Yerushalmi Kugel, Sweet and Savory

Many years ago, my friend Sara gave me this recipe and when the children were young, I made it fairly often. I hadn’t made it in a while, and Rena on my Foodies group on FB asked for a good recipe. Thanks for reminding me just how good this is!

Thank G-d, our son Netanel and DIL Ayelet had a baby boy and this is just the sort of dish you make for the shalom zachar, a welcoming of a new baby boy on Friday night.

Since it’s Corona time, nobody was allowed in the hospital (except Netanel, only one person) so I packed them up their own little celebratory package, the kugel amongst it. It’s not your average kugel, it’s a caramelized noodle kugel with salt and pepper, which gives it this amazing sweetish yet savory component and was invented (so I’ve been told) by the Yerushalmi (Jerusalemite) community, likely in Meah Shearim. It is a strangely compelling dish, liked not only by Ashkenazi Jews, and even though DH and I aren’t big on noodles generally speaking, this is something we both like. Mom liked it too, saying, I like it, not too sweet! Exactly. If you are a true blue Yerushalmi, you serve a slice of this with a pickle on the plate, tradition!

I particularly like this recipe since most of them make you struggle to mix the caramelized sugar into the noodles (a thankless and impossible job, they turn into globs and never get fully incorporated) but this one instead has a genius hack. I will show all shortly. Just beware beware, you will add boiling water to the caramelized sugar and it will boil hysterically, writhing like a sea of serpents so you must use a tall pot and shield your face from the mad bubbling mixture. It’s definitely doable, just follow the instructions and all will be well.

First make sure you get thin noodles for this, it’s critical to the texture.

By the by, these are not egg noodles, just thin noodles. *** Update, both Louise D. in my Foodie group (who had an overabundance of egg noodles) and my bro Shlomo used thin egg noodles and said it came out beautifully. So, if that’s all ya got, go for it! Thanks for your input guys! *** Okay, as you see, the main ingredients are noodles, oil, sugar, salt and pepper and eggs. Now I decided to make double the amount (for Netanel and Ayelet and for us) so if the amount seems like a lot in the pot, it is. Normally this would be half the amount.

I also wanted you to see that this is a ginormous stock pot that I use to make sure the bubbling sugar/oil/water mixture when it rises up in the pot will not jump over the edges and – G-d Forbid!- burn you. You will also use the pot cover (you must have a fitting cover for this) as a shield, so to speak. Onward.

Take the sugar and oil and put together in the big pot and on medium heat let it cook, stirring once or twice to help dissolve the sugar. Then leave it alone to caramelize. Now I’m gonna show you a series of pics of how it goes. If you wanna skip it, no worries but it’ll give you an idea of how it should look. Warning!!! Do NOT step away. It doesn’t take long to caramelize (5 minutes, maybe?) and it can burn in a heartbeat. Stick close.

beginning the process, stir a bit.

Next pic shows real progress

See? It’s beginning the caramelization process. Now it can go very very quickly so stand over the pot and watch like a hawk. No stirring, just watching. Don’t worry, it doesn’t bubble or sputter yet.

Ain’t it gorgeous? Now I call this medium brown, now gently pull off the fire and have boiling water and your pot lid ready. Really, no doing this without the cover in hand. I have the full amount of boiling water on the side (it’s okay if it cools off a bit, you will reboil soon) and holding up the lid in front of your face (I’m dead serious here), pour in about 1/2 a cup of the boiling water and IMMEDIATELY slam the lid on the pot. It will hiss and bubble like a witch’s cauldron madly. Make sure you are keeping your face away from the top of the pot, although if it’s tall enough you should have no problem. I’m just a nervous nelly about boiling oil and sugar. Wait a couple minutes, the sound will calm a bit and then (still don’t stand too close, just in case) remove pot lid and add the rest of the water and return to flame and bring to boil.

Okay, you’ve added your water, now it’s boiling again and now add the salt, the extra sugar (don’t skip it, it’ll have the wrong taste without it and it’s not too sweet, trust me) the black pepper and when again boiling, immediately add the noodles, stir well, bring back to boil and cook exactly 6 minutes no more.

Turn off the fire, cover the pot and leaving the pot on the turned off burner, let sit for one hour, use a timer. Walk away, read a book, cook other things, sip some coffee or tea. You get me. No peeking and no fussing at it.

Okay, your hour is up, preheat your oven to 350 F, remove pot lid and whisk together your 3 eggs and vigorously stir into the noodle mixture making sure to incorporate the eggs thoroughly. Take a round pot or baking pan, grease and parchment paper it (especially the sides so it won’t stick and be impossible to remove) and pour your noodle mixture into the pot/pan.

Just wanted you to see what the final look of the mixture is color wise etc. Bake in the pot for 1 1/2 – 2 hours or till kugel is firm to the touch and middle is not jiggly. Also the top might have a bit of crispiness going on.

Serve to delighted eaters, obviously best with a slice of pickle on the side. This kugel is meant to be sliced like a cake, that’s the traditional look, no squares here. This freezes excellently well and I advise you slice the kugel up and freeze in slices. Will be a hit at the Shabbat table, holidays and during the week when you are craving something delicious. DH sneaks pieces in the middle of the day and when I notice there’s a lot less kugel around looks at me innocently.

Yerushalmi Kugel, Sweet and Savory

400 grams (14 ounces) thin noodles
1/2 cup white sugar, no you cannot use brown sugar here
1/2 cup oil (canola is good)
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon salt
3 eggs
6 cups boiling water
4 heaping tablespoons white sugar, really almost 1/3 cup not 1/4 cup

Directions:
Heat oil and sugar together in a large pot with high sides, melting sugar till medium brown . Pull pot off the flame and add 1/2 a cup of the boiling water, holding the pot lid up to protect your face and standing back as you pour and slamming lid down quickly on the pot, letting the hysterical boiling calm down a bit and then open pot and add the remainder of the 6 cups boiling water. Bring back to the boil add salt, second lot of sugar, black pepper and noodles, stir once or twice to combine let reboil and cook uncovered exactly 6 minutes (really not longer!) immediately turn off flame, leave pot on burner and cover pot and leave to rest 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 F.

Remove cover and add 3 eggs incorporating thoroughly and pour into a well greased pan and parchment paper as well as it will be very hard to remove otherwise. Bake 1 1/2 -2 hours or till deep brown on top and not jiggly in middle. For authenticity, serve with a slice of pickle on the side.