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Recipe for Savory Matzo Brei
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009Matzo brei means fried matzo in Yiddish. The traditional way to make it is with a lot of matzo – you generally use equal eggs to matzo. Jewish people eat it around Passover. Savory Matzo Brei is salty. There’s a different recipe for Sweet Matzo Brei.
You can put whatever you like into savory matzo brei. Here are some suggestions: fry up any of the following first: chopped onions, green or red peppers, mushrooms, or other vegetables that you might put into a normal omelet. You can also add cheese and/or herbs to savory matzo brei. If you’re using cheese, I’d recommend Swiss or cheddar cheese – but use whatever you and your family like.
Here’s how you make Savory Matzo Brei:
Recipe for Savory Matzo Brei
3 Eggs
3 Matzo
1 Tablespoon Milk
Salt and Pepper to Taste1) Fry up any vegetables you want to use in a little oil or butter, until lightly brown and soft. Set aside.
1) Soak matzo in water for a minute or two to soften (no longer than that). Take the matzo out of the water.
2) Break matzo into small pieces with your hands.
3) In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with the milk (like you would for scrambled eggs). Add salt and pepper and stir. Then stir the egg mixture in with the matzos.
4) Put pan with vegetables back on medium heat heat. Then add the egg mixture. Break up like you would scrambled eggs while frying.
5) Add small cubes of cheese if you’re using cheese.
When it’s firm (not liquidy), it’s ready to eat.
Bon appetit!
Mama Lisa
PS If you’d like to try something different, check out my recipe for Matzo Omelet.
Recipe for Matzoh Omelet
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009
I’ll give the recipe here for a matzo omelet. It’s inspired by the dish called Matzo brei. There’s a little story behind this and I’ll tell it in a moment. Matzo brei means fried matzo. The traditional way to make it is with a lot of matzo – you generally use equal eggs to matzo. Jewish people eat it around Passover. A matzo omelet is different, it’s an omelet with matzo in it – more egg less matzo!
A few years ago, my mother-in-law was explaining matzo brei to me. I suppose I misunderstood her explanation. I went home and made a traditional omelet for my husband with matzo in it. I made it using a little matzo per egg. It turns out that he loved it! I made him omelets like that for years, thinking I was cooking authentic Jewish food. My bad! I wasn’t. I had come up with a new invention: a matzo omelet. It wasn’t until this year, when my sister-in-law taught me the real way to make matzo brei, that I learnt the difference. I personally prefer the matzo omelet to the savory matzo brei.
So let’s get to the recipe! I’ll start by saying the you can put whatever you like into the matzo omelet. Here are some suggestions: fry up any of the following first: chopped onions, green or red peppers, mushrooms, or other vegetables that you might put into a normal omelet. You can also add cheese to the matzo omelet. I’d recommend Swiss or cheddar cheese – use whatever you and your family like.
Here’s the basic recipe for the matzo omelette:
Matzo Omelet
3 Eggs
1 Matzo
1/4 c. Milk
Salt and Pepper to Taste1) Melt butter in a frying pan, fry up any vegetables you want to use on medium heat. When they’re soft and lightly brown, turn off the heat and set aside.
2) Beat the eggs with a fork. Add the milk, salt and pepper and stir again.
3) Break up the matzo into bite sized pieces and put into the egg mixture.
4) Stir the matzo in the with eggs
5) Put the frying pan with the vegetables back on medium heat and add the egg mixture.
6) Once the omelet starts to get firm you can add cheese to half of the pan.
7) Once the cheese starts to melt, and the omelet gets less liquidy, you can flip half of the omelet over the other half. I flipped it and cut it in half to help it cook more quickly. You may need to lower the heat if the bottom starts to cook too quickly.
8) You can flip the omelet again after a couple of minutes, make sure the inside gets cooked. Once the eggs are firm on the inside, you’re ready to eat it!
Bon appetit!
Mama Lisa
PS I used whole milk for the omelet because we had it in our fridge for another recipe. I don’t normally use whole milk, but 1%. The whole milk gave the omelet a more custardy taste. More yummy, though more fattening. Interesting to know as a cook!
Next: Recipe for Savory Matzo Brei
Recipe for Sweet Matzo Brei
Monday, April 13th, 2009
Matzo Brei means fried matzo in Yiddish. This is a good dish to make near Passover. That’s when most Jewish people eat it. I’d suggest trying it even if you’re not Jewish. Here’s one good reason: Matzoh is always on sale around Passover and there’s tons of it in the store. How can you not buy a box?
After you buy your box of matzo, I’ll tell you two things you can do with it! You can made Sweet Matzo Brei or Savory Matzo Brei. Don’t go away – don’t be fearful! If you like sweet things, you’ll like Sweet Matzo Brei. I was suspicious about it for years. I KID YOU NOT! I would never in a million years have put matzo, with eggs and syrup. But man, this is good. If you like pancakes or French toast with syrup, you’ll like it. If you don’t, then try the savory way (which I’ll explain how to do in my next post). My savory way is different from everyone else’s. Mine is like a matzo omelet. Sounds a bit strange, yes! But it’s actually very good. That one I have been making for years.
So, let’s get to it!
You can choose how much you’d like to make depending on the number of people eating. The key to making Sweet Matzah Brei is to use one egg per matzo. We used 10 eggs and ten matzohs for 3 adults, 2 big teenage boys with hearty appetites and 2 young girls (one six and one eight year old). Using that as a general rule, it would be about 1 to 1 1/2 matzo per person for a serving size, depending upon how hungry the people are and how much they like to eat.
Recipe for Sweet Matzo Brei
What you need:
1 Egg per Matzo
Milk (1 teaspoon per egg)
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Butter for Frying
Maple Syrup1) Soak matzo in water for a minute or two to soften (no longer than that). Take the matzo out of the water.
2) Break matzo into small pieces with your hands.
3) In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with the milk (like you would for scrambled eggs). Add a dash or two of cinnamon and nutmeg and stir. Then stir the egg mixture in with the matzos.
4) Melt a slab of butter in a frying pan (enough to coat the bottom of the pan). Add egg mixture. Break up like you would like scrambled eggs while frying on medium heat.
Serve with maple syrup – yum!
Many thanks to Dale Durdunas for teaching me this great recipe!
Next: Recipe for Savory Matzo Brei and a Matzo Omelet!
Can Someone Help with a Kids Song that’s either Belarussian, Russian or Yiddish?
Sunday, January 25th, 2009Martin wrote:
Hello from a sunny but quite COLD New York City!
I am wondering if anyone knows the answer to this. Not being too knowledgeable about the Belarusian language, I’m assuming that this song my maternal grandmother used to sing to me when I was in my single digits was in Russian or Yiddish or a combination of any or all of the three languages, something that sounded like:
Kot, mama, kot, mama, kot, kot, kot
Ona dyela masu
Manichka klapot.Does anyone have the full lyrics and musical notation for this song please, and what language(s) constitute the song? Please email as soon as possible. Thank you very much? Martin Peck
If anyone if familiar with this song, and could provide any information about it, please let us know anything you can in the comments below. We’d also love an English translation of possible.
Thanks!
Mama Lisa
“Oy Chanukah” – The Yiddish Version of “Oh, Hanukkah” with a YouTube Video
Wednesday, December 10th, 2008The other day I posted the popular English version of “Oh, Hanukkah” with a YouTube rendition of the song. Here’s the Yiddish version of “Oh, Hanukkah”. It was originally written by Mordkhe Rivesman (1868 – 1924), who was born in Lithuania. The song was also called “Latke Song” and “Khanike Oy Khanike”.
Below you’ll find a YouTube video of 7 year old Aviv singing “Oy Chanukah”, followed by the transliterated Yiddish lyrics, and then an English translation I did to go along with it.
Chanukah, Oy Chanukah
Yiddish TransliterationOy Chanukah, Oy Chanukah
a yontif a sheiner,
A lustiger; a freilicher
nito noch a zeyner.Alle nacht in dredlech,
Shpiln mir,
zudig heise latkes, es un a shir.
tsindt kinder geshvinder*
Di dininke lichtlech ohn.**Lumir ale singen
Und lumir ale shpringen
Und lumir ale tantzen in khur.Lumir ale singen
Und lumir ale Shpringen
Und lumir ale tantzen in khur.Oh Chanukah, Oh Chanukah
(English Translation)Oh Chanukah, Oh Chanukah,
A holiday, a lovely one,
A cheerful and happy one,
There’s none other like it.Every night with dreidels
Do we play,
Fresh*** hot latkes, do we eat.
Quickly children light
The thin, little candles!Let’s all sing,
And let’s all jump,
And let’s all dance together!Let’s all sing,
And let’s all jump,
And let’s all dance together!*Normally this line is in reverse: “geshvinder tsindt kinder”.
**Alternatively: “Di Chanukah lichtlech on” = “The Chanukah candles!”
***Literally: Scalding or burning hot.I welcome comments and suggestions on the transliteration and translation and we would also love for someone to send in the Yiddish text in the original characters to the version above.
Happy Hanukkah!
Mama Lisa
Can Someone Help with a Russian or Yiddish Rhyme with the Word “Meesala” or “Misala” In It?
Tuesday, July 31st, 2007Sharon wrote:
Hi,
I am hoping that someone out there remembers an old game that mothers, grandmothers, aunts and friends used to play with little ones. I think the rhyme is either Russian or Yiddish.
The baby’s hand is held palm up and the mother points her finger into the middle of the child’s hand and says, Meesala, Misala, or something like that, while making circles in the child’s palm. As the poem is repeated, the fingers march up the child’s arm and then tickle the back of the neck.
I remember the action and the feeling, but not the poem.
Help! I want to play this with my grandchildren, and my Grandmother played this with me almost 70 years ago.
Any help would be appreciated.
Best,
Sharon
If anyone knows about this rhyme, please comment below or email me.
Thanks!
-Mama Lisa
A Yiddish Lullaby – Pretty Like the Moon – Sheyn vi di levone
Friday, December 29th, 2006Last weekend I recorded my husband’s 92 year old grandmother, Edna Pomerantz, singing a verse of a Yiddish Lullaby. It’s called Sheyn vi di levone, or Pretty Like the Moon, in English.
Here you can hear the recording and read the transliterated Yiddish lyrics, followed by an English translation (the last line might be a little different in the recording):
Sheyn vi di levone
(Yiddish Transliteration)Sheyn vi di levone,
Likhtik vi di shtern,
Fun himl a matone,
Bistu mir tzugeshikt!Pretty Like the Moon
(English Translation)Pretty like the moon
Bright like the stars
From Heaven you were
Sent to me as a present.Many thanks to Grandma Edna for singing this song for us and to Monique Palomares of Mama Lisa’s World en français for helping me with the translation!
-Lisa
Come visit the Come visit the Mama Lisa’s World Israel Page for more Yiddish songs.
Check out more lyrics to Sheyn vi di Levone.
While researching this song I came across a site with lots of lyrics to songs in Yiddish, Hebrew, and Judeo-Spanish, most with English translations.
“Gesundheit!” and “Alla Salut!” mean “Cheers!” and “God Bless You!”
Wednesday, June 7th, 2006The other day I wrote an entry about the customs around sneezing in different countries. I mentioned the German word Gesundheit, which is said to someone after they’ve sneezed.
I looked up Gesundheit, and found that it’s also said as a “cheers” before drinking with someone. It’s literally “to your health”.
The Gesundheit that’s said after sneezing comes from a longer phrase, Gesundheit ist besser als Krankheit, which means, “Health is better than sickness”. It’s probably rooted in the fear that someone might be sick if they’re sneezing.
All of this talk about sneezing helped me remember what my Italian-speaking grandfather used to say. He’d say, alla salut (it sounded like “ah salut”), meaning “to health”. He’d say Alla salut both after someone sneezed and as a “cheers” before drinking.
So, to all of you … Gesundheit and alla salut!
Lisa
P.S. Feel free to comment below about what’s said in your country as a cheers, and after someone sneezes.
How Do You Sneeze in Your Country?
Friday, June 2nd, 2006Today Devon over at Head, Shoulders, Knees and all that wrote a blog post about sneezing in Japan. He said in Japan they say hak-shun when they sneeze. In English we say a-choo.
After Japanese people sneeze, no one says anything special.
In English we say God bless you or Gesundheit. Gesundheit is a German word that literally means health. In German, and also in Yiddish, it’s also said after someone sneezes.
In Italian, they say Felicita (Happiness) after someone sneezes. In French they say Que Dieu vous bénisse (May god bless you) or A tes/vos souhaits (lit. To your wishes).
I’ve been told, and would love a verification, that in China, when someone sneezes, the others in the room bow.
Even the Romans said, Absit omen! (which I believe meant something like, God forbid this from being an omen), after someone sneezed.
It’s believed that the custom of saying “God bless you” comes from the time of a plague, when sneezing was a symptom that you were ill with the sickness.
In some cultures sneezing has been seen as a sign that evil is around. In others, it’s been believed that part of the soul can be expelled by a sneeze.
Of course, with all these beliefs about what happens when you sneeze, some proverbs have arisen about the subject. In Japan, according to Devon, there’s one that has to do with how many times you sneeze…
It says if you sneeze once, it means someone is praising you;
If you sneeze twice, it means someone is criticizing you/saying bad things about you;
If you sneeze three times, it means you are being scolded;
And if you sneeze four times or more, well, it means you have a cold.In English there’s a saying about the number of times you sneeze and what it means too. It goes…
Once, a wish,
Twice a kiss,
Three times a letter,
Four times something better.Here’s an English proverb about the day you sneeze on, and what that means…
If you sneeze on Monday, you sneeze for danger;
Sneeze on Tuesday, you kiss a stranger;
Sneeze on Wednesday, you sneeze for a letter;
Sneeze on a Thursday, for something better;
Sneeze on a Friday, you sneeze for sorrow;
Sneeze on a Saturday, your sweetheart tomorrow;
Sneeze on a Sunday, your safety seek,
The devil will have you the whole of the week.Here’s a last proverb that tells about what it means if you sneeze at different times of day…
Sneeze before you eat,
See your sweetheart before you sleep.
Sneeze between twelve and one,
Sure sign somebody’ll come.
Sneeze between one and two,
Come to see you.
Sneeze between two and three,
Come to see me.
Sneeze between three and four,
Somebody’s at the door.Please comment below let us know about sneezing in your culture… it’d be interesting to know what sound a person makes when they sneeze, what you say afterwards and anything else you’d like to share about sneezing.
May you all sneeze the right number of times, at the right time, and on the right day! Or perhaps even better, may you not sneeze at all!
Lisa
Please Send An Endearing Term for Grandma and Grandpa in Your Language
Wednesday, March 15th, 2006Kathy wrote me…
Dear Mamalisa,
I was delighted to find your website and will be using it in the future. I am researching translations for the word “grandma” in various languages. I am most interested in the familiar, sweet terms children might call this individual. I am aware that in some cultures this would be a different word for the mother or the father’s side of the family. I have spent hours on Internet, through many websites as well as your website and links. I have thus found: Cajun, Hawaiian, Ukrainian, Italian, Scottish, Irish, Portuguese, Danish, Dutch, French, Spanish, and Farsi. I am not clear about Russian or Greek since I am not completely sure of their letters. Now I am certainly not expecting you to do hours of research for my project. But I thought you might be familiar with an easier way for me to accomplish my task.
For example, I happened on a page called “I Love You” in Various Languages and found 18 pages for “I love you”. Wow! Anyway, whatever help you can give me would be much appreciated.
Thank you in advance for your assistance.
Kathy
If anyone knows any endearing terms for “grandma” and “grandpa”, including any in those languages listed, please comment below.
Thanks!
Lisa
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