Schmaltzy Spotlight / Einat Admony: Why Yemenite shabbos is good for your belly but bad for your social life

Photo by Dor Malka

Some parents embarrass their children by making them wear dorky clothes, or by dancing in public. But for chef Einat Admony, it didn’t even take that much. As a child growing up outside Tel Aviv, Einat had a tough exterior. But if her father even stopped on to talk to someone on the street for a little too long, she would want to just disappear. So, imagine her mortification when her dad, a hot sauce enthusiast, brought his own jar of schug with him on a rare family outing to a fancy Chinese restaurant. In case you haven’t tried it, schug is a fiery Yemenite condiment made with chiles, garlic, cilantro and olive oil. Einat’s dad, a Yemenite Jew, was obsessed with it. He made his own, and it was so hot that just you choke on its scent alone. He would store his homemade schug in small jars and put it on everything. That night at the Chinese restaurant, the waiters brought out a beautiful lacquered duck with sweet and sour sauce. Einat’s father slowly reached into her mom’s purse and pulled out his ubiquitous jar of schug. Einat and her siblings were horrified, watching it happen as if it was in slow motion. ”Noooo!” they begged him. “It doesn’t even go with this kind of food!” But they couldn’t fight nature. And neither can Einat, who serves her father’s schug in her own restaurants all these years later. To this day, it’s spiciest thing she’s ever eaten. 

Einat performed her story live on March 7, 2017 at the Henry Street Settlement in New York City as part of the Schmaltzy storytelling event.

Listen to the recording here:

Menashes S'chug (Yemenite Hot Sauce)

Makes: about 1 ½ cups
Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients
15 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 to 3 jalapeño chiles, cored, seeded, and coarsely chopped
4 dried red chiles
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
½ teaspoon ground cumin
2 cups packed fresh cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¾ cup canola oil

Preparation
1. Place the garlic cloves, jalapenos, red chiles, cardamom and cumin in a food processor and blend for about 15 seconds until a paste is formed. Add the cilantro, salt and oil into the food processor and blend for about 30 seconds until the mixture is smooth and blended. 

2. Serve at room temperature.

Make Ahead: Transfer the hot sauce into an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to one month.

Kubaneh

Einat often makes Kubaneh for Shabbat lunch. At her table, you will always find Menashe’s s’chug alongside it.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients
4 cups all purpose flour, plus flour for the work surface
¼ cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon active dry yeast 
2 cups warm water
Canola or vegetable oil for the bowl
1 stick of unsalted butter divided: 4 tablespoons cut into small cubes, remaining 4 tablespoons for greasing the pan
1 ½  teaspoons nigella seeds

Preparation
1. Mix together the flour, the brown sugar, and the salt in a large bowl. Create a well in the center of the bowl and add the yeast, remaining teaspoon of sugar and ½ cup warm water. Let it stand until nice and foamy, about 5 minutes. 

2. Gradually mix in the remaining warm water. Dump the sticky mess onto a floured surface and knead the dough until smooth and elastic (about 5-10 minutes by hand, 3-5 minutes if using a stand mixer). Shape the dough into a large ball and place in a bowl slicked with canola oil. Cover with a damp cloth and place in a warm place.  Let rise until the dough has doubled in size, 45-60 minutes. 

3. Meanwhile, grease the inside of a 3 quart dutch Dutch oven (or an ovenproof saucepan with straight walls, a flat bottom, and a tight-fitting lid) liberally with the butter (4 tablespoons). Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of the nigella seeds on the bottom of the pan. When the dough is ready, divide it into six equal parts and shape into round balls.  Place one ball in the center of the pot and rest all around like petals on a flower. Cover with damp cloth and let it rise once more for 20-30 minutes. 

4. Preheat oven to 215 degrees. Place the cubes of butter all over the top of the dough and sprinkle with the remaining nigella seeds. Cover tightly with a lid and cook overnight, start checking at 8 hours for a dark golden brown bread, if the bread looks undercooked, continue baking for another hour or so.

Excerpted from Shuk by Einat Admoni and Janna Gur (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2019.

Photo by Ilan Benatar

Photo by Caleigh Waldman