Food for flexitarians: How to make a parve brisket for Shavuot

Bestselling Jewish cookbook author Adeena Sussman sums up Nosh quite succinctly in her foreword to Micah Siva’s new work: “In recent years, we’ve become more attuned to the advantages of a plant-friendly diet, and Micah is here to be your trusted guide – dishes that remind us of the many ports of call where Jewish food has its roots: Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and more. 

“Her warm, welcoming voice, doable recipes, gorgeous photos, and role as culinary cheerleader-in-residence make all of this food seem incredibly aspirational and at the same time totally possible.”

I’m always on the lookout for plant-based holiday recipes and was happy to find that more than half the recipes in Nosh are vegan-friendly. For example, the vegan potato latke recipe uses ground flax as a binder instead of eggs. The instructions include a tip I am eager to try: “Add a whole, trimmed carrot to the frying oil to help keep the oil clean. It acts as a magnet for the potato particles and helps maintain the oil temperature due to its water content. The carrot will burn faster than the potatoes, a small sacrifice to pay for perfect latkes.”

A registered dietitian, chef, and blogger (“Nosh with Micah”) residing in San Francisco, Siva previously co-wrote the Hanukkah book 1, 2, 3, Nosh With Me with her husband, Josh, to help young children learn numbers, as well as traditional Jewish cuisine. 

However, Siva has now wisely chosen to address a more expansive audience, the fast-growing flexitarian sector especially, with her “plant-forward” approach – “a way of cooking and eating that emphasizes plant-based foods without limiting one’s diet to being vegetarian or vegan.” 

“While the memories of stewing chickens and roasting brisket bring me back to days of cooking with my grandmother, my way of eating and my food ethos has adjusted from the Eastern European ‘meat and potatoes’ way of thinking to a plant-forward way of eating that benefits not only our health but also the health of the planet,” Siva writes.

In many cases, the recipes put an updated, healthful twist on classic dishes from a variety of Jewish cultures, such as cholent, mamaliga, malabi, kreplach, tzimmes, matzah ball soup, Moroccan carrot salad, schnitzel, and sabich. 

Celeriac substitutes for pastrami in the classic deli sandwich. Cauliflower substitutes for fish in chraime (Moroccan fish in tomato sauce). Falafel gets baked, kasha gets cheesy, and challah gets a tahini infusion. How about some Montreal bagels topped with carrot lox and cashew cream cheese? Or pumpkin kugel with pecan streusel?

There’s even a cocktail and beverage section, tempting readers with recipes such as Mulled Manischewitz (that title gets points for creativity), Vegan Egg Cream, Halvah Milkshake, and Date Syrup and Hawaij Espresso Martini.

In all, Nosh contains more than 80 recipes, each clearly labeled at the top so you know at a glance if it has eggs and/or dairy, is gluten-free, or entirely plant-based. There’s also an estimation of how much time the prep will take, a welcome feature that will help you avoid getting mired in a recipe that gobbles more time than you had planned.

There are many user-friendly aspects to this book, such as a guide to plant-based egg substitutes, a measurement conversion table (helpful for Anglo-Israelis), and information on plant-based nutrition. 

Siva provides some answers to the main question vegans get asked all the time and find most annoying: “But how are you going to get your protein?” 

Anything that was alive, plant or animal, contains protein. She lists the best sources of plant protein: beans, grains, nuts and seeds, nutritional yeast, seitan, tofu, and tempeh.

“I’ve purposefully developed recipes that provide whole-food plant protein alternatives to meat protein, from Heart of Palm “Whitefish” Salad using white beans to Sesame Tofu “Schnitzel,” she writes.

The book contains suggested holiday menus and many recipes that can also be made kosher for Passover, though a hefty chunk of these contain legumes.

Like any cookbook worth its salt, Nosh features luscious full-color photos, many of them snapped by Siva herself. 

In relation to the recipe I chose to share below, the author writes: “Brisket is synonymous with Jewish cuisine... Recreating the texture and taste of beef for a plant-based dish is challenging, but king trumpet mushrooms and grated tofu help mimic the look and feel of brisket.”

Savory Pulled Mushroom and Tofu “Brisket”

6 servings

Brisket

1½ pounds (680 gr.) king trumpet mushrooms

1 14-oz (400 gr.) block extra-firm tofu

½ cup olive oil

3 Tbsp. soy sauce, or gluten-free tamari, if preferred

2 Tbsp. smoked paprika

1 Tbsp. garlic powder

½ tsp. black pepper

Sauce

1 medium yellow onion, peeled and quartered

4 garlic cloves, peeled

2 cups dry red wine

1 cup ketchup

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 tsp. mustard powder

2 Tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

Use two forks to shred the mushrooms into strips. Put them in a large bowl.

Drain the tofu. Using the largest holes of a box grater, grate the tofu into the bowl with the mushrooms. 

Add the olive oil, soy sauce, smoked paprika, garlic powder, and pepper and toss with the mushrooms and tofu until well combined. Transfer the mushroom and tofu mixture to a large rimmed sheet pan and spread it into an even layer. Roast for 30 minutes, or until golden. Set aside.

Make the sauce while the mushrooms are roasting. In a blender or food processor, puree the onion, garlic, red wine, ketchup, soy sauce, Dijon mustard, thyme, and mustard powder until smooth.

Pour the sauce over the roasted mushroom and tofu mixture, stirring until evenly distributed.

Return the sheet pan to the oven and roast for 30 to 35 minutes, stirring halfway through, until the mushrooms and tofu are deep brown. The liquid will evaporate while it roasts, making a thick sauce.

Serve topped with the chopped parsley. 

NOSH: 

PLANT-FORWARD RECIPES CELEBRATING MODERN JEWISH CUISINE 

By Micah Siva

The Collective Book Studio

256 pages; $35