Palak paneer, chana masala, and the obscenely treif-sounding butter chicken don’t exactly scream “Jewish,” and they’re not likely to be on your grandmother’s holiday table. In India, however, Jews have a long history and an even longer culinary tradition.
For millennia, India has been home to Jews, mostly from three groups: Cochin Jews, Bene Israel Jews, and Baghdadi Jews. Jews have lived in India for at least a millennium in Cochin, a port city on India’s southwestern coast in the state of Kerala. They moved there following the destruction of the second temple, according to legend, and have since been “augmented by waves of immigration from Yemen, Turkey, Egypt, Syria, and even Italy,” according to Nathan Katz, professor of religious studies at Florida International University. They were a well-educated and rich group, with some of them working in international trade, which frequently centered on spices. “Spices were always grown in Kerala,” Katz adds, “so they had the freshest, most delicious, intense spicing in their meals.” Coconut and coconut oil were plentiful, and they were used in Jewish cuisine. Bonda, a chickpea flour fritter that is then fried, comes in both savory and sweet variations; in Cochin, a version prepared with coconut and raisins replaced potato latkes during Hanukkah.
Source: https://www.momentmag.com/talk-of-the-table-jan-feb-2013/
