Ashkenazi

Tzimmes

Name: Tzimmes
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 80 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Ashkenazi
Ingredients: 800 g Carrot; 400 g Sweet potatoes; 150 g Prunes; 3 tbsp Honey; 2 pcs Orange; 2 tbsp Vegetable oil; 0.5 tsp Ground cinnamon; 0.5 tsp Salt; 150 ml Water

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Carrots braised sweet with prunes, sweet potatoes and honey. A traditional side dish of the Ashkenazi Rosh Hashanah.

Servings: 6 servings
Prep: 20 min
Cook: 60 min
Difficulty: easy

Kashrut · pareve

Rosh Hashanah Sukkot

Ingredients

6

servings

800 g Carrot
400 g Sweet potatoes
150 g Prunes, pittedKashrut: Dried fruit is often treated with oil or preservatives; certification is recommended.
3 tbsp HoneyKashrut: According to halakhah, honey is permitted even though it comes from a non-kosher creature. Because of possible additives it is bought with certification.
2 pcs Orange, juice (approx. 150 ml) and the zest of one
2 tbsp Vegetable oilKashrut: In traditional practice it is bought with kosher certification. On Passover, Ashkenazi practice excludes oils from kitniyot (e.g. soybean, corn); rapeseed (canola) oil is disputed, and Passover certification decides.
½ tsp Ground cinnamonKashrut: Ground spices are bought with certification; for Passover, with Passover certification.
½ tsp Salt
150 ml Water

Method

Step 1: Peel the carrots and slice them into rounds about 1 cm thick; peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into 2 cm cubes.
Step 2: Heat the oil in a wide pot and sauté the carrots in it for 5 minutes.
Step 3: Add the sweet potatoes, prunes, orange juice and zest, honey, cinnamon, salt and water.
Step 4: Bring to a boil, cover and braise over low heat for 30 minutes, stirring carefully from time to time.
Step 5: Uncover and braise for another 15–20 minutes, until the vegetables are tender and the liquid has reduced to a glossy glaze.
Step 6: Season with salt or honey and serve warm as a side dish with the main course.

Tips

Tzimmes can be finished in the oven at 180 °C under a lid; it is often tastier the day after cooking.
Dried fruit is often treated with sulfites; people with allergies should check the label.

History and origins

Folk customAshkenazim⁂ To verify

On Rosh Hashanah carrots are eaten among the "signs" (simanim) of a good year. In Yiddish the word for carrot is mern, which sounds like mern, "to multiply"; hence the popular interpretation as a wish for abundance. The sliced rounds also recall gold coins.

Folk customAshkenazim

In Yiddish the word tzimmes is also used figuratively: "to make a tzimmes out of something" means to make a big deal out of a trifle.

Regional variations

Folk customAshkenazim

Meat tzimmes is braised with a piece of beef brisket; other family versions contain only carrots with honey, while others add dried apricots, pineapple or pumpkin.

Ingredients

Method

History and origins

Regional variations

Sources