There are many recipes for cholent, the traditional stew left to cook slowly overnight from candlelighting time on Friday to Shabbat lunch - almost as many as there are countries where Jews lived, because all observant Jews do not cook on Shabbat and want a hot dish to eat after coming home from synagogue in the winter. This recipe, for example, does not have khaminados, the hard boiled eggs whose brown color after overnight cooking makes Moroccan cholent so appetizing, but it is healthful and easy to prepare. And the accompanying photo is actually yet another variation of the dish that is an integral part of the warmth of Shabbat in many Jewish homes.
Ingredients:
1 cup red beans
1-2 lb. lean beef, cut in large cubes (2"x2" appr.)
4 medium potatoes
1 cup wheat berries
3 unpeeled onions
5 garlic cloves
salt and black pepper
Heat a heavy large pot until a test drop of water jumps up like a ball. Put in beef chunks to cover bottom of pot, turning to brown on all sides. (It will smell like steak, so be prepared to ignore the entreaties of the family to have some now). Remove, continue until all chunks are browned. Add onions, quartered, without peeling, brown. Add salt and pepper and everything except the wheat. Cover with water and bring to a boil.
In crock pot: Heat the crock pot. Use a cooking bag (or new white cotton sock, or cooky bag - leave room for expansion and don't forget to make a small hole in the cooky bag), pour in the well rinsed wheat and tie and place on the bottom of the crock pot well before Shabbat.
Add the meat mixture that has already come to a boil. Add water to cover. Set temperature low as it will be eaten next day.
Regular pot: Add bag of wheat to meat pot, cover with water, cook on low heat for an hour and then place on Shabbat hotplate and leave on until lunch on Shabbat. Check and place metal trivet underneath if hotplate is too hot and cholent is beginning to burn.
Everything but the kitchen sink makes cholent become even more delicious. For my family, I do not put the wheat berries in a bag, but rinse and add to the pot, with some barley as well, then mix paprika, 1 tsp. honey, a large dollop of ketchup and water in a plastic cup and pour into the boiling cholent. Some people use chicken or turkey, some add kishke and chick peas, white beans or no beans. And in contrast, there is a yummy vegetarian cholent recipe that has cabbage, carrots, kohlrabi, sweet potatoes and pumpkin instead of meat.