It’s that time of the year when you gather with your friends and family to celebrate Passover! During this holiday you can’t eat any grains that have been fermented or left to rise. Flour is only permitted to eat if it is baked into matzah (unleavened bread). This is because the holiday celebrates the escaping of the Jews from slavery in Egypt. They had to rush out and didn’t have time for the bread to rise which created matzah. Whether you have been celebrating Passover your whole life or are new to the holiday, below we have a list of some of the best ways to make eating matzah for eight whole days more enjoyable.
First, we have matzah pizza! Because the American diet consists mainly of carbs, it is hard for many people to completely get rid of pizza. To prepare this dish, you can buy or make a delicious tomato sauce (I prefer to use Rao’s tomato sauce). You then spread a generous amount of the sauce on the matzah square. Next, find your favorite type of cheese and spread it over the sauce. You can add as many toppings as you choose. Lastly, you put it in the microwave or oven until the cheese has melted. Viola! You now have a glorious matzah pizza that is not only kosher for Passover, but tasty as well.
The ultimate Passover dessert is toffee-covered matzah. This addicting treat is made up of half caramelized butter and brown sugar and the other half is covered with chocolate. There is nothing bad to say about this creation. You just melt brown sugar and chocolate separately on the stove then spread it on your matzah! It is simple and delicious! It will make your Passover seder sweet!
Since the Jewish people invented the bagel, it is only right for us to have cream cheese and lox during a celebratory holiday. This meal is exactly like a normal bagel and lox, just take out the bagel and add matzah. You can find high-quality cream cheese and smoked salmon at Trader Joe’s and many other markets! This is a great meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! After you smother the cream cheese on your matzah, you can add some salty smoked salmon. To finally top it, you can add everything but the bagel seasoning, tomatoes, capers, onions, or even cucumbers!
If you would prefer a more simple route, matzah with butter and jam is perfect for you! This quick snack takes no longer than two minutes. First, you melt the butter for about eight seconds in the microwave, or until it is soft. Then, you spread it across your matzah. Next, take out your favorite jam from the fridge (my favorite is bonne maman). The combination of butter and jam makes the perfect sweet and salty snack!
Next up is the fan favorite, matzah ball soup. If there is one dish that can make the matzah have the most flavor, it’s this one. A matzah ball is a mix of water, oil, egg, and of course, matzah all rolled into a ball shape. The soup consists of matzah balls, egg noodles and varying vegetables but most commonly carrots and celery. Depending on the soup, there is either one huge matzah ball or several tiny ones. This is definitely one of the best passover dishes! It gives the matzah a more complex flavor which makes it my favorite way to matzah.
The best way to make the matzah taste like dessert without being too unhealthy is Nutella and fruit. The simple flavor of the matzah combined with the chocolatey Nutella and vibrant fruit flavors creates a delicious dessert with simple ingredients. To make it, spread the Nutella onto the matzah and put your favorite fruit (or fruits) on it. Some popular and delicious fruit choices are blueberries, banana, and strawberries (my personal favorite) but any fruit will taste amazing on this popular passover dessert combo!
Keeping Passover but missing your everyday sandwiches? A peanut butter and jelly sandwich on matza is the perfect solution. Spreading the smooth peanut butter and jelly on the crunchy matzah creates a sandwich with a similar texture to eating a normal PB and J with potato chips in it. Keeping passover is hard for me but fun alternatives like these make it so much easier!
Finally is a matzah version of a trendy breakfast: avocado toast. My favorite breakfast food is avocado toast which makes it so hard to resist it during Passover. Luckily, avocado toast with matzah is still delicious! I take the matzah, butter it for extra flavor, add the avocado (I use a pre-mashed avocado spread) and add spices. My favorite seasoning to use is everything but the bagel, crushed red pepper, black pepper, and salt (especially the pink sea salt from Trader Joe’s). This is another way to matzah that makes not being able to eat bread a lot easier.
These are the ways that we matzah. Hopefully this guide will help you find your favorite ways and make you look at the plain bread in a whole different way. There are only eight ways here, but the options are endless when it comes to matzah.