• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
✮ The Food Dictator ✮

The Hirshon Libyan Cershi

August 9, 2015 by The Generalissimo Leave a Comment

969
SHARES
FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditWhatsappYummly
Light Dark Dark Light
()
The Hirshon Libyan Cershi
Cershi Image Used Under Creative Commons License From nutsaboutfooditaly.blogspot.com

Citizens, today’s recipe is a bit different in that it is specific to a people who now all live in exile from their home country, without exception. Today, I give you Cershi, a recipe of the lost Jews of Libya!

The history of the Jews in Libya stretches back to the 3rd century BCE, when the region known as Cyrenaica was under Greek rule.

The Jewish population of Libya, a part of the North African Jewish community, continued to populate the area continuously until modern times.

During World War II, Libya’s Jewish population was subjected to antisemitic laws by the Fascist Italian regime as well as deportations by German troops.

After the war, anti-Jewish violence caused many Jews to leave the country, principally for Israel, though significant numbers remained in Rome and many later emigrated to various communities in North America.

By 1967, the Jewish population of Libya had decreased to 7,000. After the Six-Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors, Libyan Jews were once again the target of anti-Jewish riots. During these attacks, rioters killed 18 people and more were injured.

Leaders of the Jewish community then asked King Idris I to allow the entire Jewish population to “temporarily” leave the country; he consented, even urging them to leave. Through an airlift and the aid of several ships, the Italian Navy helped evacuate more than 6,000 Jews to Rome in a single month.

The evacuees were forced to leave their homes, their businesses and most of their possessions behind. Of these 6,000, more than 4,000 soon emigrated to Israel or the United States. The ones who remained stayed in Rome. Out of the approximately 15,000 Roman Jews, 4,000 are of Libyan descent and they are an influential part of the community.

Under Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who ruled Libya from 1969 to 2011, the situation deteriorated further, eventually leading to the emigration of the remaining Jewish population. The last Jew of Libya, 80-year-old Rina Debach, left the country in 2003 marking a sad end to 2,300 years of Jewish life in Libya.

Today’s recipe for Cershi (a dip made from pumpkin) was one of the signature dishes of the Libyan Jewish community, now completely living abroad in exile. It has become very popular in Rome and is quite easy and delicious, especially as I’ve adapted it. I’ve added some Aleppo pepper and caraway to bring on the spice.

Try this Cershi recipe and remember this group of exiles torn from their home of thousands of years, Citizens! You can learn more about the Jews of Libya here, if you are interested.

Battle on – The Generalissimo

Print
clock clock iconcutlery cutlery iconflag flag iconfolder folder iconinstagram instagram iconpinterest pinterest iconfacebook facebook iconprint print iconsquares squares iconheart heart iconheart solid heart solid icon

The Hirshon Libyan Cershi


★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

  • Total Time: 0 hours
Print Recipe
Pin Recipe

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 whole orange pumpkin, about 1 pound (or you can use Kabocha squash, which is even more delicious!)
  • 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon hot paprika
  • 1 teaspoon Aleppo chili pepper flakes (preferred) or hot red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 teaspoon caraway seed powder
  • pinch of salt
  • juice of half a lemon
  • 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions

  1. Cut the skin off the pumpkin or squash, de-seed and cut into small chunks. Place in a pan with a little olive oil, cover and let simmer, turning every once in a while. Once the pumpkin has softened, mash it with a fork or a potato masher until it has a smooth texture.
  2. In another pan, sauté the garlic and Aleppo chili pepper in a little olive oil and then mix into the pumpkin and keep simmering over low heat. In the meantime, crush the caraway seeds with a mortar and pestle. After about 10 minutes, add the lemon juice and salt into the pan and let cook for another 10-15 minutes.
  3. Just before taking the pan off the heat, add in the caraway powder and mix well. The texture should be dense, soft and creamy, not liquid.
  4. Drizzle a bit more olive oil over the mixture. Let cool and serve with couscous or toasted bread.
  • Prep Time: 0 hours
  • Cook Time: 0 hours
  • Category: Recipes

Nutrition

  • Calories: 147.52 kcal
  • Sugar: 2.48 g
  • Sodium: 38.79 mg
  • Fat: 13.69 g
  • Saturated Fat: 1.92 g
  • Trans Fat: 0.0 g
  • Carbohydrates: 6.95 g
  • Fiber: 0.88 g
  • Protein: 1.12 g
  • Cholesterol: 0.0 mg

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @thefooddictator on Pinterest, Instagram or Facebook and hashtag it #TFD

How useful was this post, Citizen?

Click to rate My Recipe, Citizen - 5 hearts are ALWAYS appreciated!

Average rating / 5. Vote count:

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.

As you found this post useful...

Follow us on social media, Citizen!

We are sorry that this post was not useful for you!

Let us improve this post!

Tell us how we can improve this post?

Related posts:

The Hirshon Yemenite Jewish Fermented and Smoked Butter, Semneh - סאמנה and سمن
The Hirshon Ojibwe-style Venison Stew - Jiibaakwaan Waashkesh
The Hirshon Neapolitan Spaghetti alla Puttanesca
The Hirshon Moldovan Friptura din Costita de Porc
The Hirshon Sudanese Spicy Yogurt Dip – مش
The Hirshon Jordanian Circassian Chicken and Pasta - شيبس وباسطة and Jed De Ships Sch'etu
The Hirshon Southern Pimiento Cheese
The Hirshon Malian Peanut Stew - Tigadegena

Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: Appetizers

About The Generalissimo

The myth of the Generalissimo is far more interesting than the reality.

Previous Post: « The Hirshon Manitoba Tourtière
Next Post: The Hirshon Tibetan Momo – མོག་མོག »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe rating ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆

Primary Sidebar

➤ Citizens – Please Support TFD Nation!

Donate to Help TFD!

⇔ Search, And Ye Shall Assuredly Find!

✮ Citizens ✮

TFD currently has a total of 1,364 posts and 1,160,868 words written since December of 2014! Add your voice to My 50,000+ dedicated readers, comment on My recipes and thus become an active member of TFD Nation! Looking for a particular recipe? Search for it in the box above or via the category tags below - there are THOUSANDS of the finest in world and historic recipes here!

❧ TREMBLE Before Our Categoric Zeal!

Appetizers (146)Beef (143)Beverages (24)Bread (112)Cheese (64)Chicken (132)Chinese (122)Chocolate (16)Condiments (262)Dessert (166)Drinks (23)Duck (20)Egg (47)Fish (56)French (56)Game (30)Georgian (34)Indian (60)Italian (58)Jewish (84)Lamb (73)Manifestos (1)Pasta (90)Pork (148)Salad (40)Sandwich (42)Seafood (84)Shrimp (53)Soup (109)Spices (12)Tofu (7)Turkey (15)Veal (18)Vegetables (108)

✺ Click to Follow Us Across Social Media!

Facebook   

    instagram

☥ TFD SPEAKS!!!

https://www.thefooddictator.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/TFD-Avatar-Cold-Open-FINAL.mp4

 Enjoy TFD’s Mellifluous Podcasts, Citizen!

Listen on Apple Podcasts

© 2023 · The Food Dictator is abjectly served by WORDPRESS

✮ The Food Dictator ✮
Manage Cookie Consent
Citizens!

Be advised that as an enlightened Dictatorship here at TFD, we are indeed on the side of right when it comes to protecting the privacy of TFD Nation!

We do use technologies such as cookies to store and/or access device information, solely to improve your browsing experience and to show personalized ads.

Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions - trust us, we really ARE on your side!

YOUR LOYALTY IS NOTED! 🎖️
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}
969
SHARES
FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditMailYummly