By, Victoria Prever
1 min read
When I was young, Purim engendered a modest amount of excitement at the thought of eating hamantaschen. But hamantaschen were as nothing compared with the kreplach soup we had for lunch. The dish marked the beginning of my lifelong love affair with dumplings.
The festivities were marked by a little more drinking than usual, the menfolk preferring schnapps to wine. Never convinced by the idea of whisky at lunchtime, or with any meal, for that matter, I’d rather make the most of vodka. Small sips from ice-cold glasses of the best stuff – that’s a good accompaniment for the Ashkenazi food I grew up on.
In more festive form, a vodka cocktail of distinction might be preferable to some. You can get kosher ingredients for most cocktails nowadays, and kosher vodka is both easy to find and of very high quality. Check out Kosher Wines UK (www.kosherwineuk.com) for a generous selection. Of the more expensive bottles, I am particularly enamoured of English-grown-and-distilled Chase. For value for money, no vodka on earth can beat Russian Standard.
The indisputable vodka classic is, of course, the bloody Mary. I have a perfect recipe for it, which can serve as a starting point for your own experiments.
