Keftes, also known as Keftikes in

Sephardic Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

cuisine A cuisine is a style of cooking characterized by distinctive ingredients, List of cooking techniques, techniques and Dish (food), dishes, and usually associated with a specific culture or geographic region. Regional food preparation techniques, ...

, are ''

croquettes A croquette (; ) is a deep-fried roll originating in French cuisine, consisting of a thick binder combined with a filling, which is then breaded. It is served as a side dish, a snack, or fast food worldwide. The binder is typically a thick bé ...

'', pancakes, patties, or

fritters A fritter is a portion of meat, seafood, fruit, vegetables, or other ingredients which have been battered or breaded, or just a portion of dough without further ingredients, that is deep-fried. Fritters are prepared in both sweet and savory var ...

, usually made with vegetables, and other ingredients. Sephardic ''keftes'' are not the same as the non-Jewish ''

kofta Kofta is a family of meatball or meatloaf dishes found in South Asian, Central Asian, Balkan, Middle Eastern, North African, and South Caucasian cuisines. In the simplest form, koftas consist of balls of minced meat—usually beef, chicken, ...

'' which are meatballs. ''Keftes'' might not contain meat, as opposed to the ''kofta'' which do contain meat. Some ''keftes'' are eaten on

holidays A holiday is a day or other period of time set aside for festivals or recreation. ''Public holidays'' are set by public authorities and vary by state or region. Religious holidays are set by religious organisations for their members and are often ...

due to the ingredients or method of cooking which may be associated with that holiday. Especially common are the

fritas de prasa ''Fritas de prasa'', also ''keftes de prasa'' and ''albondigas de prasa'' () are fried potato-leek pancakes common in Sephardic Jewish cuisine. Fritas de prasa have been served by Sephardic Jews on Rosh Hashanah, Hanukkah, Passover since the tim ...

or leek fritters, traditionally served on Rosh HaShana, Hannukah and Passover.

Varieties

* ''Keftes de karne''—ground-beef meat patties * ''Keftes de espinaka''/''spinaka''—made with spinach * ''Keftes de lentejas''—lentil patties * ''Keftes de gayina'' or ''Keftikes de poyo''—chicken croquettes/chicken patties * ''Keftes de patata kon karne''—potato and meat patties * ''Keftes de pescado''/''pescada''/''pishkado''—croquettes made with fish and mashed potatoes. * '' Keftes de prasa'' or ''Keftes de puero''—made with leeks * ''Keftes de prasa i karne''—made with leeks and meat

Holidays

''Keftes de prasa'' are popular all year round at holidays

Rosh Hashana

''Keftikes de prassa '' or ''keftes de prasa i karne'' are also known as ''yehi rasones'' or ''yehi ratsones'' (Hebrew: "May it be Your Will"). The leeks in this dish are a symbolic food on

Rosh Hashana Rosh Hashanah (, , ) is the New Year in Judaism. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (, , ). It is the first of the High Holy Days (, , 'Days of Awe"), as specified by Leviticus 23:23–25, that occur in the late summer/early autu ...

because of the puns of the name of the food in Hebrew or Aramaic. Leeks or foods made with leeks are eaten during a special ''

seder The Passover Seder is a ritual feast at the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted throughout the world on the eve of the 15th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar (i.e., at the start of the 15th; a Hebrew day begins at su ...

'' on Rosh Hashana as a demonstration of a particular wish to be God's will. The symbolism of the leeks is the pun of its name in Hebrew, ''karti'', which is similar to ''yikartu'', meaning to be cut off.RFCJ
recipe archive The ''yehi rason'' of ''karti'' is a wish that the enemies of Jews will be "cut off".

Hanukkah

''Keftes de prasa'' especially, or any ''kefte'' for that matter, are eaten at

Hanukkah Hanukkah (, ; ''Ḥănukkā'' ) is a Jewish holidays, Jewish festival commemorating the recovery of Jerusalem and subsequent rededication of the Second Temple at the beginning of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd ce ...

because they are fried. ''Keftes de prasa'', which are made without meat, are pancake-like and are particularly suited to being oily as are most Hanukkah foods.

Notes and references

{{Reflist

External links

Cooking Light
Leek and Potato Fritters with Lemon-Cumin Yogurt

Bibliography

* A Fistful of Lentils: Syrian-Jewish Recipes from Grandma Fritzie's Kitchen, Jennifer Felicia Abadi, Harvard Common Press * The New Jewish Holiday Cookbook, Gloria Kaufer Greene, Crown, 1999 * Sephardic Flavors: Jewish Cooking of the Mediterranean, Joyce Goldstein and Beatriz Da Costa, Chronicle Books, 2000 * Sephardic Israeli Cuisine: A Mediterranean Mosaic, Sheilah Kaufman, Hippocrene Books, 2002 * The Sephardic Table: The Vibrant Cooking of the Mediterranean Jews, Pamela Grau Twena, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1998 * The World Of Jewish Cooking: More Than 500 Traditional Recipes from Alsace to Yemen,

Gil Marks Gilbert Stanley Marks (; May 30, 1952 – December 5, 2014) was an American food writer and historian noted for his reference and cookbooks on the subject of Jewish food. He was the founding editor of ''Kosher Gourmet'' magazine. He moved to Isra ...

, Simon & Schuster, 1999 Hanukkah foods Rosh Hashanah foods Sephardi Jewish cuisine