Cholent for Pessah

For those of us who enjoy cholent or hamin on Shabbat, our weekend staple poses a problem during Pessah, especially for Ashkenazim.
The elements common to many cholent pots - meat, potatoes and onions - are fine; however, barley or wheat berries, which many people like in their usual cholent, are avoided on Pessah by both Ashkenazim and Sephardim. Beans or chickpeas, other standard cholent components during most of the year, come under the category of kitniyot, and although used by some Sephardim on Pessah, they are not allowed for Orthodox Ashkenazim.

Those Sephardim who do eat kitniyot, and of course those who use rice, can certainly prepare a terrific pot of cholent during Pessah.
But what's an Ashkenazi cook to do? He or she is left with meat and potatoes. Of course, meat, potatoes and onions do make delicious stews, and are a favorite combination among cooks from South America to Southeast Asia.
But somehow, a meat-and-potato stew does not seem like full-fledged cholent. There needs to be something else.

One good addition is the brown eggs, those eggs that many Israelis add in their shells to the pot so they turn firm and acquire a rich flavor. I first learned to do this from my Yemenite mother-in-law and noticed that many Sephardim followed this culinary custom. After she moved to Jerusalem from Washington, my Polish-born mother adopted it, as several of her friends did, once they discovered how delicious these eggs are.

In my quest to come up with a tasty  Pessah cholent, I thought of my mother's  kneidlach, or matza balls. Usually they appeared in chicken soup but my mother sometimes put them in her tzimmes. When added to cholent, they contribute taste, texture and substance, either as individual balls or as a loaf of kneidlach mixture that slowly absorbs flavor as the cholent cooks, and then is sliced for serving.
Meatballs or a sausage-shaped meat loaf are also good additions, to present meat in an additional texture besides the usual chunks of beef. Since the meatballs are separately seasoned, they help to vary the cholent's flavor too.
Another way to add interest to the classic Shabbat entree is to add a cholent kugel. Normally it is made of grated vegetables held together by a seasoned dough of flour or cracker crumbs and oil (or chicken fat or margarine). For Pesah the dough is made from matza meal or potato starch. The mixture is shaped in a log, which cooks gently in the cholent and absorbs the tasty juices. Some call this kugel a vegetarian kishke. (In fact, you could add a real stuffed kishke or stuffed chicken skin, using the same mixture.) Of course, you can add vegetables if you don't mind that they become very soft. For my taste carrots are fine, especially if you choose very fat ones and leave them whole. Large whole mushrooms are good too. Chunks of eggplant become delicious from the meat juices, so I don't mind that they fall apart.

Nira Rousso, author of The Passover Gourmet (in Hebrew), makes her Pessah hamin from chicken pieces and turkey gizzards cooked with beef bones, onion, potato and carrot, flavors it with salt, paprika and chicken fat and adds a Pessah kugel of grated potato and onion mixed with potato starch, matza meal, oil and salt.
Matza balls are added to the cholent in The Kosher for Pesach Cookbook of Agudat Nashim L'ma'an Yeshivat Aish Hatorah, along with potatoes, salt, pepper and honey; the beef and onions are first browned for extra flavor.
I like to make a spicy Ashkenazi-Yemenite cholent using the Ashkenazi matza balls or vegetarian kishke along with Yemenite seasonings and, of course, brown eggs.

PESSAH CHOLENT/HAMIN WITH MUSHROOMS AND MATZA BALLS

This cholent features beef, small potatoes, and matza balls and is seasoned generously with onions, garlic, cumin, turmeric, salt and pepper. If you like, you can also add Easy Kishke (see recipe below).