It's Time for Chocolate Cholent!

by Kay Kantor Pomerantz

After generations of near obscurity cholent has entered its heyday. For a long time cholent was a Jewish household staple – heavy, starchy, and filling. Recently it has been reborn into a wide variety of ethnic permutations, sometimes low in calories, full of whimsy, freshness, and gusto. Because many people have slow cookers, it is easy to serve cholent that is exotic, eclectic, elegant – even trendy. So for your Hanukkah party or your next Shabbat, try making cholent, that incredibly delicious, long-simmering stew that comes complete with a backstory.

Cholent came to occupy its prominent place in Jewish cuisine because it solved a problem – what to eat for Shabbat lunch.

Although Jewish law prohibits kindling a fire on Shabbat, it is nevertheless considered a mitzvah to eat a hot meal at midday on Saturday. This, of course, presents a problem to which Jews throughout the world and over the centuries have worked out a number of ingenious solutions. All involve cooking food overnight at a very low heat.

Long ago, before modern appliances made everything easier, small-town bakers would start a hot fire before the start of Shabbat. They’d put the stew we call cholent over the fire and then leave it to cook overnight. That’s still how we make cholent. On Friday cholent is cooked in a heavy pot until it’s at least one-third done. A short time before sundown it is placed in a low oven, on a blech (a metal sheet placed over a low flame on top of the stove), or in a crock pot or slow cooker until it is ready to be eaten. Because it is a stew, its flavor is improved by long, slow cooking. When it is fully cooked it is thick; there is no liquid but it is not quite dry either. A meal in a pot, it may be served as a main course or as a side dish.

We’re not sure where the word cholent comes from, but its roots might be in the old French word chald, which meant warm. In Hebrew, cholent is called hamin, hot.

Traditional cholent includes meat and bones, potatoes, barley, and often several types of beans in a variety of combinations. It also may be prepared without meat of any kind. Jews eat cholent everywhere in the world. Each country adds its own flavor, its unique ingredients, and its particular style. The stew is always rich in flavor, full of nutrition and exquisite in the simplicity of its preparation. If you’ve never made it before, be prepared to feel hungry all night as the aroma permeates your home.

I used to think that cholent was cholent, but now that I’ve written three cookbooks about it I realize there are as many versions as there are cooks! Basically cholent is any combination of food that has the stamina to withstand 24 hours of cooking. I believe that cholent is only as limited as the cook’s imagination. To culinary purists, expanding the traditional basic cholent is a travesty. Calling a cholent “Chocolate Cholent,” one of them told me, is like calling pastrami a steak. I disagree. I do have an abiding affection for my mother’s Eastern European cholent, but I don’t assume that any change in cholent is automatically a change for the worse.

I came up with the idea of using chocolate – our family’s favorite food group — for cholent when my husband had a pulpit in Mexico City and we tasted mole for the first time. Mole is an incredibly delicious Mexican sauce made of chocolate, peanut butter, chilies, sesame seeds, and corn meal. It’s available readymade in some places but it’s easy to pull together yourself.

Chocolate Cholent

• 1 1/2 lbs. flanken, cut into large chunks
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1/2 cup medium barley
• 1/2 cup small white baby lima beans
• 1/2 cup red kidney beans
• 6 small red potatoes
• 5 or 6 beef marrow or soup bones
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
• cold water
• 2 teaspoons salt (to taste)
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Brown flanken and onion in oil in saucepan (or place meat and onion beneath oven broiler for a few minutes). Rinse barley in a sieve under cold running water, until water runs clear. Pick over beans and rinse thoroughly. Soak overnight or cook for 5 minutes in boiling water, cover, and let stand for one hour. Rinse beans thoroughly and discard water. Peel potatoes and cut into rounds. Add barley, beans, potatoes, bones, and garlic to meat and onions in a large crock pot. Add 6-7 cups cold water, or enough to cover. Season with salt and pepper. Set crock pot to high for one hour. Reset to low.

Chocolate Sauce

• 1 medium onion, grated
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 3 cups beef bouillon
• 1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
• 2 squares unsweetened chocolate
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (or to taste)
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin

Sauté onion and garlic in hot oil in large skillet until the onion is lightly browned. Stir in bouillon, tomato sauce, chocolate (broken), and peanut butter. Stir until the chocolate is melted and the peanut butter is thoroughly blended. Thoroughly mix together cornmeal, chili powder, sesame seeds, and cumin. Add slowly to the bouillon mixture, stirring constantly over low heat until well blended. Bring to a boil, turn heat low and simmer about 5 minutes. Place all ingredients in the crock pot. Add water if chocolate sauce does not cover meat and beans.

As always, enjoy!