Name: Sabbath Stew (D’fina and Skhina)
Yield: Serves 8, or 8 to 10 for variations
Cuisine: Egyptian
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1 teaspoon ginger; 1 teaspoon ground allspice; 6 potatoes, peeled and halved if large; 1 ½ cups dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and drained; 3 to 4 pounds stewing beef or brisket, cubed; 2 large onions, chopped; 6 cloves garlic, minced; 8 eggs, in their shells, rinsed; water or broth to cover; salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preparation info

Serves
8

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Saffron Shores

By Joyce Goldstein

Published 2002

About

In the Orthodox Jewish tradition, it is forbidden to light a fire or work on the Sabbath. In order to have a midday meal on Saturday, housewives put one-pot stews in a very low oven or the oven of the local baker before sundown on Friday and keep it there until lunch the next day. In Spain these stews are called cocido, in France cassoulet, and in other parts of Europe cholent. D’fina is a typical Sabbath stew. Joelle Bahloul, in her wonderful book The Architecture o