Carrot tzimmes

Description

Tzimmes is one of the dishes served on Sabbath and festivals, especially Rosh Hashanah and Succoth. This savoury-sweet fruit and vegetable stew has rich, melting flavours, and is best made a day in advance, to allow the flavours to mellow.

Ingredients

1 large onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp margarine (or shmaltz, chicken fat, for a meat meal)
500g/1lb 2oz carrots, sliced like coins
500g/1lb 2oz sweet potatoes, cut into small pieces
125g/4oz pitted prunes
125g/4oz chopped apricots (the better the quality of the dried fruit, the better the tzimmes)
3 tbsp runny honey
1 orange, zest only
1 lemon, zest only
2 oranges and 2 lemons, juice only (to make about 250ml/9fl oz juice)
½ tsp ground cinnamon
a little grated nutmeg
salt and white pepper

Method

1. Sauté the onion in the margarine or schmaltz in a large pot over a medium heat until tender.
2. Add the carrots, sweet potatoes, prunes, apricots, honey, zest, juice, spices and seasoning. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Give the pot a good stir, then cover and simmer for about 45 minutes until the carrots and sweet potatoes are tender.
3. Stir occasionally. Taste and adjust the seasonings if necessary - it needs to be sweet, but not sickly-sweet.