BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — Make your bubbe proud by learning how to cook traditional Hanukkah treats and meals.
Brooklyn couple Ron and Leetal Arazi, founders of artisanal food company New York Shuk, are looking to sweeten up the holiday season with cooking classes focusing on Sephardic and Middle Eastern Jewish food.
On Dec. 18 and 25, the duo is offering a doughnut workshop and Tunisian sandwich-making class out of their Bedford-Stuyvesant kitchen to help celebrate Hanukkah.
“The goal in everything that we do is for people to learn something new and take it to their own kitchen, their own family and friends,” said Leetal Arazi, 31.
“It’s how to create something special so you can make your holiday special. We don’t take it for granted how we were brought up and we like to share some of that with others.”
The Arazis grew up in Israel and moved to New York in 2012, later launching New York Shuk.
“We knew we wanted to have something to do with our culinary heritage. There’s this whole mix of cultures that we’re trying to bring,” Arazi said, adding that her husband is half Moroccan and Lebanese and her family comes from Turkey, Iraq and Eastern Europe.
“There’s this momentum building on Israeli food and it’s great you can have it in a restaurant, but how can you transfer those flavors to your kitchen?”
Through their company, the husband-and-wife team creates food products inspired by family recipes, such as homemade couscous and harissa, a traditional chili paste. Throughout the year they also host Shabbat dinners, pickling workshops and more.
This month marks their first-ever Hanukkah classes.
On Dec. 18, attendees will learn how to make Sfenj, a Moroccan-style doughnut, and Sufganiyot, an Israeli jelly doughnut.
The second class on Christmas Day teaches students how to create a Tunisian sandwich with a deep-fried bun, tuna, potato salad, harissa and other ingredients.
“We just don’t want these foods to vanish, so the tradition keeps going on,” Arazi said.
For more information on Hanukkah cooking classes from New York Shuk, visit their website here.
