Nava Atlas’s Sweet Potato Tzimmes Recipe (2024)

Can you make this ahead?

same question!

I made this a week and a half ahead. Before baking, I put it in the dish at Step 3, and then froze it. Then I defrosted in the fridge a day before, and baked as instructed - a bit longer than the 45 mins.

Finally, a Jewish holiday recipe worth adding to the permanent repertoire for holidays - not just Rosh Hashanah (these are really fall flavors), but also Thanksgiving (beats my previous attempts at doing something interesting with sweet potatoes).I substituted cranberries for prunes because that's what I had, and topped with walnuts. The balance of sweetness with the tart notes of ginger, cranberry, nutmeg and savory red onion, combined with the satisfying walnut crunch, was just perfect.

This turned out well though I made some tweaks, attempting to make it a *little* less sweet and bring in some Sephardic influences. I think most significantly I used a combination of TJ's carrot & turmeric juice, fresh-squeezed orange juice, and red wine for the liquid (~1 1/3 c), seasoned with the ginger and cinnamon (and cumin and turmeric), and let that simmer while prepping the onions and carrots. I soaked dates and cranberries in that liquid too. Added orange zest to brighten it up.

I thought this was quite good with 2 caveats. I think a 2 quart shallow pan is too small and am glad I used a larger one. Secondly, i grated fresh ginger and found 3 rather than 2 teaspoons was perfect.

I’ll confess to skipping the step of precooking the sweet potatoes. I cubed them instead and mixed them into the rest of the ingredients. This recipe is delicious and a terrific side dish for the Jewish New Year or Thanksgiving!

Needs lots of added moisture like wine, or juice, or sherry, or water. It is dry. I cooked it longer at 400* for 90 minutes.

This was not good. The mixture was too dry, and overall the taste was lacking. I spent too much time and money preparing this dish and threw most of it away.

Finally, a Jewish holiday recipe worth adding to the permanent repertoire for holidays - not just Rosh Hashanah (these are really fall flavors), but also Thanksgiving (beats my previous attempts at doing something interesting with sweet potatoes).I substituted cranberries for prunes because that's what I had, and topped with walnuts. The balance of sweetness with the tart notes of ginger, cranberry, nutmeg and savory red onion, combined with the satisfying walnut crunch, was just perfect.

I made this a week and a half ahead. Before baking, I put it in the dish at Step 3, and then froze it. Then I defrosted in the fridge a day before, and baked as instructed - a bit longer than the 45 mins.

Doubled the recipe, for a shared meal. Prep time more than two hours. Very tasty, but drier than expected. Wonder how it would be with yams instead of sweet potatoes. And if it might be useful to soak the dried fruit first. More OJ?

I doubled this recipe for a large crowd. I don't think the walnut topping added anything and it prevented a nut-allergic guest from enjoying it.
The prunes and apricots made this tzimmes quite sweet, so I will reduce the amounts them next time. And, there will be a next time.

I made this ahead (the night before) and baked the next day after bringing to room temperature. My problem with the dish was that the carrots were not cooked enough for some reason. In step 2 I sauteed until onions were good and thought that was enough and that they would get further cooked when baked, but they remained underdone. Try again next year!

Can you make this ahead?