Around the world in 92 recipes
A labour of love, the book contains recipes mainly by the author’s mother, Kitty Samuels, who encouraged Dinah to write a cookbook of family recipes.
Made with Love from Kitty’s Kitchen by Dinah Samuels is a collection of over 90 Jewish recipes from Iraqi, Burmese, Indian and other communities around the world.
A labour of love, the book contains recipes mainly by the author’s mother, Kitty Samuels, who encouraged Dinah to write a cookbook of family recipes.
Proceeds from the book will go to the Sephardi Synagogue in Woollahra in memory of Dinah’s parents, who were born in Rangoon, Burma, and lived in Bombay (Mumbai), India, before relocating to Sydney in 1948.
Dinah said she has “finally completed a request from my late mother Kitty, to create a cookbook in order to keep up our heritage and traditions to pass on to our future generations”.
“Mum did not use metric conversions or even pounds or ounces – it was a handful of this and a pinch of that … I had to accurately measure exactly what a ‘handful’ or ‘pinch’ of any given ingredient might weigh,” Dinah told The AJN.
“Mum always encouraged me to keep up the tradition and cook what we knew family and friends would enjoy.”
A professional career in travel allowed Dinah to explore other cultures and cuisines around the world, while the book is punctured with Ladino and Hebrew sayings and quotes from the Talmud which paint a picture of a generations-long Jewish food culture.
Dinah, who grew up in Bondi, describes in the introduction how her love of food began at a “very young age”.
“I used to peel the potatoes, cut the onions and wash the dishes, and eventually was permitted to make a dish from beginning to end in our extremely small kitchen.
“The recipes contained in this book are a mixture of old and new. Some are traditional for Jewish festivals and Shabbat, sourced from family and friends, others are favourites added from new lands.
“I am dedicating this cookbook to my darling mother Kitty who was my best friend, confidante and inspiration, and to my father Jack who was my taste tester and always supported me in everything I did.”
Contact dinahs@bigpond.net.au for orders and further information.
Dahl (lentil) samosas. Source: supplied.
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