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Healthy cooking for Jewish holidays

Growing up in a Jewish family on Philadelphia’s Upper Main Line, I didn’t know how good I had it when it came to food. While my friends were eating plain baked meats and bland vegetables, our usual fare was what my mother had learned from my Austrian-Hungarian grandmother: melt-in-your-mouth stuffed cabbage, savory roast chicken, peppery matzo brie, decadent buttermilk kugel, potato-onion knishes, spicy barbecued brisket, chocolate-cinnamon babka, and more.

Since the beginning, we Jews have been a great eating culture. From Eastern and Central Europe comes Ashkenazic cuisine, including dairy kugels, borscht, chopped liver, and cheese blintzes, with a heavy emphasis on onions, garlic, and dill. Sephardic cuisine (descendants of Spaniards exiled during the Spanish Inquisition) features pungent spices such as cumin, ginger, and cilantro; delicate couscous, pita bread, and phyllo; and hearty legumes such as lentils and chickpeas. And, although traditional Jewish cuisine tends to be rather heavy and greasy, a modern healthy-lifestyle approach celebrates historical tastes while cutting some of the fat, sugar, and meat—offering the best of both worlds.

The following recipes are staples of my family’s meals during the High Holy Days, Hanukkah, Passover, and weekly Shabbat dinners. A few updated techniques and flavors make them suited to anyone’s healthy cooking repertoire, any time of year.

Bonus: You'll also find recipes for unique, better-for-you latkes at the end of this gallery, as well as a recipe for Sfenj (Orange Doughnuts), which are eaten in Morocco to celebrate Hanukkah.

Happy Hanukkah!