in her forward to the 2006 book Tartine, in which the bakery’s founders, Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson, shared recipes for some of their most beloved treats. In 2019, a rebooted version of the book included 68 new recipes. My favorite addition? The gorgeous carrot cake gracing the cover of SAVEUR’s 25th anniversary issue. When I called, Prueitt actually flew to New York to bake the thing in our test kitchen. Thanks, Liz, for making our 25th birthday such a special one.

For this rich and textured carrot cake recipe, Prueitt uses dark and nutty teff flour as its primary starch, which happens to make it gluten-free. —Kat Craddock

Featured in “Bake Our 25th Anniversary Cake”.

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Softened goat cheese adds delightful tang to these bittersweet chocolate cupcakes from cookbook author Leah Koenig. Vanilla bean gives the frosting a pretty, faintly speckled look. If you prefer a pure-white topping, good quality vanilla extract is a fine substitute.

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In this version of the classic English dessert, adapted from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Rose’s Heavenly Cakes, dates are soaked in stout beer and then puréed, resulting in a super-moist crumb. This recipe first appeared in our December 2014 issue in the story England’s Sticky Toffee Pudding Trail. To pull out all the stops, serve it in a pool of vanilla-thyme crème anglaise.

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Dense and fudgy along the edges and liquified in the center, this molten chocolate cake recipe resists overbaking due to a cleverly placed ganache truffle. This dessert is intended to be served straight out of the oven; feel free to prepare the ganache and batter up to 24 hours ahead of time so that it’s easy to fire off the cakes “à la minute.”

This recipe is adapted from a version inspired by the Jean-Georges Vongerichten dessert, which originally ran in the 2011 SAVEUR 100.

Featured in “You Don’t Have to Apologize For Loving This 90’s Dessert.”

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“Between chocolate and fruit desserts, I always choose fruit,” says Georgia Goggi, the cook at Puglia’s Masseria Moroseta. She makes this simple pear cake recipe from memory. “I brush it with honey and lemon glaze to keep the top moist and shiny.” In fall, pears or apples work well, or in summer, peaches, apricots, and berries do too. Spelt, an ancient grain, lends a hearty crumb and golden color.

Featured in “This Garden-Driven Cook is Shaking Things Up In Southern Italy”

What You Will Need

• 9-inch Cake Pan
• Parchment Paper
• Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
• Medium Bowl
• Whisk
• Small Pot

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Welcome to SAVEUR’s column on how to cook local produce according to our contributing editor Fatima Khawaja. This is where you’ll find creative, unfussy meal ideas plus plenty of cooking advice—like what to do with that bumper crop of zucchini or how to store delicate heirloom tomatoes. Every other week, Fatima hits the farmers market and chooses a peak-season ingredient to explore in depth. Follow along, and you’ll learn how to turn the season’s bounty into easy plant-based meals that’ll be on the table in under an hour.

How do you feel about supermarket strawberries? Because they consistently let me down. Strawberry season is in full swing, yet the packaged ones at my neighborhood grocery are somehow bitter, mealy, and white inside. Those aren’t the bright red jewels I’ve been buying by the truckload at the farmers market. I always grab an extra pint at my favorite stall to share with my daughter on the way home, the berries’ crimson juices dripping down her arms and shirt.

Make this cake with those market-fresh berries, or—as I like to do—with the mushy ones forgotten in the back of the fridge, so they don’t go to waste. You can use stone fruit instead of strawberries, or a mix of both. Revived with a quick maceration, the berries bake into a simple but delicate cake fragrant with brown butter, lemon, and vanilla. 

When shopping for berries of any type, give the container a light shake to make sure the fruit on the bottom moves (that way you know it’s firm and not crushed). And enjoy them quickly: Farmers market berries last only a day or two before they start to turn. For longer-term storage, I destem and freeze berries in a freezer bag or turn them into preserves and jam. By the way, if it’s too darn hot to turn on the oven, bookmark this cake for cooler weather—it’s equally delectable made with frozen berries—and check out our collection of strawberry recipes for additional ideas.

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Ground almonds and full-fat cottage cheese lend body and flavor to this delicate and creamy strawberry cheesecake from Asa Johansson, a gardener and writer who lived on the Swedish island of Oland. For the Midsummer holiday, she served the cake with clouds of whipped cream and ripe berries.

Featured in: “A Midsummer’s Dream.“

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In 2018, S Jeevanandan migrated from the Kerala village of Ramassery to Chennai, a sunny city in the state of Tamil Nadu over 300 miles away. A former tea stall owner, Jeevanandan now has a job at the one-of-a-kind restaurant Kappa Chakka Kandhari. The kitchen there is partly run by a motley group of home cooks who specialize not only in skills, but also in specific Kerala-style dishes. Jeevanandan’s forte is Ramassery idlis, of which he makes 300 every day, and his family is one of only two in the world that still makes them in the traditional way, and in the dish’s place of origin.

Kappa Chakka Kandhari is an award-winning restaurant co-founded by chef Regi Mathew that specifically employs “special-skill cooks” like Jeevanandan. On a given day, approximately 20 chefs work together to cook their signature dishes for patrons. The restaurant came as a result of Mathew’s research tours that brought him to 265 homes and 70 toddy shops across Kerala over a three-year period. He embarked on these trips to procure the best-quality tapioca, pepper, coconut, chiles, rice, and other ingredients emblematic of Kerala—and also to archive approximately 800 homestyle recipes from across the state. It was during one of these trips that he chanced upon Jeevanandan and his Ramassery idlis. 

Idlis are steamed savory cakes made from rice and lentils and probably originated on the Indian subcontinent—though theories about the dish’s creation do vary. Some believe it arrived in India from present-day Indonesia around 800-1200 CE. Other historians claim Arab traders introduced it to Indians in the southern belt of the country during the 7th century; to avoid confusion around what food was halaal and what was haraam (forbidden), the traders began to roll rice balls, which were easy to make. But Mathew says he has a hunch that it was in the 10th century, during the Chola Dynasty’s expedition to East Asia, that South Indians acquired the technique of steaming black gram and rice—which eventually became the earliest idlis.

Today, there are more than 50 varieties of idli across India, including both modern and traditional interpretations. According to Vijay Kumar, a chef and partner at the Indian restaurant Semma in New York City, “One of the oldest uses of the idli batter led to Kanchipuram idlis that come from the city of Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu. It used to be served as prasadam—sacred food of the temples—and what separates them is the flavoring of black pepper, cumin seeds, ginger powder and mustard seeds.”

Like Kanchipuram idlis, the majority of India’s idli varieties come from the state of Tamil Nadu, where most are made from rice. “Then there are others like rava idli—made out of semolina—which originated in a popular eatery in Bengaluru, Karnataka called Mavalli Tiffin Rooms,” says Sanjay Rawat, chef de cuisine at The Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Beach, California. “During World War II, when India was under a political emergency, the shortage of rice led to the chefs innovating and creating a new version of the dish. Another variety from Karnataka is thatte idli, which is made on a plate instead of an idli cooker.” (Thatte is the Kannada word for plate.) In South Kerala, Rawat adds, another variety is millet-based and uses no rice.

As for Ramassery idli, this variety is made from rice, lentils, and fenugreek soaked for a few hours, then ground in a wet stone grinder and fermented for six to eight hours. What separates it from other varieties is that it is flatter and spongier than regular idlis. It also uses a scented variety of rice called Iruppu chamba (more common idli varieties are usually made from a rice called ponni). When the Ramassery idlis are ready to be served, they are turned directly onto a plachi leaf instead of a plate or a bowl.

Ramassery idli is a rather unusual dish for Kerala, where the cuisine is known for aromatic meat curries, parotta and appams. “Ramassery idli was brought to Kerala by the Mudaliar sect, a weaver community who journeyed from the Thanjavur region in Tamil Nadu to Kerala around 200 years ago,” says Mathew. As these artisans moved around selling their weaves, they needed to carry sustenance on their long journeys, and idlis had a shelf life of three to four days. Eaten along with podi and gingelly oil, it was their ideal meal for the road. Today, idlis continue to be a source of nutrition during long journeys. “The Defense Food Research Laboratory in India declared that moistureless idlis, with sides of sambar powder and coconut chutney [are] to be packed for astronauts to take to space,” notes chef Rawat.  

The Mudaliar weaver families eventually settled in Ramassery, a small village on the outskirts of Palakkad, and this style of idli became a village staple. Over the years, the industrialization of weaving in India threatened the artisans’ livelihoods, so Mudaliars shifted their source of income to focus on running tea shops and selling idlis to villagers and travelers who passed through Ramassery. 

Ramassery idlis are cooked not in metal steamers but in curve-necked earthen pots. Because earthenware is porous and holds moisture better, these pots result in spongier idlis. The pot is lined with earthen rings, which are woven with thin cords to create a web-like structure on which a muslin cloth rests (a clear connection to the Mudaliars’ former vocation as weavers). The fermented idli batter is ladled onto the muslin-clad ring, and these rings are then stacked inside a pot filled with water. When it’s time to cook the idlis, the pots rest over a live fire made of tamarind wood. “In such a vessel, the steam travels right through the thin cloth, all the way to the top, and then the trapped steam comes running down, which results in air-soft idlis,” Mathew explains. 

Today, only two families descended from the original Mudaliars are preserving this legacy and passing it on. Both these families have a combined 17 descendants who are involved in running stalls that sell the Ramassery idlis. S Jeevanandan’s brother Shankara Narayana Mudaliar currently heads their family stall, Shankar Vilas, while Chithrayan Mudaliar is the successor running the other family’s Saraswathi Tea Stall. 

For Mathew, including dishes like Ramassery idli on the menu of his restaurant not only gives diners a taste of a bygone era of Indian cuisine, but also preserves foods that may otherwise be lost to time. “The generation before me made them, and the next generation will have no access to them,” he says. Feeling responsible to preserve those unique slices of culture and cuisine, he decided to help them live on—“before it goes extinct.” Mathew feels that Ramessary idlis are especially at risk of fading away because they are complex to make. Each earthen pot can only make three idlis at a time, while a regular steamer can usually accommodate many more. 

Similar to how the Mudaliars paired their idlis with gingelly oil and podi powder, Mathew’s restaurant serves Ramassery idlis with a helping of podi, a dry powder made from Palakkadan matta (a variety of red rice) and spices like chillies, asafoetida, and curry leaves. According to Mathew, other modern ways to serve Ramassery idlis are with dishes like sambar (a stew of lentils and vegetables) or chicken curry. 

Across India today, Ramassery idlis are beginning to spread—thanks in large part to Kappa Chakka Kandhari, which was among the first to serve Ramassery idlis in a restaurant format. Idlis are now popping up in eateries across Kerala and Tamil Nadu, on wedding menus, and several home cooks on YouTube have been demonstrating the technique for their viewers. 

Whenever he gets the chance to return to Ramassery, Jeevanandan trains his eager 16-year-old son, who is next in line for his role at Kappa Chakka Kandhari, to make Ramassery idlis: “Of course, once he completes his studies, he will be offered the job—and if he is still in the mood to make idlis,” says Mathew. 

Over the last 28 years that he has been cooking, little has changed about the way 50-year-old Jeevanandan makes idlis. “The cooking technique has not changed at all, but the crop of rice from the same paddy field in Ramaserry has changed. It’s less starchy these days. Also, we used to grind the batter in a manual grinder, now it’s mechanical,” he says. And he is happy and proud to be cooking this dish for the rest of his life. “This was handed over to me by my father. It is a legacy recipe. These idlis saved us when weaving stopped, and I consider myself lucky, the chosen one, its guardian,” he says.

Recipe

Thatte Idli with Podi

Get the recipe >

The post The Revival of an Under-the-Radar Idli from Kerala appeared first on Saveur.

Growing up, cookbook author Kristina Cho called these fluffy treats Pau Pau’s cupcakes. Her grandmother, whom she calls Pau Pau, makes them just for the Lunar New Year. Sometimes called “prosperity cake,” fa gao is an auspicious dish for the holiday: according to Chinese culture, the taller the cakes rise, the more prosperous the new year promises to be. 

Back in Hong Kong, Cho’s grandmother used a special self-rising flour made specifically for fa gao, but when she immigrated to the United States, she adapted the recipe to use ingredients she could find at her local markets in downtown Cleveland. Today, Bisquick is still Pau Pau’s secret ingredient for super soft, ultra fluffy fa gao.

This recipe is adapted from Kristina Cho’s cookbook, Mooncakes and Milk Bread: Sweet and Savory Recipes Inspired by Chinese Bakeries.

Featured in “Mooncakes & Milk Bread Author Kristina Cho Celebrates Chinese-Style Baking” by Megan Zhang. 

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