Vegetable kugel - incredibly tasty, quick and easy! “With Jews it’s only good to eat kugel dish.

It was formed over thousands of years. Cooking secrets were passed down from generation to generation, which were distinguished by their variety and amazing taste. It so happened historically that some of the most ancient recipes are used by cooks from other countries. Most dishes are prepared primarily from kosher ingredients (permitted by religion), these include: fish, grains, dairy products, vegetables, and meat of certain animals.

The list of national Jewish treats is quite large and is unlikely to fit on several pages. Therefore, we decided to introduce readers to one traditional dish called kugel. The recipe is within the power of every Russian housewife. Essentially, this is a multi-component casserole consisting of vegetables, crops, pasta, and fruits. All products are poured with beaten egg and baked in the oven.

There is nothing supernatural in its preparation. If desired, you can modify, arrange and mix products to your liking. Every time it turns out interesting, original and tasty. In addition, you do not spend a lot of time, which is important for a modern woman.

Vegetable kugel: recipe with photos

Despite the absence of meat, the treat is nutritious. So, the ingredients for cooking:

• six potato tubers (you can take less, at your discretion);
• two large carrots;
• two heads of onions;
• and broccoli - 150 grams of each product;
• feta cheese in the amount of 100 g;
• three chicken eggs;
• breadcrumbs - 50 gr.;
• spices: black pepper, turmeric, oregano, paprika, basil, salt.

Instructions

Before preparing the kugel, the recipe for which came to us from Israel, it is necessary to prepare the listed vegetables. After peeling the potatoes, grate them on a coarse grater. Three carrots in a separate container. Onions can be cut into half rings or small cubes. Thaw beans and broccoli first, drain excess liquid and chop.

In the classic recipe, the ingredients are mixed. You can move away from culinary traditions and lay out vegetables in layers. We treat the bottom of the baking sheet with vegetable oil, lay out the potatoes, carrots and onions on top, and finish the dish with cabbage and beans. Sprinkle each layer with a “bouquet” of seasonings. Spread liberally with grated cheese and breadcrumbs.

Beat the eggs with a whisk, adding salt. Pour the resulting mixture into the “cake”. Preheat the oven to 180-200 0 C, bake for about an hour. Be careful not to burn the bottom. The dish is usually served with various sauces: garlic-sour cream, tomato. A hearty treat that fits perfectly into your everyday menu.

Potato kugel: recipe with photos

The second version of the dish is no less interesting, but differs in composition. It's no worse than potato casserole. Thanks to familiar and familiar ingredients, the treat will appeal to people with conservative tastes. Required ingredients:

• six eggs;
• potatoes - 10-12 pcs.;
• onions - three heads;
• a glass of wheat flour;
• dessert spoon of baking soda;
• vegetable oil - half a glass;
• salt, ground white pepper.

Technological process

For those who do not have time to prepare complex dishes, we offer a solution - potato kugel. The recipe can be found in any country in the world. The most difficult step is peeling and grating the potatoes. There is no need to boil anything in advance. Combine the starchy vegetable with chopped or grated onion and flour.

Mix thoroughly until smooth. Add vegetable oil, spices and beaten eggs. Grease the baking dish with oil so that the casserole does not burn, carefully lay out the mixture, and level it with a fork. Place in a roasting pan for an hour at 180C. If someone finds the meal lean, layer the potatoes with minced meat, mushrooms, and fish. Simple, tasty and satisfying!

Curd kugel

When you want something sweet, treat yourself to a Jewish-style cottage cheese dessert. The exquisite kugel, the recipe of which has firmly taken root in world cooking, has a delicate structure. It will satisfy the taste preferences of any gourmet and will delight the children's audience. To create a treat you need to purchase:

• fat content 5% - 250 g;
• raisins - 150 gr.;
• wide noodles - 200 gr.;
• cinnamon - 10 g;
• three eggs;
• granulated sugar - 60 gr.

Step by step guide

Boil the noodles in salted water for literally 7 minutes so that the dough does not overcook. Place in a colander, water with a spoon of vegetable oil or leave covered for a while. Pour boiling water over the raisins for 10 minutes; when they swell, drain the water.

Place cottage cheese in a blender bowl, beat in eggs, add granulated sugar and cinnamon. Beat at medium speed. Add the elastic mass to the noodles along with the raisins and mix well. Place on a baking sheet, pre-oiled, and bake for 30-40 minutes.

When a golden crust appears on the surface of the casserole, immediately turn off the oven. You can check the readiness of the dish using a match. When serving, sprinkle with powdered sugar and garnish with fresh berries.

By the way, they also prepare vegetable kugel with crab sticks. Try experimenting and treating your loved ones to unusual dishes.

Vegetable kugel - incredibly tasty, quick and easy!

Vegetable kugel - incredibly tasty, quick and easy!

Traditionally, a kugel is a large round pie, or rather a casserole.

They use egg wash without adding milk. A very light summer dish, but at the same time very nutritious! The best thing in the heat... I really liked it hot with cold sour cream! Awesome combination.

You can prepare an original small portioned kugel for each guest in a regular cupcake tin (or muffins, if you prefer that name)

Required:

2 potatoes
2 carrots
2 small zucchini
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
3 eggs
4 tbsp. olive oil
3 tbsp. ground crackers
1/4 tsp. dried basil
1 tbsp. finely chopped parsley
salt and black pepper to taste

Preparation:

Peel potatoes, onions, carrots and garlic. Wash the zucchini. Finely chop the garlic, grate the remaining vegetables on a coarse grater. Mix vegetables with breadcrumbs, eggs, parsley, basil, salt and pepper until a thick dough forms. transfer the vegetable mass into a greased form, level the surface, pour over the remaining oil and bake for 50-60 minutes at 180 degrees, until crispy. Serve hot.
If you have a large family, feel free to double the food allowance), the kugel is very tasty, it disappeared from the table instantly).

Wikipedia, Stuart Spivack

The great Jewish writer Sholom Aleichem stated. The word "kugel" - or "kugol" or "kugl" - means "round" in Yiddish. The shape of the kugel remained round for centuries, but its content changed. This is one of the indigenous dishes of Ashkenazi cuisine, a unique Jewish culinary brand, no less widespread and famous than “gefilte fish” or tzimmes.

Roman GERSHZON, Jerusalem

The variety of kugels is a rather controversial issue. Culinary radicals believe that kugel can be made from potatoes, cottage cheese, beets, eggs, fruits, etc. Kugel conservatives agree with the Great Encyclopedia of Culinary Arts, which says: “Kugel is a national Jewish dish: noodles with goose fat, doused with beaten eggs.” Everything else, where there are no noodles and goose fat, I apologize, bears the modest name of casseroles. And nothing more! Time will judge who is right in this culinary-kugel discussion.
In the meantime, let’s get acquainted with some recipes for Jewish kugels.

KUGEL CLASSIC

Noodles - 300 g, beaten eggs - 3-4 pcs., goose fat - 3-4 tablespoons, pepper, salt - to taste.
Boil the noodles in salted water and rinse with cold water. Add the egg, stir and fry in a frying pan with chicken or goose fat over high heat until a light brown crust is obtained. Then turn the kugel over and fry the other side. Season with salt and pepper and serve with broth or as a separate main course.
The noodle kugel that accompanies Shabbat kiddush is traditionally prepared sweet and savory.

KUGEL - LAPSHEVNIK

Noodles - 300 g, beaten eggs - 3 pcs., butter - 3 tablespoons, breadcrumbs - 3 tablespoons, raisins - 2-3 tablespoons, sugar - 2 tablespoons, breadcrumbs - 2-3 tablespoons, cinnamon - 1/3 teaspoon, chopped nuts - 100 g, salt - to taste.
Boil the noodles in salted water, drain the water, and rinse the noodles with cold water. Season the noodles with oil. Add eggs, raisins, cinnamon, sugar, nuts, salt, mix everything. Place the noodles on a frying pan greased with oil and sprinkled with breadcrumbs, brush the surface with egg and bake until done.
There are several delicious varieties of noodle kugel.

KUGEL WITH MEAT

Noodles - 300 g, meat - 400 g, beaten eggs - 2-3 pcs., onions - 1-2 pcs., fat - 2-3 tablespoons, broth - 2-3 tablespoons, salt, pepper - to taste .
Boil the noodles in salted water, drain the water. Rinse the noodles with cold water, add beaten eggs, pepper, salt, and mix everything. Fry the meat and onions through a meat grinder in a frying pan, add broth, pepper, salt and stir. Place some of the prepared noodles on a baking sheet greased and sprinkled with breadcrumbs, then the minced meat, the rest of the noodles on top and bake until done.

KUGEL LAPSHEVNIK WITH CHEEK CHEESE

Noodles - 300 g, beaten eggs - 3 pcs., butter - 2-3 tablespoons, breadcrumbs - 2-3 tablespoons, cottage cheese - 400 g, sugar - 1-2 tablespoons, sour cream 2-3 tablespoons, salt - to taste.
Boil the noodles in salted water, drain the water, and rinse the noodles with cold water. Add cottage cheese, eggs, salt, sugar, passed through a meat grinder, mix everything, place on a baking sheet greased and sprinkled with breadcrumbs, brush the surface with beaten egg with sour cream and bake until done.

KUGEL OF RICE PORRIDGE AND COOK

Cottage cheese - 300 g, sugar - 3-4 tablespoons, rice porridge - 2 cups, semolina - 1 tablespoon, fat - 2-3 tablespoons, raisins - 1-2 teaspoons, salt - to taste.
Grind the cottage cheese with sugar, add rice porridge, semolina, raisins, eggs, salt and sugar, mix everything well. Place the mixture in a pre-greased pan and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Before serving, cut the kugel into pieces and serve with jam, marmalade or marmalade.

Now let’s remember a kugel of matzo with meat, a popular dish during the Passover holiday.

MATZAH KUGEL WITH MEAT

Boiled meat - 0.5 kg, matsemel (chopped matzo) - 2 full glasses, chicken fat - 3-4 tablespoons, onions - 4-5 pcs., eggs - 3-4 pcs., pepper, salt - to taste .
Pass the boiled meat through a meat grinder, add eggs, sautéed onions, pepper and salt. Break the matzo into small pieces with your hands, pour in about half a liter of warm water, add beaten eggs, chicken fat, and salt to taste. Grease a deep frying pan, sprinkle with macemel, place a layer of dough on it, then a layer of meat filling, then more dough, etc., finish with dough, brush the surface of the kugelah with egg. Bake in the oven over medium heat.
Quick and easy to prepare

EGG KUGEL WITH ONION

Raw eggs - 5 pcs., hard-boiled eggs - 3 pcs., onions - 3-4 pcs., flour - 1/2 cup, chicken fat - 3-4 tablespoons, salt, pepper - to taste.
Finely chop the onion and mix with mashed yolks, flour and fat, pepper and salt. Add the whites, mix everything thoroughly and place in a greased deep frying pan. Bake the kugel until hardened for 30-40 minutes over medium heat, cool, cut into portions and serve.

I always start by cooking the cracklings and onions. Often these ingredients are omitted or, for example, onions are grated together with potatoes. We prefer roasting, and that’s what we’ll talk about.

I take a pork barrel with fairly large layers of fat. You can take it already salted or even smoked. But mine is raw.

We cut it into a fairly small cube with sides no larger than one centimeter... And preferably a little smaller.

Peel the onion and cut it into small cubes.

Heat the pan and add the chopped pork flank. Fry until light golden brown. The fat should actively melt and the cracklings should begin to brown. It's time to add chopped onions.

Fry for a few more minutes. If you, like me, took fresh meat, be sure to add a little salt and pepper. That's it, turn off the heat and set our frying pan aside.

Let's take on the potatoes. There is a standard procedure: wash, clean, wash. After peeling, I weighed my potatoes - exactly one and a half kilograms of peeled potatoes.

If you don't really know what she looks like, look at the photo.

So, if you have it in stock, you are just lucky and in literally 1 minute all our potatoes will be mashed. If not, then a grater will help you. Then try to peel not the smallest tubers, so that it is more convenient to grab onto them.

You should end up with very finely grated raw potato puree. We don't express anything. Moreover, we’ll add some boiled milk. Be sure to boil and pour in immediately, then our potatoes will remain light.

Next, add salt to the bowl (I use a heaped teaspoon), ground black pepper (a heaped teaspoon), dried marjoram (you can add a little nutmeg or not at all) and exactly half the contents of the frying pan. The other half will go to the sauce.

Turn on the oven at 180 degrees.

Take a ceramic or glass mold and grease it with vegetable oil. By the way, it (kugel) is often made in portioned pots. Pour the potato mixture into it. We put the future kugel to bake.

The diameter of my mold is 22 centimeters.

Many people add egg or semolina to the dough. We manage without them. My potato variety turned out to be quite starchy, next time I'll add a little more milk.

Well, while our kugel is quietly baking and browning, let’s make a very simple sauce for it, especially since most of the work has already been done.

Let's return to the remaining contents of our frying pan and put it on fire. Next, add sour cream and heat the whole thing, stirring. I always add a pinch or two of fresh frozen dill, probably more for color than taste. That's it, the sauce is ready. By the way! Be sure to try it, you may want to add salt and pepper.

After about 1 hour and 20-30 minutes, the kugel is ready. As I already said, it should turn out very tender, almost melting in your mouth. But if it’s denser, that means your potatoes, like mine this time, are quite starchy. And don’t make this dish from new potatoes, it will just turn out to be an incomprehensible mess.

That's it, serve with sour cream sauce. Enjoy your meal!

I sleep, I wouldn’t jinx it, this night like a king; and in the morning I go to the synagogue, so as not to jinx it like the count; and at home, all the Saturday dishes are already waiting for me, so as not to jinx them; respected grated radish with sinless onions, crumbled eggs with the cutest liver, wonderful jelly with the master's garlic, hot broth and a kugle that just oozes, if you can't help but jinx it, with fat.
Sholom Aleichem "Don't jinx it" 1902

Some will say “kigel”, and they will be right. People from Poland call it kigel, and Lithuanians call it kugel. But all the same, this is one and the same dish, existing in countless variations, tastes and types, like everything folk and homemade. Vermicelli kugel, potato kugel, with dried fruits, from stale bread with apples, and even with yeast with potatoes from Galicia, sweet or spicy, for lunch or dessert, that’s all it is. Kugel is a cross between a casserole and a pudding, but for me it is comparable to a cake. Kugel can be made with butter (milk), for breakfast, or with vegetable oil (parva), when served with the evening Shabbat meat meal. The origin of the name is explained in different ways. Some sources indicate that it comes from the German "Kuchen", which means pie or cake. Another interpretation comes from the Yiddish word, which in turn goes back to the Hebrew “ka-igul”, which means round. And from the point of view of the Hasidic tradition, the origin of the name kugel refers not to the word, but to the taste of the dish and goes back to the times of the wandering of the Jewish people in the desert, and it is about it, about kugel, that is said in the book “Exodus”: “And he called the house The name of that bread of Israel was manna; it was like coriander seed, white, and tasted like cake with honey." The expression "כזרע גד לבן", which means manna, is abbreviated as "כגייל", which is pronounced like "kegel"
So how did the kugel come into being? Like many other good things in Judaism, kugel was born from the prohibition, in this case, of lighting a fire and cooking on Shabbat. And the desire to eat fresh and hot, despite being locked up, always remained.
The tradition of cooking kugel was born in the Ashkenazi community and then spread everywhere. Initially, it was baked in a special form from Friday for a long time at low temperature. The kugel was placed in an oven lit for baking bread and challah, and baked in the slowly cooling heat all night.
If you want to enjoy a kugel, forget about the calories, this is not a diet dish, the kugel is good fatty, glossy and soaked.
Initially, kugel was baked from leftover bread and animal fat. Nowadays it also remains a symbolic Shabbat food, especially among religious Jews. What is Shabbat without kugel and cholent? At the same time, each community has its own.
Yehezkel Kotik in the 19th century mentioned several types in descriptions of Shabbat according to Hasidic traditions: “...And there were five types of kugel: lokshen kugel (noodle kugel), dry kugel, fruit kugel, rice kugel, and some other one that I did not I remembered. And it’s not at all a miracle that the vermicelli one was the first to eat.”
On the holiday of Shavuot, kugel was baked with fruit and milk, and memories of bread kugel with apples date back to the 12th century.
Today I will focus on the Jerusalem kugel. Firstly, it is my favorite, because the combination of spicy and sweet always haunts me. And secondly, the name seems symbolic enough to me to start with.
In the 19th century, when lokshen kugel, made with homemade egg noodles or noodles, was made very sweet with lots of raisins and dried fruits, immigrants who moved to the land of Israel began to prepare it with local ingredients, adapting to local tastes. Kugel suddenly became coated in buttered caramel. To the sweet taste was added the bitterness of caramel and the piquancy of black pepper, inherent in the taste of people from Eastern countries (Sephardim), and there were almost no dried fruits on the local market. This is how the Jerusalem kugel is baked to this day - black pepper, caramel, butter and noodles.
Vermicelli or noodles should not be very small, otherwise the result will be porridge, and additives in the form of dried fruits, fruits, cinnamon and other spices are a matter of taste and your preference. The amount of sugar can also be varied.

I cooked it three ways. According to the recipe of the ultra-religious owner of a nearby grocery store, a colorful fat red-haired guy with a Karabas-Barabasov beard, who bakes challah and kugels for the whole family every week. The second, according to the recipe of the Israeli chef Israel Aharoni, and the third from Marilyn's blog. The principle of the Jerusalem kugel remains the same in all three versions: caramel, black pepper, and sweetness, which can vary from not at all sweet to cloying. Only the cooking technology changes.
In the original it is baked at T100C for about 10 hours, but not everyone can afford it...

So, Jews, don't skimp on the caramel and black pepper...

Kugel classic:
My favorit!
400g egg noodles
60 g sl. butter/margarine
1 tbsp. salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2-3/4 tbsp. sugar (100-150g)
4 eggs

For caramel:
1/2 tbsp. sugar (100g)
1/2 tbsp. rast. butter (100g)

Boil the vermicelli in salted water for 5 minutes (or following package directions). It is important not to overcook.
Drain the water and mix with the previously prepared mixture of butter, salt, pepper and sugar. Cover with a lid to keep warm.
Melt the sugar in the vegetable oil without stirring until the sugar melts and begins to darken, then stir. Be careful not to burn the sugar, otherwise it will be too bitter.
Pour the caramel into the vermicelli mass, stir immediately and when it cools a little, stir in the eggs lightly beaten with a fork. Grease the pan and line it with baking paper if desired.
Bake for 60 minutes at T180C, covering with foil. Towards the end, remove the foil and place the pan higher to brown the crust.

Kugel by Israel Aharoni

400g egg noodles
4 eggs
1/4 tbsp. growing oil (50g)
3 tbsp brown sugar (40g)
3 tbsp. honey (65g)
raisin*
dried apricots*
1 tsp black pepper (minimum)
1 tbsp salt

For caramel
1/2 tbsp. sugar (100g)
2-3 tbsp. water

*optional

Boil the vermicelli in salted water for 5 minutes (or following package directions). It is important not to overcook.
Drain the water and immediately add vegetable oil to prevent sticking. Add salt, sugar, black pepper and honey. If you use dried fruits, soak them in boiling water for a few minutes in advance. Cover the mixture to prevent it from cooling.
In a wide saucepan, mold or frying pan in which the kugel will be baked, prepare the caramel. Melt sugar with a few tablespoons of water. You can add a few drops of lemon juice. The juice will prevent the sugar from crystallizing. (I noticed this and immediately remembered how in my younger years I cooked sugar with water and lemon juice for hair removal) But however, everyone cooks caramel in their own way. I have read many methods: Some advise not to stir under any circumstances, others, on the contrary, to stir continuously. On high heat, on low... You can melt sugar without water at all, but mine is burning, it takes an eye and an eye.
How do you make a simple caramel for anything?

Caramel can be prepared in a separate pan and immediately poured into the mold. Using this method, I bake in a wok, it is black and it’s hard to see the color of the caramel, so I cook it in a pan and pour it over.

Bake for 60 minutes at T180C. Towards the end, remove the foil to allow the crust to brown. Turn the finished kugel onto a plate so that the caramel is on the top crust. I bake the kugel upside down in a wok to get a slightly spherical shape, like an anthill. The bottom layer is baked into a wonderful crust and when you turn it over, thin crisp noodles are visible.

A kugel, with unmixed caramel, melted with or without water, produces a crispier, fried and darker caramel crust than its counterpart, with a caramel filling in vegetable oil, which is mixed into the noodles. Accordingly, the “crumb” is different, in the first case it's lighter and stickier, but more intense. It’s hard to say which is tastier.

The third method differs in that the vermicelli is boiled in ready-made caramel and in a precise amount of water. The water does not drain accordingly, and if the noodles require less water and do not absorb all of it, then, alas, it turns out to be porridge. I will describe the sequence and give a recipe, although I didn’t like the technology due to unnecessary gestures and complications
400g egg noodles
4-5 glasses of water
1 tbsp. salt
1 tsp black pepper
4-6 tbsp. sugar (60-90g)
4 eggs
For caramel:
1/2 tbsp. sugar (100g)
1/2 tbsp. butter (100g)

Prepare the caramel in a pasta pan:
Melt the sugar in the vegetable oil without stirring until the sugar melts and begins to darken, then stir. Make sure that the sugar does not burn too much.
When the sugar has become dark enough, quickly and sharply pour the pre-measured water into the pan. You must act sharply and carefully. (The recipe calls for 5 glasses of water, but I would start with 4 and add as it boils if necessary) If there is too much water, the noodles will boil and become gummy, and we cannot drain the water. I recommend pouring water from the bottle into the slot, with the lid slightly open. Firstly, the oil splashes and you can get burned or pour oil on the stove and adjacent furniture and walls (I don’t know what’s more upsetting)
Add salt, sugar and black pepper, and when the water boils, add the packet of vermicelli. Cook for 5-6 minutes or according to package instructions.
If you want to add raisins, nuts, or other additives, this should be done after boiling. Wait for it to cool slightly and stir in the eggs, lightly beaten with a fork.
Bake in the same way as in the first two cases.

Saturday morning and a savory kugel with a cup of tea or coffee. and the rain will be a joy for you!
References:
Shamil Holland "Shmalts"
Claudia Rodin "Book about Jewish cuisine of the West and East" :)