How One Cook, Who Knew No One, Built a Syrian Community Around the Table

Shared by Frida Goldberg and Mimi Bozo
Recipe Roots: Aleppo, Syria > Urfa, Turkey > Jerusalem 

Adelle in Aleppo, Syria in 1937.

For Adelle Bozo and her husband Ya’akov, there was always room at the table in their Jerusalem home. Friends, neighbors, and new immigrants, who needed a place to stay until they were settled, cycled through their doors. “We used to call our house ‘Hotel Bozo,’” says Mimi Bozo, Adelle’s youngest daughter. 

Adelle’s five children would invite friends over for lunch and the kids could help themselves to fresh fruit, which was always in their home, no matter how expensive it was at the market. Adelle kept date-filled cookies, maamoul (with nut and pistachio filling), bourekas, and kubbeh in the freezer to have on hand, as well. “No matter how many unexpected guests showed up, there was always enough food and everyone was always welcome,” says Frida Goldberg, Adelle’s youngest daughter. 

Raised in a wealthy Syrian family that moved to Urfa in southern Turkey, Adelle was accustomed to living in a large home full of people, Mimi adds. But, in her late teens, her parents arranged her marriage to her cousin Ya’akov, and Adelle arrived in Jerusalem in 1938 knowing no one but him. 

Adelle and Ya’akov's wedding in Aleppo, Syria in 1937.

“She wanted a large house and it took her a while to understand that the conditions [in Jerusalem] are different,” Mimi explains. “She always looked to fill her house with people, opening it up to friends and neighbors.” And, in her own way, she created a home like the one she grew up in. 

Adelle found friends in the local Syrian community, connecting over cups of coffee and games of Rummy that were played on Saturday evenings. And she built deep connections through her cooking, preparing recipes she learned from her mother, which she shared with friends, while picking up tips and ideas from them. 

There was freshly-made food in the house everyday, says Frida. On Thursdays, her mother would prepare simpler dishes without meat for the family so she could focus her efforts on meals for Shabbat where she served an overflowing table of chicken with potatoes, green beans stewed with meat, a spread of several salads like roast eggplant and bulgur muhammara, rice, and lahm bi ajeen, a flatbread topped with ground meat and pomegranate concentrate that Adelle made from scratch. “In the early days, the pots would be taken to stay overnight at the local bakery and the kids would be sent to bring them back for the meal,” Mimi explains, and later, in 1956, the family was one of the first in the neighborhood to have an oven in their home. 

Adelle (front left) and Ya’akov (front right) pictured with their children Ezra, Frida, Rafi, Mimi and Moshe (left to right) in Jerusalem in 1956.

For decades, no one in the family learned Adelle’s recipes — no one needed to, says Mimi. Adelle hosted the family every week for most of her life, and only in her late 90s did she transition to hosting just for the holidays. But, the recipes weren’t lost. When Frida was in her late 40s, she started to go to her mother’s home twice a week to learn her recipes, which she wrote down in a small notebook. 

One of Adelle’s great-granddaughters Maya Goldberg, who created a photo essay called “Family Kitchen,” remembers Adelle’s cooking clearly. “Everything I know about her is through her food,” says Maya. She can still picture her climbing up and down four flights of stairs to buy 20 kilos of pomegranates, which she would seed and simmer for hours to make pomegranate concentrate for her lahm bi ajeen. The flavor of the dish is still imprinted in her mind nearly a decade since Adelle passed away.

Chicken With 'Chips'

Makes: 6 servings
Time: 2 hours and 30 minutes

Ingredients
1 whole chicken, broken down into parts, or 3 pounds of bone-in skin on chicken parts 
1 tablespoon kosher salt, divided
1 large onion, cut into 1-inch wedges
2 carrots, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
6 medium Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into large pieces, divided
⅔ cup vegetable or olive oil
½ teaspoon cinnamon

Preparation
1. Place the chicken parts in a large pot and add ½ tablespoon of salt. Cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, skimming off any impurities. 

2. Add the carrots and onion, and simmer for 10 more minutes, skimming as needed. Add 1 of the potatoes and cook for an additional 20 minutes. Remove the chicken and reserve the soup.

3. While the chicken and vegetables cook, heat ½ cup of the oil until it shimmers in a large pot or Dutch oven. Working in 2 batches, fry the remaining potatoes until browned on all sides, 15 minutes per batch. Repeat with the remaining ⅓ cup of oil and potatoes. Transfer the potatoes and oil to a bowl, and wipe out the pot.

4. In the same pot, arrange the chicken pieces in a single layer, skin side down. Arrange the potatoes on top, pouring ⅓ cup of the potato cooking oil over top. Sprinkle with the remaining ½ tablespoon of salt and the cinnamon. Add 2 ½ cups of the reserved soup, just enough to come halfway up the chicken. 

5. Bring the soup to a boil, then lower the heat to a gentle simmer and continue cooking uncovered for 45-50 minutes or until the liquid has reduced to a thick sauce and the chicken is cooked through, basting occasionally. Serve hot.

Laham b'Ajeen (Flatbread With Meat and Pomegranate

To make the tangy pomegranate concentrate that’s key to this recipe, Adelle would purchase nearly 50 pounds of fresh pomegranates. At home, she would painstakingly crack the fruit open and remove the seeds before simmering them down for hours and finally strain the mixture. Today, her family uses store-bought pomegranate molasses, which works well in this recipe. Look for a bottle made without added sugar like this one. 

Makes: 16 meat pies
Time: 50 minutes, plus rising time

Ingredients
For the dough:
1 cup room temperature water
2 ¼ teaspoon (¼ oz) active dry yeast
¼ teaspoon honey
3 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon kosher salt

For the sauce and assembly:
2 teaspoons vegetable oil, plus more for baking
2 pounds lean ground beef
2 medium onions, pulsed fine in a food processor 
¾ cup unsweetened pomegranate molasses 
½ cup tomato paste 
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon hot paprika

Preparation
1. Make the dough: In a large bowl, add the water, honey, and yeast and gently mix. Let sit until the yeast foams, about 10 minutes. Add the flour and salt, and mix to combine. Knead until the dough becomes smooth, about 5 minutes. Add 1-2 tablespoons of water if needed.

2. Cover the bowl and let rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes or until doubled in size.

3. Mix the sauce: Place the oil, ground beef, ground onions, pomegranate molasses, tomato paste, salt, pepper and paprika into a large mixing bowl. Use your hands or a wooden spoon to mix all the ingredients together until combined well. Add 2-3 tablespoons of water at a time and mix to create a sauce-like consistency.

4. Preheat the oven to 325°F.

5. Lightly oil 2 baking sheets. Scrape dough onto a well floured surface. Divide into 4 equal pieces, then divide each into 4 smaller pieces, so you have 16 pieces of dough in total. Roll each into a ball, lightly sprinkle with flour, and cover with a damp towl.

6. Working one ball at a time, gently flatten with your hand on a floured surface. Roll into a thin disk, about 6-inches in diameter. Transfer to the oiled baking sheet, and repeat until the sheet is full.

7. Top each round of dough with 3 tablespoons of sauce and spread in a thin layer, covering the entire disk. There is no need to leave a border.

8. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes, until the dough is just cooked through. The dough will be a light color, but this is ok. You want the dough to remain soft and pliable. Transfer to a cooling rack, and repeat with the remaining dough and sauce. 

9. Serve warm.

Cook’s Note: Laham b’ajeen can be cooked in advance and held in the refrigerator for two days, and they freeze well. Stack disks with wax paper between layers and then wrap well in plastic wrap and place in a sealed plastic bag. 

Faulle (Slow-Cooked Green Beans With Beef)

Adelle always sliced the green beans lengthwise, which helps them melt into the rich sauce. If you are shorter on time, you can also leave them whole.

Makes: 6 servings
Total Time: 30 minutes active + 3 hours and 15 minutes inactive

Ingredients
3 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
1 pound beef shoulder center cut, cut into 2-inch cubes
2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
2 ½ pounds green beans, trimmed 
3 tablespoons tomato paste
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground black pepper

Preparation
1. In a large pot or dutch oven, heat oil over high heat until it shimmers. Add the beef cubes and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of salt. Cook until nicely browned on all sides, 10 minutes.

2. Add 3 ½ cups of water into the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook for 1 hour.

3. Add the green beans, tomato paste, the remaining 1 teaspoon salt, cinnamon, and black pepper. Simmer for an additional 2 hours, until the meat and beans are falling apart, and the liquid has reduced to a thick sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning.

4. Serve hot.

Bulgur Muhamara Salad

Photos by Penny De Los Santos

Traditionally made with peppers and walnuts, Adelle’s family makes this salad with bulgur instead of walnuts.

Makes: 4 cups
Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients
1 ½ cups medium grind bulgur (uncooked)
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped
1 medium heat red chili pepper, such as a serrano or guajillo, roughly chopped 
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon hot paprika 
3 tablespoons unsweetened pomegranate molasses or homemade concentrated pomegranate syrup
Juice from half a lemon (optional)

Preparation
1. In a food processor, pulse the bulgur, onion, peppers, oil, ¼ cup water, salt, and paprika  until well blended. 

2. Spread the mixture in a large serving dish and drizzle the pomegranate syrup over top. You can add a little fresh lemon juice if needed. Let stand at room temperature or in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, then serve.

Roasted Eggplant Salad

Makes:  4 - 6 servings
Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients
1 large eggplant or 2 small eggplant
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 small fresh or dried chili pepper, seeded and finely minced
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt
½  teaspoon hot paprika
Juice of ½ lemon

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. 

2. Make 4 pricks into each eggplant using a fork. Place the whole eggplant directly on a stovetop gas burner over high heat. Char the eggplant skin, turning the eggplant every 2-3 minutes for about 10 minutes. Once the skin is charred, transfer the eggplant onto a sheet pan and roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes until completely cooked through. 

3. Place the eggplant in a mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap for 15 minutes until cool enough to handle. This will make it easier to peel. Stem and peel the eggplant. 

4. Transfer the eggplant to a cutting board and roughly chop. If needed, mash with a fork until smooth.

5. Transfer back to the mixing bowl. Add the garlic, chili, oil, salt, paprika, and lemon juice. Taste and adjust seasoning.

6. Serve as part of a spread with salad and bread.

Cook’s note:  You can roast the eggplant completely over the gas flame, as Adelle would traditionally do. In Step #2, Continue charring the eggplant over the stop top for about 5 to 10 additional minutes, turning the eggplants often, until cooked through. Do not transfer the eggplants into the oven.