Cholent is such a classic and indulgent dish.
I love to prepare it and enjoy it with the entire family.
This time I decided to upgrade the classic cholent and season it with spices from the Balkan side of my family.
I made Greek-style Cholent, which is not only perfect and super tasty,
It also has a vegan version.
And also a fast version that’ll win your heart.
There’s nothing like this magical moment,
When everyone sits around the table,
United and happy.
The festive salad waiting for its main course,
And then the hot hot cholent arrives,
Opening the pot reveals a lot of steam that’s surrounding the table area,
Everyone wants to peek in and meet the soft bite.
The beauty is in the colors that become one,
With flavors that merge and become a huge celebration of happiness,
And the wonderful abundance that’s in this dreamy and family pot.
This is a family dish that’s eaten together around the table,
That’s the magic of this wonderful bite,
And the beauty of it is that it adapts itself to everyone,
It can be vegan.
It can be spontaneous,
It can be rich in vegetables,
It can be full of legumes,
And the crazy part is that it’ll remind everyone who tastes it of the magical rice that hides inside the stuffed vine leaves that we all love.
It’s a pot of home and good times,
A pot of winter and family moments.
Whoever prepares it will fall in love in an instant,
Because this is a recipe that’ll enter your home and simply won’t leave it.
Happy, delicious and joyful family days to all of us 🙂
Shabbat Cholent
Ingredients
Suitable for a family cholent pot for 6-8 servings
- 4-8 pieces of chicken can be drumsticks, thighs or poussin
- 200g grated carrot (about 1½ cups)
- 200g fresh spinach leaves
- 4 sliced garlic cloves
- 2 cups washed rice (I chose basmati rice)
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 5 cups water
- 400g chopped tomatoes (passata)
- Any type of legumes you like, just make sure they’re ready to eat, I have:
200g ready-to-eat brown beans
200g ready-to-eat white beans
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper
- 8-10 slices of roasted eggplant (optional)
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 355°F (180°C).
In a separate pot, lightly fry eggplant slices, you can fry only half way, no need for full frying.
In a pot suitable for the oven and gas, heat a little olive oil and lightly fry the grated carrot. Add the spinach leaves and sauté until they surrender to the heat and unite with the carrot. Add the garlic slices and the washed rice and mix with the carrot and spinach. Add the spices and combine all the ingredients together.
Remove all the rice mixture from the pot and pour a little olive oil in the bottom of it. Place the poultry with the part of the skin placed towards the bottom of the pot, arrange them in the bottom of the pot and put half of the amount of rice on top of them. Put the two types of beans on the rice and add all the remaining rice on top of them. Turn off the fire and continue to assemble the pot.
Put the diced tomatoes and water in a bowl and mix well. Pour everything gently and carefully over the contents of the pot, so that the liquid fills the pot evenly. Place the eggplant slices on top of the liquid, and if you want to add a little more flavor, you can put a small bunch of thyme.
Wet parchment paper, crumple it and squeeze it well. Open the parchment paper and arrange it over the entire surface of the liquid in the pot, cover it with a lid and put it in the oven to bake.
Start by baking for 60 minutes at 355°F (180°C). After 1 hour, you can lower the oven heat to 285-300°F (150-140°C) overnight or leave the oven at 355°F (180°C) for another 30 minutes.
After 1½ hours in the oven, our pot will be ready. Short and long baking will give softer chicken and depth of flavors.
Take it out of the oven straight to the dining table, remove the lid and the parchment paper and serve with great joy.
A little extra from me:
- I seasoned the salad that I served alongside the cholent with a perfect vinaigrette sauce that contains:
¼ cup of olive oil, juice of a whole lemon, ½ teaspoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of maple syrup / honey, a pinch of white pepper (optional).
- You can keep the cholent in the fridge in a sealed box for 4-5 days.
- You can make the cholent without the chicken for a wonderful vegan version.
- You can add other legumes that you like to the cholent.
- I recommend choosing legumes that are ready to eat or prepare them in advance.
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