FLAVORS FROM TEHRAN AND THE BALKANS: FIVE PASSOVER SEDER RECIPES INSPIRED BY TEL AVIV'S ICONIC STREET MARKET

Flavors From Tehran and the Balkans: Five Passover Seder Recipes Inspired by Tel Aviv's Iconic Street Market

Here's to an unpretentious Passover seder

April 21st, 20PM April 21st, 20PM

I love the Levinsky Market. I love to wander the Tel Aviv streets near the area where there was once a flourishing and crowded food market, because you can still find small, rundown-looking stores that specialize in one kind of item, and behind the counters the same familiar sellers have been standing for decades: the brush man – with a selection of brooms and feathers – cuddles his little nephew; or the man with the jars and glass dishes, hushing the incidental buyers when the transistor radio broadcasts the daily horoscope.

Delicious Passover Recipes - Right Here

I love the Levinsky Market because there you can see actually see the layers and strata from which local cuisine was constructed (even if it sometimes seems as though all the spice shops, delicatessens and stores selling nuts and seeds are the same). The delicatessens of Haim Raphael and Yom Tov are evidence of the neighborhood's Balkan past; anyone looking for Persian lemon and pomegranate concentrate makes a pilgrimage to the Shai Baradarian's spice shop; and anyone in search of Golda Meir's favorite coffee blend, or the spice blend typical of Georgian cuisine, come to Georgette Raphaeli's roastery.

I love the Levinsky Market, because despite the accelerated processes of gentrification and the constant declarations to the effect that it is a popular culinary complex, new small business owners have had the sense to maintain its modest and simple character. One example is Ouzeria, a small bar-restaurant opened by chef Avivit Priel-Avichai and built in her image, which seems as though it has always been in the market.

Dishes like moussaka and yogurt ice cream with apricot leather, pistachios and honey, hint at the Middle Eastern and Greek inspiration. Other dishes, which change with the seasons, are prepared from local ingredients and items gathered every day in the nearby market shops. Everything is pervaded by a pleasant feeling, effortless and unpretentious. Simple, in the best sense of the word, but not simplistic. A restaurant that manages to connect to the spirit of the place and the area where it is located, but maintains its unique flavor. The same is also true of the recipes we asked Avivit to prepare for Passover.

Green garlic and asparagus soup with poached egg

When the markets are full of fragrant stalls of green garlic, with their lovely white and purple bulbs, it's a sign that spring has come. Green garlic has a more delicate taste than dried garlic, and it can be cooked whole, including the heads and part of the stalks (from which you can also prepare a wonderful garlic pesto). The softness of the young cloves gives the soup a surprising creamy texture, which doesn't require butter or cream. (The poached egg can be replaced with a splash of dairy or vegetarian cream.)

Fish and ful (fava bean) kebab on skordalia

Skordalia is a Greek garlic spread usually prepared with bread. This recipe comes from Stella, a Greek cook who has a small hotel and restaurant on the island of Pharos. The absence of bread lends the spread a pleasant creamy texture.

Glazed carrots

Traditional tzimmes, a sweet dish of carrot slices and prunes, appears on the family table once or twice a year, but is barely touched. Young carrots, glazed in goose fat or butter and very flavorful, could definitely bring about a change.

Compote of red fruits with 'floating islands'

Fresh strawberries and citrus juice lend the compote of dried fruits a fresh balance and a wonderful red color. The Habshush family shop, Ouzeria's supplier of spices and dried fruits, is my private Aladdin's cave. There's always something new, exotic and surprising to taste there, and the family members are among my favorite people in the market. Credit for adding the wonderful hibiscus to the compote goes entirely to them.

Generations of spice merchants

On Fridays the line begins to form at 7:30 A.M. The city has yet to open a lazy eye, the streets are empty, but in Habshush's shop, where they sell herbs, legumes and dried fruits, regular customers are already awaiting their turn. In the long, narrow space – full of sacks and packages from floor to ceiling – you can wait a long time until you win the full attention of one of the family members, but angry customers are rare. The fine fresh merchandise – pods of smoked cardamom from India, Barhi dates from Neot Smadar, licorice from Turkey and dried mulberries from Uzbekistan – justify a long wait, and the charming Habshushes know how to calm even the angriest people with their relaxed manner.

Arie Habshush, with his quiet dignity, sits behind the counter. His two sons, Uri and Itamar, fill bags and serve the customers. "James, do we have mustard oil?" Uri asks his father ("At work I call him James. It's not easy to work with Father, and if I call him Dad that already places us in a problematic situation, so James. Here's to a shot of Jameson whiskey"). It is rare to find family businesses in the market in which members of the third generation – born in the 1970s and 1980s – choose to follow in their fathers' footsteps; the veteran Habshush family business is one of them.

The story begins in Sana'a, Yemen. Arie Habshush estimates the family has been trading in spices and legumes for at least 150 to 200 years. "The Habshush family were among the biggest merchants in Sana'a," he says. "Before they turned to commerce they were ironmongers who specialized in producing nargilas. One of our ancestors started the business, largely thanks to a commercial ship that was shipwrecked and was sold to the family with all its contents.

"The family business covered an entire street – on the ground floor were the stores and above them lived the extended family – and it included trade in spices, fabrics, perfumes and dried fruits. They prayed in the morning, ate breakfast at 9 or 10 A.M. and then conducted a day of business in a relaxed manner. Not like here," he adds sadly, looking at the busy line in the store in Eretz Israel.

In 1927 several family members – including Arie's father Elazar – were sent to scout out this country. "They returned and reported on a desolate and disease-ridden place, but in 1931 part of the family immigrated anyway, including my father. They came with a lot of money, opened a shop in the Carmel Market, but after a year moved to nearby Jaffa to the warehouses of the port. In 1947, when the [Arab] riots began, the warehouses burned down, and they moved here, to 16 Hahalutzim Street. The halutzim [pioneers] of Hahalutzim Street. The shop was on the ground floor, the family lived on the top floor and I was born here into the business."

2024-04-21T17:43:09Z dg43tfdfdgfd