This dish comprises two dips that one can eat with breads, as a reminder of the breads that Sarah and Abraham offered the three strangers (angels) who entered their tent.

In this Parshah, Hagar is sent away with Ishmael. He is Isaac’s half-brother, and they share Abraham as their father. This dish is made with the same ingredients in different colors to represent the connection of the brothers, and is sprinkled with sesame seeds, symbolizing their shared father. It is surrounded by greens that stand for the bush under which Ishmael was left by Hagar, and the thicket where the ram was caught and used on the altar instead of Isaac. The greens are like a family or community that stands in a circle to support and empower the most vulnerable, rather than leaving them behind like Sodom and Gomorrah.


Ingredients:

  • 2 organic red bell peppers
  • 2 organic yellow bell peppers
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 6–8 smaller carrots (I happened to find yellow, red, orange and purple ones at the market, but orange will work)
  • 1 small bunch of frisée or other greens
  • 2 tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 handful toasted walnut (about 15 whole walnuts)
  • 2 tbsp. tahini
  • ½ tsp. lemon juice
  • ½ tsp. pomegranate molasses, or ½ medjool date
  • ¼ tsp. schug or other chili paste
  • ¼ tsp. black sesame seeds
  • Salt to taste

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 500° F. Wash vegetables.
  2. Place peppers, carrots and garlic (with skins) on parchment paper–lined trays, and drizzle with olive oil. Cook until brown, turning over halfway through cooking, approximately 40 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Once cool, peel pepper skins and take out seeds. Remove garlic skins and carrot tops.
  3. Place the yellow peppers, 2 cloves garlic and 3–4 carrots (yellow, if you have) in blender with tahini and a pinch of salt. Blend until smooth.
  4. In another blender container, place the red peppers, 2 cloves garlic and 3–4 carrots (red and orange ones) in blender. Add schug, pomegranate molasses, walnuts, salt and lemon juice. Blend until smooth.
  5. On a platter, arrange dips side by side and sprinkle black sesame seeds on top. Then, arrange greens along the edge of the plate.

Reprinted with permission from Neesh Noosh.