Top 3 Vegan Tu B’Shvat Recipes
Tu B’Shvat is the Jewish new year of the trees. In Israel, people get together and celebrate by eating delicious foods made with the 7 species of the season.
Masa Israel’s Eco-Israel program embraces this holiday every day of the year by living on and off-of the land. Participants learn permaculture and agriculture while living sustainably on an organic farm.
To celebrate Tu B’Svhat, they sent us these delicious and unique vegan recipes to give us a peek into their lives on the Hava and Adam Farm and how they celebrate the holiday. Enjoy these recipes and Chag Tu B’Shvat sameach from Eco-Israel and Masa Israel Journey!
Check out these 3 Vegan Tu B’Shvat Recipes
Rice Stuffed Grape Leaves
This is a delicious, simple to prepare recipe, perfect for cooking with your friends for Tu B’shvat or for Shabbat.
Ingredients (50 servings)
Rice Filling:
• 1 kg rice
• 1 large white onion, finely chopped
• bunch of parsley, finely chopped
• 2-3 tomatoes, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, grated (coarse)
• The bundle of celery (celery), without a stalk and finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon Haooig ‘
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/2 cup oil
Grape Leaves
• 50 grape leaves fresh or pickled good quality
• 1-2 potatoes, sliced
• water
• a little lemon juice
• Olive oil
Preparation
1. Mix all rice filling ingredients together into the rice (uncooked). Be sure the vegetables and spices are mixed uniformly.
2. Rinse the vine leaves well. It is best to use fresh grape leaves (in season) if possible.
3. Place each leaf separately on the work surface, with the rough side of the leaf facing down. Place the center of each place approximately a teaspoon of the rice filling.
4. Folding: First fold the right and left side into the center and then rolled into a cigar-shape. Continue steps 3 and 4 until you have used all of your rice mixture and grape leaves.
5. Place the bottom of a medium saucepan sliced raw potatoes and place in a circle above the rolled grape leaves. Place a large plate over the leaves to help them steam. Pour cold water up to the level of the leaves, a little lemon juice to taste and olive oil for flavor.
6. Cook until the water boils over high heat and transfer to a low fire or hotplate until all the liquid evaporates (about an hour to an hour and a half, depending on the size of the pot and the amount of water you may have). Serve hot or cold.
Feel free to experiment with a variety of fillings! Bon Appetit!
Homemade Wine
Preparing wine is a complex and expensive business, but there is a simple and fun to make wine from an ancient method, without the purchase of sophisticated equipment and without using wine yeast.
Preparation
1. Find a local place to purchase grapes; wine grapes are preferred. 1.2 kilograms of wine grapes makes 700 ml of wine.
2. Separate the grapes from the stems and wash the grapes.
3. Crush the grapes to get their juice.
4. Wash all the pulp and liquid in very hot water, such as a glass jar or plastic container for food. Use a container a third larger than the amount of pulp and liquid you have, to prevent “surfing” during the process.
5. For sweet wine drinkers, you can add up to 10 percent of the amount of sugar to the grapes.
6. Cover the vessel with a cloth–a towel or cheesecloth– and keep in a cool, dark place for 40 days.
7. You will need to release the gas that develops under a layer of pulp and peels float. Every few days, shake the container to loosen this layer.
8. After the 40 days you can filter the wine, put it in a glass bottle and seal it air tight with a cork. The bottles should be washed in very hot water.
And that’s it, you’ve got homemade wine!
Wondering how you made wine without added yeast? The grapes naturally have what you need for fermentation! The grape skins naturally grow wild yeast. This yeast, is different from yeast used in pastries. It feeds on sugar and breaks it down into carbon dioxide and alcohol in a process called “fermentation”.
While crushing the grapes, we remove them from the liquid freshwater and bring them into contact with the yeast on the skin, and fermentation begins.
Fig jam
Ingredients
• 1 kg of figs bathed and divided
• 0.5 kg of sugar
• spices to taste:
• Lemon
• Cinnamon stick
• Vanilla bean
• Star anise
Preparation
1. Put all the ingredients in medium saucepan and bring to boil, stirring occasionally.
2. When it comes to a boil lower the heat and continue cooking for about an hour (do not forget to keep stirring).
3. When ready (How do you know? Take a drop of jam and try to drip it on a plate. If the drop is liquidy continue cooking. If not – turn off the heat) immediately remove from heat.
4. When it starts to cool down put into a jar and seal completely.
