Kugel: What is Served at Every Break-the-Fast

L'shana Tova!  Happy New Year!  On Yom Kipur you fast all day and end the fast with a big meal with family and friends to break the fast.  At this meal you have traditional Jewish foods. For example, last year I think we had bagels, lox, salad, kugel, quiche and my apple upside down cake for dessert.  This year, TS and I are going to my friend Sheila's house.

As a good friend should do, I asked Sheila what I should bring with me for the Break-the-Fast.  The one thing she requested was kugel.  For those who do not know, kugel is a noodle or potato pudding.  It can be sweet or savory.  I make both, but for this meal it was a sweet one.

Everyone has their own sweet kugel recipe, but the base is the same.  Egg noodles, sour cream or cottage cheese or cream cheese, cinnamon and sugar.  After that the additions vary according to families.  My sister and I have been making kugel together for years.  This is actually the first Yom Kipur in probably 4 years where my sister has not been here to assist in the kugel making.  It was kind of sad.  We normally make the kugel while drinking diet cokes (we consume liquids without calories on Yom Kipur -- our version of fasting) and talk about what foods we want to eat.  This time, I was alone in the kitchen, drinking a diet Dr. Pepper and thinking about how I wanted to lick the spoon and eat a slice of pumpkin pie.  One had just come out of the oven, see below.  Oh well. My sister is at work in a hospital right now, probably drinking a diet coke and thinking about the kugel she has in her bag for breaking her fast. 

Here is my kugel recipe.  Or at least the recipe I made for this year's break the fast.  You may notice in the picture, and the recipe, there are raisins in only half the kugel.  TS does not like raisins.  This year I was nice and instead of him not eating the kugel because there were raisins, he now has a half to choose from that does not have raisins in it.  The recipe shows you how to add raisins to just one half of the kugel.

Ingredients
8oz wide egg noodles
2 cups sour cream
16oz cottage cheese
1/2 cup sugar + 1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
6 eggs
1/2 stick of butter, melted and cooled
1 small can crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 cup raisins

Recipe
Preheat oven 375 degrees.
1. Boil egg noodles for 4 mins, then drain
2. In a large bowl beat eggs for 1 minute, then add sour cream, cottage cheese, pineapple and cooled, melted butter.  Stir together until fully combined.
3. Stir in 1/2 cup sugar, 1.5 tsp cinnamon to egg mixture.
4. Fold in cooked, drained egg noodles to egg mixture.
5. Coat 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.
6. Pour noodle mixture into baking dish.
7. Stir in raisins into half the noodle mixture. (if you want raisins in all of the kugel, then mix them when you add your pineapple)
8. Mix together 1 Tbps sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon in small bowl, then sprinkle mixture over all of the kugel.
9. Bake for 40 mins.
10. Cool and serve.

What I was thinking about while making kugel:

pumpkin pie with homemade pie crust.

L'SHANA TOVA or as my Grandmother says "Gut Yuntif"