With the rapid global rise in the cost of living, many folk are forced to pay closer attention to their weekly supermarket bills as they struggle to stay ahead of the game.
To that end it is worthwhile casting your eyes back to poverty-proven and time-tested recipes from the days of our great-great grandparents; a time when families struggled to make ends meet.
When times get really tough folk have to search out bargains and alternate sources of protein to feed themselves and their hungry offspring. Offal is bargain basement and is probably as cheap as you can get; there is no shame in balancing your books, even if it requires considering offal.
In less well-off societies, almost nothing goes to waste from a slaughtered beast. Brain, udders, tails, hooves, lungs, innards… everything that can provide protein and keep body and soul together is somehow fashioned into something palatable and possibly even tasty.
In the ‘Pale of Settlement’ where a significant proportion of the world’s Jews lived prior to the late 19th century pogroms and 20th century Holocaust, life was for most very poor, and the popular recipes of the day were a reflection of this poverty.
The first recorded recipes of chopped liver are noted in Eastern German Ashkenazi communities during the Middle Ages. Originally goose liver was used, but this has since been exchanged for the much more common and cheaper chicken liver.
Chopped liver is versatile and can be eaten as a protein addition to a variety of dishes, as a meat topping to rice or pasta, as an hors d’oeuvre or even used as a filling for the popular Jewish filled pasta known as kreplach.
Under Jewish dietary laws (Leviticus 17:13–14), the blood of animals is proscribed from consumption: usually it is removed from the meat by soaking in a saline solution. Liver however cannot be koshered in this fashion, so instead it must be broiled, almost completely burnt to remove any signs of blood before being used to make chopped liver. Hardboiled egg grated on to the top of the chopped liver is a common feature in American-Jewish delis, but in this case I do not add it.
Chopped liver on basmati rice with Israeli salad
Serves 4-6 people
Ingredients for livers:
- 1 kg chicken livers
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Olive oil or schmaltz (rendered chicken fat), for frying
Rice:
- 1 cup of basmati rice
- 1½ cups of boiling water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp canola oil
Israeli salad:
- 2 tomatoes
- 2 Lebanese cucumbers
- Dash of olive oil
- Juice of ½ lemon
- Pinch of salt
Method:
Pre-heat a large frypan with a dash of oil. Add onions and toss until slightly browned. Add chicken livers, reduce heat to medium, add a pinch of salt and pepper and regularly toss. Once the chicken livers are firm to touch and browned, add the crushed garlic and toss for a another minute. Remove from the stove top and set aside.
Heat a small pot with a lid to medium and add oil. Once the oil is hot, add the rice and stir for a few seconds to coat. Add boiling water and salt, then stir, cover and reduce heat to the minimum possible level and cook for 18 minutes.
For the Israeli salad, finely cube the tomato and cucumber, mix and add a pinch of salt, small dash of olive oil and the juice from half a lemon.
Put the cooked liver and onion mixture onto a chopping board and chop roughly with a largish knife.
Spoon out the rice, add some salad and top off with the chopped liver for a low-cost, tasty, balanced and healthy meal. Super easy to prepare.
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