This Syrian recipe is part of Limor Tirosh’s Shavuot table. Here, the creator behind the Local Kitchen shares the story behind it:
In my childhood home, my mother’s cooking was the center of our household. The daily family conversation always revolved around food: “What’s cooking today? What will we eat tomorrow?” and most importantly: “What’s for Shabbat dinner?” My mother loved cooking and baking, and there’s no doubt I inherited her passion.
She’s been gone for many years now, but the flavors and aromas of her kitchen are a constant presence in my memory. When I first started cooking, I tried to imitate her — but it never quite worked. It took me years to understand that her hand and the taste of my childhood were unique and irreplaceable. This realization freed me and allowed me to create a kitchen of my own — with some inspiration from my mother.
When I was a child, rishta was a perfect solution for lunch on a blisteringly hot Shabbat afternoon at the end of summer. It was simply too hot to spend time in the kitchen, so my mother would whip up this simple dish. Its origins lie in the kitchen of Aleppo — my father immigrated to Israel from Syria, and my mother, a “good wife,” learned to cook Syrian food from my aunts, even though she was from Tangier, on the opposite side of the Mediterranean.
My version of rishta is lighter, made with less oil and less work. (I have a deep, existential need to tweak recipes so they require less effort in the kitchen — but still taste absolutely amazing.)
Ingredients
spoons neutral oil
1 cup black lentils, soaked in cold water for 2 hours
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
8 oz (250 g) wide noodles (preferably fettuccine)
½ teaspoon black pepper
⅔ cup (100 g) crumbled feta (sheep’s or goat’s milk)
½ cup (40 g) toasted pine nuts
1 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped
4 white onions, thinly sliced into rings
2 table
Dressing
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoon olive oil
Juice of ½ lemon
Preparation
- In a large or medium saute pan, add the oil and saute the onions over low heat until deeply golden, atleast 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set aside
- Bring two medium pots of water to a boil. To one, add 1 teaspoon of cumin, the coriander seeds, and lentils, and simmer for 15–20 minutes, until tender. Skim off any scum that forms on the surface.
- Salt the water in the other pot and cook the pasta in the second pot to al dente, according to package instructions. Drain.
- Drain lentils and transfer to a bowl. Season with ½ teaspoon of salt and ½ teaspoon of pepper.
- In a large bowl, combine the pasta, fried onions, black lentils, feta, pine nuts, and cilantro. Taste and dress with ½ teaspoon of salt, ½ teaspoon of black pepper, cumin, olive oil, and lemon juice. Serve.
