Edot: Israeli Salad

Now that we have celebrated our birth as a Jewish nation during the Pesach (Passover) holiday, we look forward to celebrating the establishment 66 years ago of the modern State of Israel. This year, Yom Ha'Atzma'oot - Israel Independence Day - falls on the 6th day of the Hebrew month of Iyar which, coincidentally, is on the 6th day of May on the Gregorian calendar. Appropriately, I chose an Israeli recipe for our cooking elective students to prepare.

The Israeli salad is prepared almost daily by Israelis. Many of my Israeli friends simply keep a bowl of the diced vegetables on their kitchen tables or counters, constantly refreshing the contents which are a staple for a typical Israeli breakfast (with cheeses and breads and yogurts), or a quick healthy snack between meals, or a simple dinner in the evening (again with yogurt and/or cheeses and breads). The salad can be enjoyed with or without the dressing - the natural flavors of the fresh vegetables blend so well together.

So here is how we prepared it:

As always, immediately after the students have washed their hands and returned to the classroom, I introduce the Hebrew vocabulary. I learned a new word myself for this recipe - "l'katzketz" - I love the sound of the word!

Each table was set with a bowl filled with already-washed and prepared vegetables, along with the slicing and dicing tools

In order to be sure we had enough time during our half-hour session to slice and dice all the vegetables and still have time to enjoy the results, each student at each table was instructed to "l'katzketz" (dice) every vegetable in no specific order: