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Self-isolating for Pesach in Tel Aviv with Doda Ilana's Persian charoset

A traditional dish provides comfort during Covid

April 1, 2020 12:39
Sephardi Jewish charoset
Sephardi Jewish charoset
1 min read

Serves: 1 - 8

Here in Israel we are currently restricted to only leaving home for food shopping, medicine shopping, receiving medical care or stretching our legs within 100 metres of home. Police have begun to enforce this and do spot checks and generally Tel Aviv is pretty quiet and a bit of a ghost town. It’s been amazing hearing the birds tweet all day long!
Many have had a hard time adjusting to the new ‘isolation’ reality but I’ve actually seen it as a bit of a blessing in disguise. I’m still working, but also now finding more time for ‘me’ without the constant rush! I’ve been reading, cooking, listening to podcasts, doing yoga, watching Netflix, doing a couple of online courses and getting plenty of early nights! I hope others are also using the time wisely to unwind or learn new things.
Seder night will definitely be one to remember this year (with me myself and I for company and Zoom video conferencing! But that’s also absolutely fine and it means there’ll be all the more charoset for me!!
I'll be making this Persian Charoset, a recipe passed down for generations in my (Persian) family and passed to me by my dear Auntie Ilana in Jerusalem. She usually makes a huge batch and distributed amongst her kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews etc but this year is different from all other years!

Once made, it can be frozen or simply kept in the fridge in a sealed container. If you cannot find all  the ingredients, that’s ok too... but hopefully all are fairly easy to find.

Method:

Ingredients

500g dates
500g almonds
500g walnuts
500g pistachios
2 medium sized pomegranates
240ml red wine (can be normal or super sweet kiddush wine)
120ml grape juice eg Tirosh
60ml vinegar (cider or standard)