For Five Generations, This Family Has Marked Fridays With Chickpeas

Shared by Uriel Benzrihem
Recipe Roots: Fez, Morocco > Lod, Israel > New York City

“I’m the little boy, the youngest of six [in] the family,” says designer and chef Uriel Benzrihem. “And Shabbat is really the only time that we [were] all together.” When he was little, growing up in Lod, a city not far from Israel’s main airport, his older brothers studied at yeshiva, while his sisters learned at religious schools for girls, and mid-week meals with everyone around the table weren’t common. But Shabbats were different. All the siblings gathered around a large table, spread with Moroccan salads and slow-cooked chickpeas on Friday nights and hearty hamin on Saturdays after synagogue services. 

The busy Shabbat household was an echo of the family’s roots in Fez, a city in northern Morocco. Here, before immigrating to Israel in 1962, Uriel’s mother Pnina grew up with multiple generations — grandparents, parents, and grandchildren — living under one roof. Unable to replicate such a family home in Israel, Uriel believes his parents built their own large family. “So they [would] feel like the tribe they had in Morocco,” he says.

Uriel's mother, Pnina, in his childhood house in Lod in the 1970s.

It wasn’t just a sensibility about family that came to Israel, but a chickpea recipe and Friday tradition that traces back to Uriel’s great-grandmother. Pnina’s mother Simcha, like hers before her, started preparing the chickpeas the evening before they were served, soaking them overnight. Early on Friday mornings, Simcha would start cooking them for a lunchtime meal, chiding Pnina for interfering, saying that if the lid was lifted off of the pot too often, the chickpeas would come out hard. But, Uriel jokes that it was more likely a way to keep Pnina from disrupting her mother’s Friday cooking. 

A generation later, when Uriel was little, Pnina started Shabbat dinner every Friday with the chickpeas, serving them with a simple slice of fish, and small bowls of salads and vegetables like fried hot peppers and eggplant, and matbucha, a cooked salad or dip made with tomatoes and peppers. The main course of meat patties or chicken with peas and onions would change week to week, but the chickpeas remained constant. 

In 2019, Uriel and his partner Shay moved to New York City to work as designers, but COVID quickly changed their lives. During the pandemic, Shay turned to baking and Uriel to cooking, both selling their goods on the app WoodSpoon. The recipes offered more than a new profession. “I started to find my roots again and cook what I was missing,” Uriel says. 

He called his mother, asking her to share the recipes he had growing up. Uriel wanted her to know that, “Even though I’m far [away], her little boy… wants to be close,” he says. The two started by sharing the family chickpea recipe which simmers for hours, requiring little other than simple ingredients and time. “I wanted to have my homemade dishes and feel at home,” he adds. 

Chickpea Stew with Fish

Makes: 4 to 6 servings
Total Time: 5 hours active + 8 hours inactive 

Ingredients
1 pound dried chickpeas
2 tablespoons sweet paprika
1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt plus more for seasoning
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 garlic cloves, crushed
¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped (optional)
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 skinless tilapia fillets

Preparation
1. Place the chickpeas in a bowl and cover completely with room temperature water to soak overnight at room temperature.

2. Drain the soaked chickpeas, rinse with water, and drain again. Place the chickpeas into a medium sized pot and fill the pot with water, about 8 cups until it reaches 2 inches below the rim.

3. Place the pot over high heat and bring it to a boil. Lower the heat to low and cook for 4 hours covered with a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally. Check how much water is left in the pot each hour. If the water reduces beneath the chickpeas add enough boiling water to cover the chickpeas. 

4. After 4 hours, add paprika, salt, black pepper, garlic, and olive oil. Mix well and cover the pot. Allow the mixture to simmer, stirring often, for 30 more minutes. Add the cilantro into the stew, stir and continue cooking for 30 more minutes, or until the stew has thickened and the chickpeas are tender.

5. Before serving, increase the heat to medium heat. Sprinkle the tilapia fillets with salt (one pinch of salt per fillet). Gently place two tilapia fillets into the stew and make sure they are completely submerged in the liquid, add more water if needed. Cook the tilapia covered with a simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes or until the fish is opaque and cooked through. Gently use a perforated spatula to transfer the fish onto a tray. Place the remaining two tilapia fillets into the stew and repeat the cooking process until they are cooked through. 

6. To serve, place one tilapia filet onto an individual plate and add a ladle full of the chickpea stew around the fish. Serve hot with a slice of challah bread.

Fried Eggplant with Garlic and Cumin

Makes: 4 servings
Total Time: 20 minutes active + 30 minutes inactive

Ingredients
1 medium eggplant, peeled with vertical stripes and sliced into ½ inch pieces crosswise
Kosher salt
Vegetable oil or any neutral oil for frying
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped or crushed
1 teaspoon ground cumin

Preparation
1. Place the eggplant slices onto a tray in one layer. Sprinkle both sides of the eggplant with a pinch of kosher salt. Set aside for 30 minutes. Pat the eggplants dry with a towel.

2. Fill a large, heavy-bottomed pan, with 1-inch of oil and set over high heat. Once the oil is sizzling, gently place about five eggplant slices into the pan in one layer and fry on both sides until golden brown, about 3 to 5 minutes per side. Transfer the fried eggplants onto a paper towel-lined tray and continue frying the remaining eggplant slices in batches.

3. Plate the eggplant slices in one layer on a platter. Sprinkle the garlic and cumin over the eggplant slices. Serve warm.

Matbucha (Tomato and Pepper Spread)

Photos by Penny De Los Santos

Makes: 4 to 6 servings
Total Time: 2 hours

Ingredients
6 ripe plum tomatoes
1 red bell pepper, deseeded and chopped into ¼ inch pieces
1 jalapeño pepper, chopped into ¼ inch pieces
5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon sweet paprika

Preparation
1. Bring 4 cups of water to boil. Place the tomatoes in a deep, heatproof bowl. Pour enough boiling water over the tomatoes to cover and set them aside for 3 minutes. Drain the water and peel the tomatoes.

2. Cut the tomatoes into ½ inch cubes. Place the tomatoes into a dry saucepan over medium low heat. Add the bell pepper, jalapeño pepper, and garlic. Cook the vegetables, stirring every 10 minutes to prevent scorching. Cook for about 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the vegetable liquids have reduced.

3. Add vegetable oil, salt and paprika and continue cooking, stirring often, until the tomatoes and peppers are jammy, about 45 minutes to one more hour.

4. Serve the matbucha with pita or challah. Leftovers will hold in the refrigerator for 5 days.

Fried Hot Peppers

Makes: 4 to 6 servings
Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients
5 jalapeño peppers
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
½ teaspoon kosher salt

Preparation
1. Place the oil into a medium saucepan over medium low heat. 

2. Using a sharp paring knife, make two slits on each side of each jalapeño and place the whole jalapeños into the pan. Fry the jalapeños on all sides until golden brown, about 10 to 15 minutes per side.

3. Transfer the fried jalapeños into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap for about 10 minutes. Remove the plastic wrap, sprinkle the jalapeños with a teaspoon of salt and serve.