The images of Matilda and the Rabbi on Bondi Beach before the attack still haunt me. Those images are etched in my memory, and I don’t know how long they will stay with me, but this is my current state.

Since we entered the holiday season with so much sadness because of the Bondi Beach shooting, I wanted to make a Jewish dish to pay respect to those innocent lives lost on that sinister Sunday.

I have always been a massive fan of Jewish cuisine, and no one can deny that good food does not recognise political or religious borders. Not in my house anyway. With ethnic cooking traditions that go back many generations, regional variations, and the people who preserve them as part of their heritage, we are, in a sense, lucky to be able to experiment with Jewish cuisine.

My experiments with Jewish dishes started many years ago with one cookbook. It is my well-used, well-utilised book. The one I keep going back over and over again. That cookbook is Marlena Spieler’s Jewish Cooking: The Tradition, Techniques, Ingredients and Recipes. Well, that was the old title. The author later published the same book under a different title, Kosher and Traditional Jewish Cooking, but the content remained the same.

My Usual Holiday Spread
My friends always ask me what I made for Christmas and New Year’s, and there is always something Mediterranean on my menu because both holidays fall in summer over here in Australia. I can’t even imagine putting the oven on when it’s already too hot. It’s just murder in the kitchen for me!

Usually, I make my beautiful Italian pepperonata, watermelon & feta salad, stuffed vine leaves or cabbage, marinated olives or mushrooms, homemade dips such as hummus, beetroot, my famous izot (spicy cheese spread), smoked eggplant, salsas, Russian salad (also known as Olivier salad), veggie meatballs and deep-fried vegetables and so on.

Normally, my Christmas or New Year spread looks like this:

Pepperonata

A selection of dips: hummus, beetroot, babaghanush, marinated olives and sun-dried tomatoes.

Warm Brie with Honey and Walnuts

Jewish Vegetarian Chopped Liver
Marlena Spieler describes Vegetarian Chopped Liver in her book as:
“There are many vegetarian versions of the classic chopped liver. This mixture of browned onions, chopped vegetables, hard-boiled egg and walnuts looks and tastes surprisingly like chopped liver but is lighter and fresher. It is pareve, so may be enjoyed with both meat and dairy meals.“

Recipe Notes
Vegetarian Chopped Liver recipe is:

Pareve (or Parve): Pareve means neutral. If you don’t know about Jewish dietary law called kashrut, according to kashrut, it is forbidden to consume meat and milk at the same meal or to consume dairy products within a certain amount of time.
Dairy-Free
Gluten-free, if you have it with gluten-free dippers such as vegetables or rice crackers
Soy-free
Easy to make
Perfect for holidays, charcuterie boards and dip platters

Vegetarian Chopped Liver recipe ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this vegetarian chopped liver recipe:
Onions: In this vegetarian chopped liver recipe, onions—along with lots of oil—make this dish incredibly moist. On top of that, they make the processing easier, too.
Green beans: Fresh green beans are the backbone of this dip, if you ask me, as they provide bulk and protein.
Peas: I used frozen peas—the smaller variety because they’re easier to cook.
Walnuts: I love my walnuts, especially in dips. I guess this has something to do with being half Circassian. Just a little tip: try not to chop them up too small, for they will be processed in the food processor later on.
Crisp matzos (above) or pumpernickel: What you’re going to serve vegetarian chopped liver is up to you. However, if you want to keep it more traditional, matzo and pumpernickel—or any rye bread will do the job.

… and now for the recipe:

Jewish Vegetarian Chopped Liver

Recipe by Marlena SpielerCuisine: Jewish

Servings

servings

Ingredients

6 tbsp vegetable oil, plus extra if necessary
3 onions, chopped
1 ¾ cups frozen or fresh shelled peas
1 cup green beans, roughly chopped
15 walnuts, shelled (30 halves)
3 hard-boiled eggs, shelled
salt and ground black pepper
slices of rye bread or crisp matzos, to serve

Directions

Heat the oil in a pan, add the onions and fry until softened and lightly browned. Add the peas and beans and season with salt and pepper to taste. Continue to cook until the beans and peas are tender and the beans are no longer bright green.
Put the vegetables in a food processor, add the walnuts and eggs and process until the mixture forms a thick paste. Taste for seasoning and, if the mixture seems a bit dry, add a little more oil and mix in thoroughly. Serve with slices of rye bread or matzos.

Notes

I used a smaller food processor and it made it easier to whizz up the mixture.

A Personal Note
As I sat down to write this blog post to honour and remember the Bondi Beach shooting victims of our Australian Jewish community, I didn’t know that I was also going to honour the author of my beloved Jewish cookbook, for she passed away at the age of 74.

Depending on your location, Marlena Spieler’s Kosher and Traditional Jewish Cooking book can be purchased from Amazon.

Click here to grab your copy from:

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