PASSOVER 2009: No Chametz, No Legumes, No Meat, No Dairy? No Problem!

by Julie Wiener
Special To The Jewish Week

Since my husband is a vegetarian, it’s always been my responsibility to bring a vegetarian dish to the family seder.

My kitchen shelves overflow with vegetarian cookbooks, but Passover — especially the seder — creates a unique challenge. Although my family does not keep kosher, on Jewish holidays I feel uncomfortable serving anything with dairy in it while there’s also meat on the table. So that means no cheese, of course.
When you add all the Passover-specific restrictions, particularly the Ashkenazi custom of avoiding kitniyot, finding something satisfying, filling and tasty can be really tough. After all, no kitniyot means that veggie protein staples like tofu, beans and rice are out of the question.

So onerous is the no-kitniyot ban for vegetarians,

especially for vegans, who avoid eggs and other animal products, that some are urging rabbinic authorities to reconsider the whole issue.

Richard Schwartz, the president of Jewish Vegetarians of North America and author of “Judaism and Vegetarianism” (originally published in 1982), has been a vegetarian for over 30 years. An Orthodox Jew who lives on Staten Island, he keeps strictly kosher for Passover and avoids kitniyot.
While Schwartz doesn’t mind subsisting on salads, fruits, nuts and minimal protein for eight days, he thinks it’s time for Ashkenazi rabbis to reverse the no-kitniyot tradition in order to encourage more Jews to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle.

Rabbis first banned kitniyot in 15th-century Europe. Most scholars believe the tradition stemmed from fears that, because such foods were often stored alongside chametz and ground into similar flours, allowing them might lead an observant Jew to accidentally eat chametz.

“Kitniyot is based on a custom of building fences around certain mitzvot, but in doing so we are ignoring other important mitzvot,” says Schwartz. He believes that promoting vegetarianism is “urgent for planetary survival” and that, because of their adverse impact on the environment and animal well-being, “animal-based diets impinge on Jewish values.”

While kitniyot remain taboo for Ashkenazi Jews at Passover, with a little creativity and know-how one can still assemble a variety of tasty and nutritious vegetarian dishes for the holiday.

Though not a vegetarian herself, Jayne Cohen, author of “Jewish Holiday Cooking,” (Wiley 2008), usually has at least one vegetarian guest at her seder table. And she is emphatic that the vegetarians shouldn’t have to suffer. “One thing that is really nice is to make a puree of something like potatoes or cauliflower, then mix it with something crunchy like toasted garlicky matzah crumbs and then layer it maybe with roasted tomatoes,” Cohen said, noting that toasted nuts and “lavish use of mushrooms” are good flavor enhancers for vegetarian Passover dishes.

The protein-laden and grain-like quinoa (approved for Passover by most, but not all Orthodox rabbis) is also a good option, and those who aren’t vegan can enjoy protein-rich vegetable kugels that are made with eggs.

Figuring that a vegan chef would know how to put together a satisfying meal with neither meat nor dairy, I recruited Isa Chandra Moskowitz to develop two vegan Passover recipes for The Jewish Week. The author of several popular vegan cookbooks and host of the “Post Punk Kitchen” cooking shows on Google Video, Moskowitz, 36, is something of a superstar in the subculture of folks who abstain from all animal products.
Although not religious, Brooklyn-native Moskowitz (currently living in Portland, Ore.), keeps kosher by default: a vegan for more than 20 years, everything she cooks and consumes is pareve. And while her books are classified as vegetarian rather than kosher, they are actually indispensable for any kosher kitchen. Not only can her dishes stand alone, but they can accompany dairy or meat meals alike, and books like “Vegan with a Vengeance” and “Veganomicon” include many traditional Jewish dishes, such as tzimmes, latkes, knishes and kugel.

Moskowitz, who hosts a seder each year, was somewhat stumped at first by the myriad kitniyot restrictions. For years she’s been serving a vegetable broth with fluffy matzah balls, but she’s always depended on tofu to replace the eggs.

“It’s hard to find something goopy to hold everything together,” she explains. This year, after much experimentation, she decided the answer was flax seeds.

Moskowitz’s vegan seders also usually include roasted vegetables, both sweet and savory; kugels and latkes with roasted applesauce. “I know latkes are for Chanukah, but I always make them for Passover too,” she says.

This year, for those suffering from potato fatigue, she livened up the latkes by supplementing with yucca. And a mango-apple salsa evokes charoset while enhancing the yucca’s south-of-the-border flavor.
The recipe for Yucca Latkes with Mango-Apple Salsa can be found at www.thejewishweek.com.

Yucca Latkes With Mango Salsa (courtesy of Isa Chandra Moskowitz)

Makes about 18

1 pound starchy white potatoes, peeled (such as russet, Idaho)

1 1/2 pound peeled yucca

1 small yellow onion, peeled

1/4 cup potato starch

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 cups matzah meal

Lots of vegetable oil

If using a food processor:

Use the grating blade to shred the potatoes, yucca and onion.

If shredding by hand, use a grater to shred everything. Dice the onion as finely as possible.

Have ready brown paper shopping bags or paper towels for draining the oil from the latkes. You may also want to have the oven on at 200 F to keep the latkes warm until you’re ready to serve. If serving immediately then just have a baking pan covered with tin foil ready to keep the finished ones warm after they’ve been drained.

In a large mixing bowl, using a wooden spoon or your hands, mix the potatoes, yucca and onions with the potato starch until the potatoes have released some moisture and the potato starch is dissolved, about 2 minutes.

Add the salt and pepper to combine. Add the matzah meal and mix well. Set aside for about 10 minutes. The mixture should get liquid-y but sticky.

In the meantime, preheat a large preferably cast iron but definitely nonstick skillet over medium heat, a little bit on the high side. Add about 1/4 inch layer of vegetable oil to the pan. The oil is hot enough when you throw a bit of batter in and bubbles rapidly form around it. If it immediately smokes then the heat is too high and you should lower it a bit. If the bubbles are really lazy then give it a few more minutes or turn the heat up a bit.

With wet hands (so that the mixture doesn’t stick) roll into small golf ball-sized balls. Flatten into thin round patties. I do about 4 to 6 at a time. Fry on one side for about 4 minutes, until golden brown. Flip over and fry for another 3 minutes.

Transfer to the paper towels and proceed with the remaining latkes. Once latkes have drained on both sides, place in a baking pan to keep warm.

Apple Mango Salsa

2 apples, peeled, cored and diced

1 large mango, peeled and diced medium

small red onion, diced

1 jalapeño, seeded and thinly sliced

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

juice from two limes

Mix all ingredients together.