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Shared by Ilanit Menachem

Ilanit Menachem’s on a Mission to Preserve Cochini Jewish Recipes

Ilanit Menachem’s on a Mission to Preserve Cochini Jewish Recipes

Family Journey

Chendamangalam, IndiaGivat Ko’ach, IsraelRishon LeTsiyon
Atlit
3 recipes
Cochin-Style Pastel (Fried Pastries Filled with Spiced Chicken)

Cochin-Style Pastel (Fried Pastries Filled with Spiced Chicken)

6-8 servings1 H 30 min

Ingredients

For the filling:

  • 6 tablespoons sunflower oil 
  • 4 onions, finely chopped
  • 2 skinless chicken breasts, chopped into ¼ inch cubes
  • 3 russet potatoes, boiled peeled and chopped into ¼ inch cubes
  • 2 teaspoons salt, divided
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 ½ teaspoon of turmeric
  • 1 ½ teaspoon ginger powder
  • 1 hot green pepper, finely chopped (optional)
  • 4 eggs, hard boiled and finely chopped
  • Half bunch of chopped fresh cilantro
  • A handful of fresh mint leaves
  • 2 tablespoons vinegar

For the dough

  • 4 cups (480 grams) AP flour
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 1/2 - 2 cups of water
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • Oil for frying
Ispetti (Spicy Beef Stew)

Ispetti (Spicy Beef Stew)

6-8 servings45 min plus 2 H inactive

Ingredients

  • 5-6 tablespoons sunflower oil
  • 3 ⅓ lbs beef chuck, cut into 1 inch cubes
  • 2 onions, halved and thinly sliced
  • 2 ½ teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon hot paprika
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander powder
  • 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 1 hot green pepper, thinly sliced and de-seeded 
  • 2 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into medium cubes
  • 6 red tomatoes
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 tablespoon of vinegar
  • 1-2 tablespoons tamarind paste (optional)
Appam (Cochini Shabbat Bread)

Appam (Cochini Shabbat Bread)

10-12 servings10 min plus 2 H inactive

Ingredients

  • 28 grams (4 packets) dry active yeast
  • 6 cups (750 g) AP flour
  • 2/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup ground semolina flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 tablespoon vinegar
  • 3-4 cups of water
Recipes
1
Cochin-Style Pastel (Fried Pastries Filled with Spiced Chicken)

Cochin-Style Pastel (Fried Pastries Filled with Spiced Chicken)

6-8 servings1 H 30 min

Ingredients

For the filling:

  • 6 tablespoons sunflower oil 
  • 4 onions, finely chopped
  • 2 skinless chicken breasts, chopped into ¼ inch cubes
  • 3 russet potatoes, boiled peeled and chopped into ¼ inch cubes
  • 2 teaspoons salt, divided
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 ½ teaspoon of turmeric
  • 1 ½ teaspoon ginger powder
  • 1 hot green pepper, finely chopped (optional)
  • 4 eggs, hard boiled and finely chopped
  • Half bunch of chopped fresh cilantro
  • A handful of fresh mint leaves
  • 2 tablespoons vinegar

For the dough

  • 4 cups (480 grams) AP flour
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 1/2 - 2 cups of water
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • Oil for frying
2
Ispetti (Spicy Beef Stew)

Ispetti (Spicy Beef Stew)

6-8 servings45 min plus 2 H inactive

Ingredients

  • 5-6 tablespoons sunflower oil
  • 3 ⅓ lbs beef chuck, cut into 1 inch cubes
  • 2 onions, halved and thinly sliced
  • 2 ½ teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon hot paprika
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander powder
  • 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 1 hot green pepper, thinly sliced and de-seeded 
  • 2 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into medium cubes
  • 6 red tomatoes
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 tablespoon of vinegar
  • 1-2 tablespoons tamarind paste (optional)
3
Appam (Cochini Shabbat Bread)

Appam (Cochini Shabbat Bread)

10-12 servings10 min plus 2 H inactive

Ingredients

  • 28 grams (4 packets) dry active yeast
  • 6 cups (750 g) AP flour
  • 2/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup ground semolina flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 tablespoon vinegar
  • 3-4 cups of water

Before Ilanit Menachem became a design quality engineer at Philips’ Haifa office, she was an intensive care nurse for 17 years. But, her life’s mission is clear — to preserve the culinary traditions of her family’s community from Cochin (now Kochi) on India’s southwestern coast. She wants to safeguard recipes like those for pastel, or savory pastries filled with spiced chicken and potatoes, and the Shabbat bread appam.

While the exact age of the Cochin Jewish community is unknown, some sources point to its earliest members arriving during the time of King Solomon, nearly 3,000 years ago. At its recorded peak in the 1950s, the community numbered 3,000, but it has all but disappeared, according to Shalva Weil, a scholar of the Jewish communities of India. In Israel, Ilanit says her children are the only ones of their generation to have two Cochini parents and that most of the community has assimilated into Israeli society. “In one or two decades, this tremendous heritage will be lost,” she explains.

Ilanit is quick to point out that her family’s move to Israel in the 1950s was motivated by Zionism, not a need to escape persecution. In India, the community lived peacefully amongst its neighbors — in her mother’s village Chendamangalam, there was a church, a Hindu temple, a mosque, and a synagogue all within one kilometer of each other. “Lore tells us that this was the only place in the world where you could hear the blowing of the shofar, the tolling of the church bell, the blowing of a Hindu shell, and the call of the muezzin sounding in harmony together,” Ilanit adds. 

Historically, the Jewish community in Cochin also dominated the robust local spice trade. When her family was planning to leave India for Israel, her mother’s father Mordechai heard a rumor that there was little food in the new country. “They believed if they brought spices they could sell them and buy food” with the proceeds, Ilanit explains. So they packed peppercorns in their suitcases “as a symbol of what they left behind and of some kind of hope for the unknown future in Israel.” 

This side of her family “had a very strong impact on me,” she adds. She spent Shabbats and vacations on the moshav where her grandparents lived exploring the woods and nearby farms. On Friday mornings, her grandmother Rebecca made appam and recipes like ispetti, or slow-cooked beef with ginger, coriander, and potatoes in a spicy tomato sauce. No one could wait for dinner, so Ilanit, her brothers, and her aunts would sit down for breakfast at 10 a.m. — and thankfully, there was enough left for dinner as well. When she cooks for her own children today, it’s the same, she says, they can’t wait for dinner.

Ilanit wasn’t always interested in these dishes. The Cochini recipes were a “world that belonged to memories from grandma and nothing more,” she writes. When her grandfather died 10 years ago, she realized an entire generation was starting to pass away and with them memories, stories, and foods from their community were being lost. Ilanit started posting on social media, sharing dishes she remembered from her grandmother and decided to launch a blog, which she called Chipappam, after her grandparents’ favorite snack that’s enjoyed on holidays in the community. Today, the site is available in both Hebrew and English and has readers around the world and Ilanit hopes to one day write a book.

Her passion for her work, she says, is inspired by her grandfather Mordechai, who was a cantor. When he was too old to lead services anymore, he went to a recording studio and recorded prayers and melodies from the community so they wouldn’t be lost. “This was his mission to record all the prayers,” Ilanit explains. Preserving these recipes is hers.

Photographer: Armando Rafael. Food Stylist: Judy Haubert. Prop Stylist: Vanessa Vazquez.
Photographer: Armando Rafael. Food Stylist: Judy Haubert. Prop Stylist: Vanessa Vazquez.
Black and white image of Ilanit's grandparents at their wedding.
Ilanit's grandparents at their wedding.