In Yiddish, the word “tzimmes” (also spelled tsimmes) means making a big fuss. For example: Why are you creating such a tzimmes? It’s also the name given to the delicious fuss that is a stew of sweet root vegetables and dried fruit, often served for the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. It’s a beautiful accompaniment to brisket, pot roast, or a whole roasted chicken. According to cookbook author Joan Nathan, the dish originated in medieval Germany, where it was a beef stew made with carrots and turnips. Over time, as it migrated to other areas of Eastern Europe, potatoes were added, then eventually the new world addition of sweet potatoes.
These days, many cooks simply make it as a sweet vegetable melange. And given its name, the dish allows for a lot of creativity on the part of the cook. Joan Nathan even has a Southwestern tzimmes with chiles. Some people stay with carrots and sweet potatoes with a bit of dried prunes and/or apricots, others add apples or pears to the mix, and some add meat, so you have a sweet and savory situation going on.
Tzimmes made with white and yellow sweet potatoes, butternut squash, carrots, prunes, and onion. Photo by Evan Kleiman
I grew up with a version where the vegetables and fruit were cooked until soft in a heavy pot. The ingredients would get slightly mashed together with stirring as the dish cooked. I loved the texture, which had a fair amount of variation, given the main players carrots, butternut squash, and Japanese sweet potato, which soften differently. Sometimes my mother would add a bit of the already cooked brisket or stewed chuck roast to enrich the vegetables. But over time, the pot became a showcase for sweet flavors brightened with orange and lemon juice. My favorite way to make it is with sweet potatoes (both orange and white), butternut squash, carrots, prunes, a bit of onion, brown sugar, and lemon juice. Some people add regular potatoes to the mix as well. I prefer to do that if I’m also adding a bit of braised meat like brisket, flanken, or pot roast. When my mom added braised meat to the pot, it was always like seasoning, but some people make the traditional beef tzimmes, which is basically a beef stew with the addition of the sweet root vegetables and dried fruits.
Tzimmes is a marvelous side dish any time of year. Photo by Evan Kleiman.
I understand that a root vegetable mash is not to everyone’s taste. Many people choose to bake their tzimmes now, preparing all the vegetables for roasting first, and a separate mix of melted butter along with the sweetener of choice and orange juice, which drenches the roasted vegetables when they’re nearly soft. A roasted version of the dish has been appearing on New Year’s tables for over a decade. It’s also lovely with its characteristic bit of caramelized char nipping at the orange veggies like in Amelia Saltsman’s Roasted Carrot and Sweet Potato Tzimmes recipe, in which the vegetables become tender, browned, citrus-glazed, and deliciously infused with orange.
You could also Ottolenghi-fy tzimmes by taking your finished roasted tzimmes and drizzling it with tahini, finishing with a scattering of pomegranate seeds.
The Jewish New Year is a time for personal and communal renewal, and a time to bask in sweetness, a quality that gets short shrift these days. We eat things that are sweet like apples dipped in honey, or dates, or this tzimmes made of sweet potatoes (both orange and white), butternut squash, carrots, prunes, a bit of onion, brown sugar, and lemon juice. Sweetness on the tongue is delicious. But sweetness in the heart is what we could really use more of just now.