How to cook favorite Jewish recipes in a more healthful way (2024)

“Healthy Jewish Kitchen” – sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? That cholesterol-laden fare you usually associate with Jewish cuisine didn’t stop Paula Shoyer, the undisputed queen of kosher baking, from tackling this challenge.

In December 2015, only one month after her mother had passed away, Shoyer’s publisher asked her to write a healthy kosher cookbook. The grieving process had taken its toll on her diet and stamina. “The healthy angle was particularly fortuitous,” she recalled. “I knew it was time for me to eat better.”

The result was her latest cookbook, “The Healthy Jewish Kitchen,” (Sterling Epicure, $24.95) with more than 60 recipes, including more healthful versions of American and international dishes like arroz con pollo, schnitzel, and Korean bibimbap as well as updated versions of Jewish classics like potato latkes, tsimmes and apple strudel.

With the holidays behind us, the New Year signals a determination to get healthy. Yet a commonly quoted statistic tells us that only eight percent of us keep our New Year’s resolutions. How to maintain that resolve? Shoyer doesn’t suggest foregoing your favorite foods completely. “This is a way for you to start eating better,” she explained, with an emphasis on “start.” “I am not standing here preaching. I go to Paris and Israel and eat my way through their best restaurants and bakeries. Good nutrition is about balance and finding a way to introduce into your diet more and more healthful food as often as possible. I am simply offering you a subtle shift towards better health without giving up your favorite foods.”

Here are recipes you don’t have to be kosher, or even Jewish, to enjoy. The typical American diet relies too heavily on processed ingredients, salt, fats and sugar, she noted, with not enough whole grains, fruits and vegetables. “My goal was to create recipes that use only natural ingredients.I banished margarine, processed stocks and powders and most jarred sauces – though I gave Dijon mustard a pardon,” she explained. “I gave up frying and created baked goods with as much whole-grain flour as I could. I reduced salt and sugar, using honey wherever possible.” Little substitutions can produce big results by adding more nutritious ingredients like sunflower, safflower and avocado oils; whole wheat, spelt and almond flour; and brown rice, quinoa and kasha.

Similarly, Shoyer suggests changes in technique with little resulting loss of flavor. Case is point: fish tacos. “Once you taste these tacos with baked fish, you will never go back to fried,” she promised. “Serve them with mango coleslaw, which does a good job of spicing up the tacos.” While January is not the best season for mangos here, it is in Australia. You’ll find super sweet Australian mangos from Melissa’s Produce at Bristol Farms and Gelson’s. Even the rugelach get the Shoyer treatment with whole-grain flour, yogurt, dark cocoa and bittersweet chocolate.

Make it a family affair, Shoyer suggests. “Variety is the key to a delicious, nutritious meal and the best way to convince your people to go on a healthier eating journey with you.”

FISH TACOS WITH CILANTRO LIME RICE

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

Fish:

4 teaspoons ground cumin

1 tablespoon paprika

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper, or more to taste

2 pounds tilapia or other white fish fillets

2 tablespoons sunflower or safflower oil

Rice:

2 teaspoons sunflower or safflower oil

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 1/2 cups brown rice

3 1/2 cups boiling water

Zest of 1 lime, about 2 teaspoons

1 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves, chopped

Pinch cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt, or more to taste

For serving:

Whole-wheat or corn tortillas

Guacamole from 3 avocados

1/2 cup or more shredded Mexican cheese

Procedure

1. Fish: Combine cumin, paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper in small bowl. Slice fish into strips, about 1 1/2 inches wide and 3 to 4 inches long. Rub spice mix all over fish, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit at room temperature 30 minutes.

2. Rice: Meanwhile, heat 2 teaspoons oil in small saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic; cook a minute or so, stirring often, or until garlic starts to color. Add rice and cook, stirring often, for another minute. Add water, increase heat to medium-high, and cook rice, uncovered, 10 minutes. Reduce heat to low and cook, covered, another 30 minutes, or until water is absorbed. Let rice sit, covered.

3. Preheat oven to broil; place rack just above middle of oven. Spread 2 tablespoons oil on jellyroll pan or roasting pan with sides, and place fish on top, leaving space between them. Broil 10 minutes.

4. Transfer rice to large bowl and fluff with a fork. Add lime zest, cilantro, cayenne, and salt and mix well.

5. Fill each tortilla with several fish slices and rice, then top with mango coleslaw, guacamole and cheese.

MANGO COLESLAW

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

Dressing:

1 large ripe mango, peeled and cut into 1- to 2-inch pieces

2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion

Juice of 1 lime (about 2 to 3 tablespoons)

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons avocado, sunflower, or safflower oil

1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves

1 teaspoon honey

1/2 large green chili pepper, such as jalapeño

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Salad:

2 cups shredded red cabbage (about 1/2 small head)

2 cups shredded green cabbage (about 1/2 small head)

2 cups shredded Napa cabbage (about 1/3 head)

4 scallions, ends trimmed, sliced

Cooks notes

You can substitute arugula, slivered spinach leaves, or sliced fennel for any of the cabbages or add half a shredded carrot for more color, if you like.

1. Process dressing ingredients in food processor until puréed. (Sauce will be yellow with green specks.)

2. In large bowl, toss shredded cabbages and scallions. Add mango dressing and mix well.

ISRAELI CHOCOLATE RUGELACH

Yield: 48 cookies

Ingredients

Dough

2 envelopes (1/2 ounce ) active dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water

2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon sugar, divided

1/3 cup yogurt, regular or dairy-free

2 large egg yolks

8 tablespoons unsalted coconut oil or butter, at room temperature

1 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour

1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for proper texture

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling

10 ounces bittersweet chocolate, broken into pieces

1/3 cup milk (any type)

2 tablespoons dark, unsweetened cocoa“

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Honey Glaze

1/4 cup honey

4 teaspoons water

Procedure

1. In bowl of stand mixer, place yeast, warm water, and 1 teaspoon sugar, stir; let mixture sit until bubbly, 8 to 10 minutes. Add yogurt, egg yolks, coconut oil, both flours, vanilla, and salt; mix with hook attachment, adding flour by the tablespoon as necessary to form slightly tacky, smooth ball of dough. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise at room temperature until doubled, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

2. Ten minutes before rolling out dough, prepare filling. Place chocolate in large microwave-safe bowl. Heat 1 minute and stir; heat at 30-second intervals, stirring, until melted. Stir in milk, cocoa, sugar and vanilla; combine well. Let mixture sit 5 minutes.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 3 cookie sheets or jellyroll pans with parchment paper (or bake in batches using one or two pans). Divide dough into thirds.

4. Place large piece of parchment paper on counter and sprinkle with all-purpose flour. Flour rolling pin. Roll out each piece of dough on prepared parchment into 9 x 14-inch rectangle. Try your best to keep a rectangle shape. Flour parchment and rolling pin as necessary.

5. Use large silicone spatula to scoop up 1/3 of filling and spread to edges of dough. Using pizza cutter or knife, slice across dough the long way to create two long rectangles. Slice rectangles the other way into 4 equal rectangles, and then slice each of them in half to create 8 rectangles. Slice each rectangle diagonally in half from corner to corner to make 16 long triangles.

6. Roll up each triangle from base to point; bend in corners to create a crescent shape. Place cookies on prepared baking sheet, leaving a little space between each cookie. Bake until lightly browned, 13 to 16 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough. If filling becomes too thick to spread, heat in microwave for a few seconds.

7. Meanwhile, prepare honey syrup. Place honey and water in bowl and heat in microwave 15 seconds, or until hot and honey has dissolved. Alternatively, heat water and dissolve honey in small saucepan on stove top. Mix well.

8. Remove cookies from oven. With pastry brush, glaze tops of cookies. Serve warm or at room temperature.