We are so excited to invite Reyna Simnegar into our kitchen. Another bride who learned cooking from her husbands’ family. Reyna, who grew up in Venezula, took a crash course in Persian cooking taught by her mother-in-law to be so that her new husband wouldn’t starve when they got married. She mastered the art taking short cuts when she could and then wrote it all down for her future daughters-in-laws and us to learn from. Reyna’s book, Persian Food from the Non Persian Bride will teach even the most inexperienced cooks to prepare delcious Persian meals in not time at all.
1. Tell me about your Jewish journey.
I didn’t know there was any “Jewish blood” in me until I was 12 years old. At the time, my aunt Sarah told me our family was originally Jewish and that our last name had been changed from Peres to Perez to disguise us as Catholics due to the threats of the Inquisition. I thought this was crazy since Venezuela is such a friendly country to Jews, but considering the Inquisition was abolished in 1832 (352 years active) it really made sense that my great grandparents felt the need to remain hidden. There is a lot to the story and I am currently writing a book about it, but to put it in a “nut shell” at 15 I decided to convert to Judaism and today I am so grateful because that was the most important and powerful decision I have made in my life.
2. What did you really feel when your husband-to-be “politely suggested” it was time to pay a visit to his mother’s kitchen to learn the art of Persian cooking and what was it like spending that much time with you mother in law?
I was supper happy! You see, my Kallah (Bride) teacher taught me that in relationships it is much more important to be smart than to be right! Also, he was not suggesting in any way I needed to learn how to cook, or that my food was not good enough and I needed to learn from his mom. I was already a great Latina cook…but it was Persian food that enticed him! Making my husband happy has been tremendously rewarding and paying that “visit” to my mother-in-law’s kitchen allowed me to create a great relationship with her. Not only that, I am in love with Persian food…so it was a win-win situation!
3. How does your Venezuelan background influence your cooking?
My Venezuelan background is extremely important to me and I certainly make a lot of Venezuelan and Latin American food in my home. In fact, I am currently in the making of a Latin American Kosher cookbook. However, I am incredibly devoted to keeping Persian cuisine as genuine as possible. After all, I have to feed a true Shirazi man! Hence, no matter how Venezuelan I might be, there is no way I am making a “Basmati Arroz con Pollo.” Venezuelan cuisine is as genuine and legendary as Persian cuisine and they both deserve their respective separate places in my kitchen.
4. What advice do you have for the busy home cook?
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I am a perfectionist, so when it comes to being a busy mother of 5 kids (and a husband) I must run my household like an army base! I have kept a diary of my menus for every single Shabbat and holiday for the past 7 years. I make notes of what was successful and what was pathetic. I make sure my table is always set a day before…that puts me in the mood and gives me time to be creative. I have a love affair with my freezer and even have pictures of how my drawers should be organized so that my cleaning help does not misplace my beloved gadgets. I plan the Shabbat menu on Tuesday, shop on Wednesday and cook on Thursday and Friday depending on how much company I have (usually over 20 people every Friday night). I think that cooking, even if it takes 5 minutes, has to be fun so I always play good music while I cook and dance a lot. I do not wear an apron and often cook on high heals because they make me feel fabulous. And last, leftovers are not my enemy; they are a source of inspiration!
5. I love the pictures of your kids cooking, what advice do you have for getting kids in the kitchen?
In all honestly it took me a long time for me to let my kids in the kitchen. I love cleanliness and neatness and my kids always make a big mess. It was therapeutic (and incredibly difficult) to finally allow my kids to get flour all over the place. I think in my case I just needed to “let go” and enjoy their sweet little dirty faces licking the bowl clean of cake batter. To get them interested, I treat food like toys. I use tons of cookie cutters in all areas of the kitchen…even when I make Tadig! They love checking eggs for me and also help me brading Challah. Even my 2 year old likes cutting onions (with a plastic knife)! Go figure! Since I have 5 little boys, I have to make sure they will be able to make amazing dinners for their wives!
6. What are the most popular misconceptions about Persian cuisine?
Most people, even some Persians, tend to think Persian food is difficult to make. Some also tend to think it takes a long time to achieve. Both are wrong. Persian food is extremely easy to make when you have the right ingredients and a user-friendly recipe. Up until now, there was no Persian cookbook out there that allowed for both. I feel blessed to be able to share the short cuts to Persian cuisine keeping it genuine. I get so many incredible letters from young Persian brides that felt apprehensive about making the food of their ancestors and were finally able to conquer it using the cookbook.
7. What is your favorite food?
I love all food. Period. I am a huge fan of dining and one of the highlights when I travel is to eat at Kosher restaurants all around the world. My favorite restaurant is Darjeeling in Paris. This is the only place where I allow myself to over eat to the point of no return! I was just in Chicago and I have to say that Shallots was amazing! I love Sassi Sushi Bar and Café in Encino, CA. There are way too many fabulous restaurants to be able to mention them all…I am getting terribly hungry now!
8. What is your least favorite food?
I like everything. I really do. Even gefilte fish and kugel! I love it!
9. What was your most memorable cooking moment?
I must say my best cooking memories come from my childhood and teenage years while learning to cook from my Mother and Grandmother. Specially learning to make Venezuelan desserts and Paeya. Another of those moments was learning to make Persian Dolmeh from my husband’s Grandmother. However, the most memorable cooking moment must have been when I struggled to make Turkish Coffee for the Crown Prince of Iran HIH Reza Palavi. I was so nervous and I had no idea how to make it…but at least I tried!
10. What is your earliest memory of cooking?
I honestly feel I was born in a kitchen! I come from a very traditional culture where women spend much of their lives in the kitchen making their families and husbands happy. These same women will assure you the man is the “head” but the woman is the “neck” and you know how the rest goes! My earliest memory from cooking is licking cake batter from my Mother’s old Electrolux mixer. She is the best baker in the world, although my aunt Anna (the French Pastry Chef) is pretty good too! By age 10 I was already an expert at making desserts and at eating them too!
Here are few recipes from my book for you to sample:
Tomato Persian Rice
Chicken Kebab
Refreshing Lime Syrup***GIVEAWAY*** In order to have a chance to win a copy of Reyna’s Book “Persian Food from the Non Persian Bride” leave a comment below telling us your favorite kosher ethnic dish. Winner will be picked at random. US residents only. Contest ends July 13 2011 at 9 am EST.
THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. WINNER TO BE ANNOUNCED SHORTLY.
I think my favorite kosher ethnic food is pita falafel….
I love Morrocon Fish. My girlfriend, Elise, gave me the recipe. Her mother-in-law is Morrocon and she swore to me it is better than her mother-in-law’s. It is great, Thanks Elise!
I love sushi. It was a gradual progression. We had it at my son’s Bar Mitzvah, 24 years ago, and didn’t even eat it. Started with veggie sushi- and now, bring the raw fish on, the spicier, the better.
I used to make kishka from scratch with my mom from real intestines when I was a child, some 50 + years ago. We also made helzel from the chicken neck skin…But my absolute fav would be falafel with garlic sauce and tehina in a pita with lots of veggies. Yum! I LOVE being Jewish!
I had a friend who married a Persian man. She made a delicious beef with prunes dish one time when we visited. Delicious. Everything I have ever had that was cooked by “Persians” has been wonderful. The first time I had “kookoo”, which was a wonderful dish of vegetables and eggs, I thought it was definitely a variation of kugel. I still think so! yummy!
My favorite ethnic foods are (a) my double gefuilte fish, where I layer regular gefuilte fish (with lemon juice and herbs) and salmon gefuilte fish (with line juice and herbs) & (b) fellafel.
Once when a friend, who had spent time in in Iran as a bride, was visiting for a few days she cooked me a Persian meal which I really enjoyed.
My favorite ethnic dish is Matboucha….I actually crave this sometimes on challah its so good!
My fave ethnic food is challah with dips. It goes with anything! I’d love to learn some new recipies – all the old ones are so boring already. We need kosher ethnic alternatives to many foods.
It’s difficult for me to pick just one dish – even a single cuisine! My current favorite is Indian.
It’s been many, many years since I had the honor of being a guest in a (kosher) Iranian home – I was bowled over by everything that was served, but my absolute favorite was the ice cream made with saffron and rosewater.
Can I have the recipes for everyone who commented before me?! Wow. I’ve been eating a lot of little tacos lately for lunch–so this week, anyway, I think it’s tacos. (corn tortillas, scrambled eggs, fresh salsa, dab of guacomole, tiny bit of cheese-yum)
I love Italian food, especially pesto…and the different Persian rice dishes with orange peel, and the one with lima beans, and with saffron
I love Moroccan couscous.
I, too, married a Persian and learned to cook his favorite dishes. Of course, taidik (the crunchy bottom of rice), is a favorite of my whole family….three kids, my in-laws and even my Pennsylvania-born parents. Khoreshte ghemeh is another favorite, as it goes on top of the crunchy rice. I make an amazing vegan version with mushrooms instead of beef.
Chinese food! I seem to make some at least once a week.
I love Morocan spiced salmon and gomez sabzi
My favorite kosher ethnic dishes are tadik (a Persian dish which is basically the fried rice at the bottom of the pot – so unhealthy but so yummy) and lachmajin (syrian meat patties – I love pizza and meat and this covers both bases in a bite size yummy treat. Not sure if I spelled the dishes correctly as I’m totally ashkenaz and never made them but love eating them.
Boy this is hard! I tend to love Middle Eastern Jewish food. I love Harira – Yemenite Beef soup.
My favorite ethnic food is def sushi!
one of my favorite is Chalah Kugel made with leftover chalah. Can be served room temperature. My mother-in-law use to make mock gefitle fish. She used chicken breasts. for years I didn’t know it was not fish. I wish I had the recipe.
Kugel!
Seriously – so few people make real European potato kugel anymore! I’m talking about the kind that’s got a nice brown crust and is creamy white on the inside and weighs as much as a four year old. The kinds of kugels they sell at the deli (made with ‘fake’ potatoes) just don’t cut it. (and don’t even get me started on the ‘apple’ kugels – kugels shouldn’t be sweet!)
It’s so hard to pick a favourite! But I really like pea soup. Instead of ham or back bacon, I use fried, salted pieces of crumbled tofu.
What fun to read everyone’s answers!
My current favorites include Moroccan preserved lemons, Ethiopian gonen with cottage cheese, and brisket made on the cooktop rather than in the oven (obviously not at the same meal). For Pesach, my family starts the seder meal with soup bowls of cold “egg water” made with hard-cooked eggs, onions and salt. Does anyone else have that tradition? We also dip potatoes instead of parsley.
My husband spent a few years in Spain growing up, so we love Paella! He also grew up in South Florida so we eat fish tacos, rice and black beans, fried plantains and various other Latin-inspired goodies. I personally like Indian food so we go through a lot of curry, garam masala and turmeric.
My favorite ethnic food is kosher Italian
7/6/2011
My favorite ethnic food is Kishke made from scratch, like my mom A”H made. She bought the intestines from the butcher, cleaned it for more than 3 hours, and then stuffed it with flour and chicken fat (griben). Then she put it in the Cholent on the top of the potatoes. It was the most divine dish. I couldn’t wait for Shabbes. That is one of the reasons I don’t eat the store bought Kishke, because I tasted the original recipe. By the way this was in Europe, where you were able to buy all the parts of the cow, like the feet for Petcha (Galerete), also from scratch. Which is also one of my favorites.
My family is Lebanese and my favorite is Lahmajin
iraqi kubbei! fried, not boiled. preferably made in israel (while we’re visitng)!
My husbands family is Persian so I’ve tasted many Persian dishes when we go to his parents house… My favorite would have to be Pollo Shirin but my mother in law says its very complicated to make. I would love to win the cookbook in order to impress my husband (and my mother in law)!
Abma, the yellow slimy looking sauce at falafel stands, is the best!
I love ghormeh sabzi! Its the best, especially when you put it on top of Tahdig (crispy rice) 🙂
My favorite dish is Bukhran Quwrighan. It’s french fries which are steamed over chicken. And of course Uzbeki Osh Pilov, when done right.
My favorite kosher ethnic dish is sushi. I took a sushi class a couple of weeks ago, and have tried it a few times. They’s so pretty and tasty!
My favorite kosher ethnic food? Tough to narrow it down to just one. Knishes (which I had for the first time this weekend grilled = YUM), charoset, and noodle kugel are some of the top choices.
One of my favorite ‘ethnic’ foods is babaganoush, the more garlic the better. My other favorite is my mothers brisket that my son now makes for me. Of course that makes it extra special. I would love to win this cookbook. My son and daughter in law really enjoy cooking all types of foods and entertaining and I would love to win this cookbook and gift it to them. Thank you for your consideration.
Almost anything Moroccan. I love the spice cumin–it adds so much depth to a dish. And sushi, of course.
yum, i love persian rice
I would love to get this cookbook.
Apple Wood smoked salmon with maple glaze. Hickory smoked set it and forget it Chicken. Banana Creamed Tilapia. Kentucky Fried Gefilte Fish. Chinese smoked Lamb Ribletes. Buffalo Chicken Wings. Espinaka (Turkish Spinach). Turkish Burekas. Biscochos. Rosemary Burgundy SilverTip.
Take your pick.
Our family loves sushi, even the kids 🙂
Kosher Indian food
My favorite kosher ethnic dish is made by my Syrian mother in law (but she is going to teach me!): warheneb (stuffed grape leaves). Yum!
my favorite ethnic dish is a vegan version of bastilla. I love the combination of chicken flavored seitan, crispy filo, cinnamon and almonds. A close favorite is a vegan version of chicken circassian. When i serve this for Shabbat my omnivore guests also enjoy the original chicken versions. Besides these two, almost anything using pomegranate syrup is on my lists of top favorites.
My husband is Sephardi (SP) and makes amazing fish enchiladas with green chili. Though another household favorite is my traditional chicken soup, which gets spiced up a bit by being served with fresh jalapeno and lemon.
Needless to say, we’d love to add Persian food to our repertoire, and I’ll be buying this cookbook if I don’t win it!
My current obsession is Indian food! Curries are my quick go to meal instead of pasta. But comfort food for me is generally Mexican or Tex-mex.
I’d love to add some Persian to my repertoire!
My favorite kosher ethnic dish is potato kugel!!
I also love the idea of a food diary. I don’t quite have that, but whenenver I try new recipes, I keep a paper in my cookbook for all the various changes/corrections/variations that I’ve tried.
My husband would love it if I learned to cook something different. I guess my favorite “ethnic” dish is chicken soup with matzo balls. Simple but comforting
I love the answer to question #4. What a great idea to journal Sabbath menus. I think I will try this. I love to get creative when I cook but sometimes my ideas aren’t always good so journaling would help. And to set the table the day before? That is incredible. I usually set the table early on Friday but never thought of the day before!
I agree with Sarah – I absolutely love schwarma.
My favorite kosher ethnic dish is shwarma.