Cooking on Shabbat is prohibited as one of the 39 categories of work that we are supposed to refrain from on the day of rest. In order to have hot food for Shabbat lunch, Jews prepare a special dish. Cholent, also known as Hamim, is a traditional Shabbat lunch stew that is prepared before sundown on Friday night and left on a low flame throughout Shabbat. You can do this with a stove top, but a slow cooker makes things really easy and safe.
Historically, it was a meal on a budget. My great-grandfather ate it growing up in Poland with beans, barely, potato, and little to no meat, but usually a meat bone for some flavor. There are hundreds of variations of this dish from all over the world, wherever Jews have lived.
My personal twist on cholent is the addition of gochujang, which is a Korean fermented soy paste with a spicy kick to it. I add it to many dishes while I’m cooking and one dayI decided to toss it in my cholent. It’s been a staple ever since!
Ingredients
- Oil with a high-smoke point such as Vegetable, Avocado, or Grapeseed oil
- 1 white or brown onion diced
- 5 garlic cloves whole
- 2 teaspoons ground allspice
- 2 tablespoons seasoned salt I use Lawrys, divided
- 2 pounds flanken
- 2 potatoes peeled and cut into 1-2 inch cubes
- 2 sweet potatoes peeled and cut into 1-2 inch cubes
- 1 ½ cups barley
- 2-4 tablespoons gochujang depending on how spicy you want it
- ÂĽ cup tomato paste
- 4-6 cups water
- Consommé powder See instructions on your consommé powder of how much per cup of water you need, mine is 1 ⅓ tsp per cup
Nutritional Facts
Instructions
- Put 3 tablespoons oil in a pan on medium or high heat. Add onion, garlic, allspice and 1 tablespoon seasoned salt. Sauté onions on medium high heat until golden. Remove from pan and set aside.
- Add 1 tablespoon oil to the pan and turn up to high heat. Season the meat with the remaining seasoned salt. Brown for 1 minute per side until a nice crust develops. This crust creates a maillard reaction and adds another level of flavor to the meat.
- Add potatoes and sweet potatoes to the slow cooker. Add onion, barley, and browned meat. In a small bowl, make a slurry of the gochujang, tomato paste and 1 cup of boiling water by mixing well. Then add another 3 cups water to the slurry and incorporate.
- Pour mixture into the slow cooker. Food should be mostly covered by water. If you need more water, add 1 cup at a time (and keep track of how many!) until full. Add consommé powder based on how much water used and your package of consommé (mine says 1 ⅓ teaspoon per cup. I know if I use 6 cups of water, I need about 8 teaspoons consommé ). Add to the slow cooker and set it to low for at least 6 hours or until Shabbat lunch, which can be about 18 hours.
