January 15, 2011

Hamin

So boyfriend woke me up this morning, per my request, and as I'm washing my face, the smell of chicken leads me to ask him "what's cooking," he says nothing and acts as though he smells nothing and has no idea what I'm talking about. I shrug it off, plop myself down on the couch and being flipping through the channels.

About 15 minutes later, my tummy is growling and I head to the kitchen to grab some cereal. I find a pot of chicken, beans, potatos, onion and eggs boiling on the stove. Turns out he wanted to suprise me for lunch and had soaked beans overnight in a bowl that he hid on our fridge and went to buy chicken this morning at the grocery store while I slept in. He even took step-by-step photos of how he created this amazing dish called "Hamin" because he knew I would want to post on my blog about this yumminess! Does it get any cuter than that???

This meal is one that his mom makes every now and then that we both love beyond words, its so simple yet so good!

"Hamin," or "Cholent" is a traditional Israeli dish that was developed over the centuries to conform with Jewish religious laws that prohibit cooking on Shabbat. You are supposed to bring the pot to a boil on Friday before the Shabbat begins, and place it in a slow cooker until the following day, to prevent cooking or "working" on Shabbat. You can read more about it here, thank you Wikipedia.

Dekel and I are the opposite of religious, and the opposite of patient, so we --he-- boiled all the ingredients this morning and let it cook for only about 5 hours and it was just as amazing, but if you do have a crock pot or slow cooker, I would recommend leaving it in there on a low heat all day to enjoy for dinner.

ingredients: olive oil, 5 eggs, 3 potatos, 4 chicken legs, 1 purple onion, 1 bag of red beans, salt, pepper and garlic salt, and any other spices your heart desires
 he had soaked a full bag of red beans with 1 tsp of baking power in water overnight, then drained them this morning (he ended up using only 1/2 of the bag because they "got swollen" and there was not enough room for all of them)
 cut up the potatos and onion
 add potatos and onion with some olive oil to the pot and he said he let those cook for like 4 minutes
 then add the beans
 add the eggs and chicken legs
 add water until the pot is full and add spices to your taste, bring to a boil, then cover and let simmer for hours
 final result = "Hamin"
 you will obviously peel the now hard boiled eggs, but run them under cold water first of course
Enjoy! Thank you Dekel =)

4 comments :

Vivian said...

This looks SO DELICIOUS!! How kind and thoughtful of your boyfriend to make this dish for you...

Thanks for posting the photos and directions, I think I'll try it, it looks like a wonderful, hearty meal.

Have a good weekend, you two!
xx

Laura said...

Mmm sounds delicious and that's great that you didn't even have to lift a finger! What a great guy you've got! Enjoy your weekend and thanks for sharing this recipe!

Anonymous said...

That food looks good...I remember when Dekel made me breakfast. He is great!

dk

chels.e. said...

It's pretty crazy how much I adore this dekel guy without ever meeting him! :)
I love you and I love him for loving you so!
Miss you!
-chels