The Passover meal Clarissa Hyman The traditional Passover meal is celebrated by Jews all over the world. Although there are certain symbolic ingredients and traditions that are observed everywhere, there’s a wealth of variety to the Passover table, from Greece to Yemen and beyond.

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Preparing for Passover Traditions and variations

Passover week around the world Recipes

‘Why is this night different from all other nights?’ This question, the first of four asked around every Seder table by the youngest person present, is the moment the Jewish Passover formally begins. Over the course of the evening, the explanation is given and the Exodus recounted anew, a tale of slavery and freedom told through story, song and symbol.

In Jewish homes, whether they are Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe, Sephardic Jews whose ancestors came from Spain and Portugal, or Jews whose families originated in the Middle East and North Africa, the evening is a religious ritual broken by a ceremonial meal. To my child’s mind, though, it sometimes seemed to take as long to reach the chicken soup with matzoh balls as it took Moses to part the Red Sea and wander in the wilderness.

Another of the questions asked concerns the eating of matzoh, the crisp, unleavened bread that recalls how the Israelites had to flee Egypt in haste, before the dough had time to rise. In commemoration, observant Jews refrain from eating bread, flour and, often, anything that may sprout or ferment during the next eight days.

Over the generations, however, this culinary prohibition has proved a spur to kitchen creativity

Over the generations, however, this culinary prohibition has proved a spur to kitchen creativity, even though, such is the impact on the digestive system, that by the end of the week, as the old joke goes, everyone is indeed praying to be released from the bondage of this ‘bread of affliction’.

In the run-up to Passover, Jewish housewives will work themselves into a spring-cleaning frenzy, making sure the house is a bread and crumb-free zone, cooking and baking using products that have been specially sanctioned for use during the festival.

On the first night, my mother always used to say that if you didn’t collapse with exhaustion then you hadn’t done your job properly: but, before then, she always managed to prepare a classic Eastern European-influenced Ashkenazi feast of chopped liver, chicken soup with matzoh balls (dumplings), braised brisket, sweet-sour carrot tzimmes (carrots with dried fruit) and dried fruit compote. All the dishes had to be prepared in advance, as once the Seder starts there should be no actual cooking.

The Seder (which means ‘order’) includes its own symbolic moments, such as eating bitter herbs dipped into salt water to remember the tears shed in slavery or the lamb’s shank-bone that recalls the slaying of the first-born. Thereafter, for the meal itself and for the traditional food eaten during the week, there are nearly as many variations as there are different communities, indeed families, throughout the worldwide Jewish diaspora.

One of the most-loved foods on the Seder table is haroset, a sweet spread made from fruit, nuts and wine that represents the mortar and mud bricks used by Jewish slaves in Egypt. Recipes are legion: Eastern Europeans use apples, walnuts, cinnamon and honey; Turkish Jews include dates, raisins, almonds and oranges; Yemenite Jews prefer pomegranates, fresh dates and mixed spices.

The Seder night meal in a Turkish or Greek Jewish home usually includes fish in egg and lemon sauce, and keftes (little morsels of meat or fish) in tomato sauce. Sometimes there are fritters made with eggs, leeks and minced meat. Moroccan favourites include lamb baked with artichokes, chicken tagine with prunes and almonds and a layered meat, potato and egg pie called pastella.

During the Passover week, beloved huevos haminados, marbled, slow-cooked eggs, are on most Sephardic tables, along with meat and dairy pies that use matzoh to replace pastry. Sweet pancakes and doughnuts, made with matzoh meal, are also popular throughout the Jewish world, and every corner of an Ashkenazi heart has a special place for matzoh brei, a comforting scramble of eggs and milk-soaked matzoh, as well as for beetroot, lemon and ginger jam to spread on buttered matzoh.

Passover baking reaches miracles of lightness and invention, replacing wheat flour with potato and matzoh meal flour. North African cakes are made with whole oranges, almonds, dates and cinnamon; classic lemon sponge cakes are based on strenuously beaten, separated eggs. Greek Jews yearn for tishpishti, diamonds of spicy almond cake soaked in honey syrup. The best, flourless hazelnut and chocolate cake I ever tasted came from an Austrian cook. In Italian Jewish homes you’ll find deliciously crunchy almond macaroons.

At the end of Passover week, Persian Jews eat a special yoghurt dish, to break the abstention from bread - and it’s bedlam in the Jewish bakery shops. There is nothing so sweet as that first taste of fresh bread.

Seder night is a time for food, memories and reflection on the nature of freedom. At the end, we wish for next year in Jerusalem - a wish that also means we should be well, happy and together once more around the Passover table. The following recipes are perfect for Passover celebrations, but you can enjoy them at any time of the year, with friends and family.

Mina de maza (cheese and spinach matzoh pie) by Clarissa Hyman from The Jewish Kitchen
Msoki (Tunisian lamb casserole with matzoh) by Clarissa Hyman from The Jewish Kitchen
Carrot tzimmes by Clarissa Hyman from The Jewish Kitchen
Old-fashioned sweet carrot kugel by Clarissa Hyman from The Jewish Kitchen
Marunchinos (Sephardi almond macaroons) by Clarissa Hyman from The Jewish Kitchen
Almond cake by Clarissa Hyman from The Jewish Kitchen