Yerushalmi Kugel was created in the 1700’s in Jerusalem. Joan Nathan writes in her book: “The Jewish Holiday Kitchen” that Yerushalmi Kugel comes from the Gaon of Vilna and his followers. This fact is personally intriguing. My Aunt Hilda, my Father’s older sister, always told me that somehow we were related to the Gaon of Vilna.
At the same time. I was looking at Joan Nathan’s recipe, I was also looking at Adeena Sussman’s recipe for Yerushalmi Kugel in her book “Sababa”. Taking a little bit from one and a little bit from the other, I came up with a recipe that was simpler for me to follow. I had no idea if it was going to work. Replacing a failed kugel with rice was going to be the answer. As beginner’s luck would have it; I unmolded it on to a platter. It worked! Everyone loved it.
While I know that this is supposed to be a sweet and peppery kugel, I reduced the amount of pepper in my recipe because most of my group don’t like recipes with a lot of pepper. They prefer the sweet caramel. However you do it, this kugel makes a beautiful presentation and is delicious.
Note: The large Yerushalmi Kugel makes a beautiful presentation; but can be frustrating to cut. I decided to try to make them into minis, Guess what-it worked. Only 15 minutes in the oven and the mini Yerushalmi kugels were done and delicious.
Warning: Sugar and water begin to caramelize slowly; but when the process starts the caramel browns very quickly. It continues caramelizing even when you remove it from the heat. Watch it carefully!
For another non dairy noodle kugel recipe click on the link: Noodle Pudding with Apples
Prep time: 30 minutes