Food in Focus – Chopped Herring and Kichel

This afternoon, Merelyn and I will be joining the very lovely and interesting Natascha Moy on her Saturday afternoon chat show called 'Food in Focus' on 89.7 FM in Sydney's East.

This afternoon, Merelyn and I will be joining the very lovely and interesting Natascha Moy on her Saturday afternoon chat show called ‘Food in Focus’ on 89.7 FM in Sydney’s East. If you are able, please tune in on the radio or listen in online.

We are SO looking forward to hanging out with her and her other guests this afternoon, although we are not really sure who they will be. I think she did mention a beer and olive oil! Sounds great to us!

Wherever we go, we ask ‘what can we bring to eat?’ as we really love any opportunity to share the food of the Monday Morning Cooking Club. We asked, and on her wishlist was chopped herring and kichel from our book. The very special Melanie Knep shared with us her family recipe for herring and kichel. For the uninitiated, chopped herring is a type of dip consisting of salted herrings minced with apples, eggs, onions and sweet biscuits (of all things!) You can buy it here in the supermarket (kosher section) in a jar, and that is the one that I grew up eating. But the home made version is more fabulous. It is salty, sweet, tangy with vinegar and slightly fishy. Sounds great, huh? It is actually SO delicious and I love eating it on a plain cracker or a bagel.

The South African Jewish community serve their herrings on kichel, a thin home-made slightly sweet cracker. Melanie’s kichel are super thin. When we were in the recipe-testing stage of the book, Melanie spent a morning in the MMCC kitchen and taught us how she makes her kichel. It’s quite an art! We all stood in awe as she rolled the dough so patiently and meticulously until it was paper thin, and then brushed it lightly with oil and sprinkled it every so sparingly with sugar. Then they are baked for 4 minutes. This is pressure cooking. You don’t want to get distracted, or answer the phone, or get involved with something else. You need to be vigilant and stand by the oven. I did lose a few batches when they just needed another 30 seconds, and I didn’t worry about putting the timer on…we all know how that one always ends.

The chopped herring doesn’t really photograph that well, although the fabulous Alan Benson did manage to do a great job when he photographed it for our book.

Chopped Herring and Kichel, photo taken by Alan Benson for our book

 

So tune in if you are around, and be inspired to make your own DELICIOUS chopped herring and kichel next time you are looking for something different and interesting to cook…excuse me now while I go and tuck in to some herring, writing this post has made me hungry!

We will post some more pics later of our afternoon in the studio…

 

 

 

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4 Comments

  1. Lynne

    Sounds interesting, I’ll definitely be listening in.

  2. Lisa Goldberg

    Thanks Lynne – we are looking forward to it!

  3. Shoshanah

    Where can I find the recipe for the kichel by Melanie Knep. They look just like the ones my bubbie made
    Thanks
    Shoshanah

  4. Greg

    Hi Lisa,

    I live in Singapore, where the supply of herring is feeble, and almost non-existent. I want to use your recipe for RH this week, but the best I can do are salted skinless herring fillets in oil. Will this work?

    Thanks,
    Greg

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On Sunday, we will celebrate the festival of Purim.
Here’s the simple version of the story:
Some time around the 4th C BCE, Esther, the Jewish queen of Persia, was told by Mordechai, her cousin, that Haman, the King’s advisor, 
was planning to kill all the Jews. Esther rallied the King, thwarted the genocide and became a heroine.
We celebrate, wear fancy dress and eat hamantashen, a three cornered pastry that represents evil Haman’s three cornered hat.

In a nutshell,
THEY TRIED TO KILL US,
WE SURVIVED,
LET’S EAT!

This is a phrase that I always said lightly (and almost jokingly!) about the festivals of Pesach, Chanukah and Purim. The stories of those festivals were from times so so so long ago. 
We never imagined that in 2024 we would be fighting to survive all over again.  And it seems we’re not quite ready to eat.

We all need to keep standing up and fighting - for Israel and for the Jewish people.
Am Yisrael Chai. 

P.S. Since it is Purim, eating hamantashen is a must. If you want to make your own (these are a batch of mini hamantashen straight out of the oven) you can find recipes in MMCC books 1 and 4.

There’s also a link in my profile to our MMCC recipe.
And Chag Pesach Sameach.

#purim #amyisraelchai #hamantashen #hamastashen
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Today I turned 60.
Crazy, huh? (Yes I think so too!)

I’m grateful for so many things.
I’m grateful that I live in one of the most beautiful cities in one of the best countries in the world.
I’m especially grateful for my wonderful family and friends (and my dog Winston).

But it’s a really tough time to celebrate as it feels like the world is falling apart.
My country has changed. It feels like a divided nation with so many fuckers just full of so much hate.
And the ongoing hostage situation and war in Gaza is unfathomable and devastating.
I have managed to step away from the news/instagram for the day today to enjoy this HUGE😳milestone. I’ve done all the things I love to do (walk, eat, chat, drink, eat some more and start the day with a spicy bloody Mary) with almost all of the people I love the most. What more could I ask for?

Well, since you asked, I have 3 tiny wishes for my birthday, and unsurprisingly they are all related to Israel:
1/ I wish that each and every one of the hostages comes home now,
2/ I wish that Israel completely demilitarizes Hamas ASAP so the war can end, and
3/ I wish that the Palestinian people acknowledge Israel’s right to exist and just let Israel live in peace.
Not too much to ask?
Am Yisrael chai! 💙💙💙

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#amyisraelchai #istandwithisrael #turning60 #happybirthdaytome #bornin1964 #walkingupanappetite #sydneyfood #sydneyeats
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