I love seasoning cholent with spices for their flavor and because they add lots of good-for-you compounds, but feel free to substitute, add more, or omit. Turmeric is a nutritional powerhouse and the smoked paprika adds a lovely smokiness to this classic comfort food. The cholent should cook for a minimum of 8 hours but can also be set before shabbat and eaten at lunch.
Root Vegetable Cholent
Servings
8 Servings
Ingredients
- 2 cups assorted beans and lentils
- 1 cup barley or oat groats
- 1 celery root peeled and cubed
- 1 large or 2 small parsnip, peeled and cubed
- 1 large or 2 small carrots, peeled and cubed
- 1 medium potato cubed (no need to peel)
- 1 large or 2 small sweet potato (no need to peel)
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 5 garlic cloves peeled
- 1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 pound beef stew meat I like beef cheeks, preferably pasture raised
- 1 bay leaf
Instructions
- Soaking beans and grains: This step is optional, however, I highly recommend it. It makes beans and grains more digestible, it wakes up their dormant enzymes and helps eliminate most of the phytic acid they contain, allowing us to absorb better some of their fabulous nutrients. Lastly, soaking makes beans less heavy on the digestive tract.
- Place the beans in a bowl and cover them with water completely and leaving some extra water (about 2 inches), as they expand. Add a splash of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. Repeat for the barley (or oats) in a separate bowl. Cover and soak overnight.
- Rinse and drain beans and barley and place them in a slow cooker.
- Add all the vegetables, spices, and meat. Add water until it’s leveled with the rest of the ingredients. Add bay leaf.
- Cover and cook in low setting for about 8 hours.
- Remove bay leaf. Taste for seasoning and adjust, if necessary.
- Serve.
- Variations: adding some chipotle pepper, sun dried tomatoes, chili flakes, fresh thyme or substituting part of the water for coconut milk are all delicious. And if you find any interesting root vegetables, throw them in!
I like your recipes for the Root Vegetable Cholent. However, a couple of things come to mind:
If this is a Root Vegetable Cholent – then why include meat as one of the ingredients?
One thing common to most, if not all, Cholent recipes on the web and in books – there is no indication of the size of the pot/crockpot, slow cooker used.