Chefte, Chatachtuma, and More From the Nash Didan Jewish Community

Khinkali. Photos by Penny De Los Santos.

Shared by Danielle Rehfeld Colen
Recipe Roots: Tbilisi > Tehran > Holon, Israel > New York City

Nash Didan Jews “don’t have a country…. There’s no nationality” says Danielle Rehfeld Colen, who grew up in a Nash Didan family in New York. Instead, “there’s a common language that binds them.” Lishan Didan, meaning “our language” is a dialect of Judeo Neo-Aramaic spoken among this little-known community that lived near the borders of Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Azerbaijan, and traces its roots to the Babylonian exile 2500 years ago.  

“It’s the funniest language,” says Danielle’s mother Dina. To curse someone, for example, you say you hope they get stuck in the mud and can’t get out. “It’s hard to explain,” she says laughing with her sister Miriam and Danielle. It was also a secret language in the family. “This was not a language that other Jews in Israel had heard of,” Danielle adds.

Her family came to Israel by way of Tbilisi, Georgia and Tehran. During World War I, part of the Nash Didan population left for the Caucasus Mountains and some to Tbilisi, where Danielle’s grandparents were born. But, in 1940, the family fled to Tehran, and 1948 to Israel. They only knew three other Nash Didan families nearby in Israel. “We were very close to each other,” says Dina. “We had the same problems, no money, no food,” but they helped each other and gathered for tea speaking their mother tongue — but they rarely spoke about the past, say the sisters. 

Danielle’s grandfather, Joshua, grandmother, Nasi, mother, Dina and her brother, Yossi in 1946. (Left to right)

It wasn’t just the language that tied them to their heritage, though, it was recipes. Nasi, Danielle’s grandmother, prepared chefte, or large meatballs made with rice, that were eaten with hot broth on Friday nights and then again on their own, cold on Saturday mornings. She also made chatachtuma, pasta tossed with yogurt, garlic, and black pepper, and khinkali, which is traditionally a Georgian recipe, but the sisters grew up knowing it as their mother’s food. They knew all of these dishes as “‘shelanu’ — ours,” Danielle says as she translates for her aunt, adding “the language of the food transfers over borders.”

Danielle was initiated into the Nash Didan kitchen on summer trips to Israel to visit Miriam, who holds the family recipes. After Nasi passed away, the family missed her cooking, leading Miriam to ask her aunts how to make the dishes she grew up with. Like many family recipes transferred from one generation to the next, they were given with loose instructions and no measurements. Miriam cooked the dishes over and over and “when it would come out tasting like her mother’s food, she would write it down,” says Danielle, translating for Miriam. 

In more recent years, Danielle has asked Miriam to teach her the family recipes, which may find their way into a small book in the future, says Danielle. She’s also passing them on to her own daughter, who is a toddler and devours chatachtuma regularly for lunch. When Dina and Miriam fed her pieces of chefte recently, she loved that too. They started laughing excitedly saying: “She’s Nash Didan, she’s Nash Didan!”

Khinkali

Serves: 4-6
Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients
For the dough
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 egg yolks
½ cup water

For the filling
1 small-medium yellow onion, peeled and grated
1 pound ground beef
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
¾ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon fine sea salt

For the broth and serving
2 quarts chicken stock
4 garlic cloves, minced

Preparation
1. Make the dough: Mix the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the egg yolks and water and mix well with a fork until combined. Turn out the dough and knead on a work surface until a smooth dough is formed, about 5 minutes. Place in an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let rest for at least 15 minutes or up to 1 hour at room temperature.

2. Make the filling: Grate the onion on the large holes of a box grater. Add to a medium mixing bowl, along with the beef, oil, pepper, and salt, mixing well. Cover and refrigerate while rolling out the dough.

3. Form the khinkali: Divide the dough into 2 portions. Roll each portion out on a lightly floured surface, to be as thin as possible (about 1/16 -inch thick). Use a 2 ½-inch round cutter or small glass to punch out 30-35 circles, rerolling dough scraps as needed. Add ½ tablespoon of the filling to the center of each circle. Fold in half and pinch the edges with your fingers to seal. You can either make half-moon shapes, or pinch each end together after forming the half moons to make a tortellini-like shape. Transfer the finished khinkali to a parchment-lined sheet tray, cover with plastic wrap, and repeat with remaining dough. 

4. Bring the stock to a rolling boil in a large pot, and add the khinkali in 2 batches to avoid sticking. Reduce to a simmer and cook the khinkali for 10 minutes until the dough and meat are no longer raw and the dough feels more light and airy rather than chewy. 

5. To serve, add 2 ladles of hot broth and khinkali to a bowl. On the table, place a small bowl of broth with the minced garlic so people can add that to their bowls as desired.  

Chefte

This soup with large meatballs called chefte can be served several ways. “In our home we have the soup first dipping pieces of challah in the hot broth and then serve the chefte with tahdig along with the radishes and cilantro,” Danielle says. “We also eat the chefte cold the next morning sliced into rounds.”

Makes: 8 Servings
Time: 2 hours active, plus 4 hours cooking

Ingredients
For the chefte
1 ½ pounds ground beef
½ pound ground chicken breast
1 medium yellow onion, grated, liquid reserved
1 ½ cups basmati rice, rinsed well and dried on a plate or sheet pan at room temperature
1 large egg
½ tablespoon fine sea salt
½ tablespoon ground black pepper
½ tablespoon ground turmeric

For the broth
1 ½ cups dried chickpeas, soaked in cold water overnight and drained, or 3 cups canned
1 ½ pounds beef bones
½ yellow onion, sliced into 1-inch wedges
¾ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon fine sea salt 
¼ teaspoon black pepper
6 - 10 cups chicken broth 

Preparation
1. In a large bowl, mix the ground beef and chicken together well with your hands. Add the onion and reserved juice and mix to combine.

2. In a food processor, grind the rice until it resembles coarse sand. Add 2 cups of the ground rice to the meat mixture, along with eggs, salt, pepper, and turmeric, mixing well. Cover and refrigerate while the broth cooks (or up to overnight).

3. Place the soaked chickpeas on a large towel and cover. Using a rolling pin, roll over the chickpeas to remove the skins (they may split, it’s ok). Set the chickpeas aside. If you’re using canned chickpeas, skip this step and add your chickpeas in step #6. 

4. Place the beef bones in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and when the bones release their impurities after boiling for 10 minutes, remove from the heat and drain the bones. 

5. Return the bones into the rinsed pot and cover with 6 cups of chicken broth. Add the chickpeas, onion, and turmeric.  Bring to a boil and lower to a simmer. Cook for 3 hours, skimming frequently. Add more chicken broth as needed, making sure the ingredients are fully submerged. 

6. After the broth is cooked, form the meatballs: Divide the meat mixture into 8 portions, and roll into large baseball-size balls. Gently drop into the soup. If you are using canned chickpeas, peel and add them into the pot here. Bring to a simmer and cook for another 60-90 minutes until they are fully cooked through. 

7. To serve, place a few cheftes, beef bones and pieces of onions  into an individual bowl and top with a ladle full of broth. Serve hot.

Chatachtuma (Spaghetti With Yogurt and Garlic)

Makes: 2 servings
Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients
2 ½ tablespoons kosher salt, divided
1 ½ cups plain Greek yogurt
2 medium garlic cloves, grated or pressed 
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more if desired
8 ounces spaghetti
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
Warm toasted bread, for serving

Preparation
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Season with 2 tablespoons of salt.  

2. Meanwhile, combine the yogurt, garlic, and pepper in a large bowl.  Season to taste with ½ tablespoon salt.  

3. Once the water is boiling, add the pasta and cook until al dente.  Drain well and immediately add the pasta to the bowl of yogurt.

4. Using the same pot, melt the butter until it foams and sizzles. Drizzle over the pasta and toss well.  Adjust seasoning and serve immediately with bread.