EMERGENCY
Delivering Emergency Food Assistance in Gaza
Jun, 2021
#ChefsForGaza — Daily Hot Meals in Gaza for Displaced Persons
The bombings in Gaza stopped after the ceasefire on May 21, but now thousands of Palestinians must start rebuilding their lives once again. Over 1,100 homes were destroyed or suffered severe or major damage.
Thanks to donors like you and our new partnership with World Central Kitchen, we have been working with local restaurants and the Cooperative Society for Savings and Lending (CSSL) to deliver hot meals to families across Gaza who have suddenly been left without functioning homes or access to kitchen to prepare food.
Nine-year-old Islam is from one such family in Beit Hanoun. He and his parents and five siblings were forced to flee when a bomb suddenly struck their home in the middle of the night while they were sleeping. We spoke with Islam’s father when the family came to pick up hot meals.
“We lost everything, including our clothing and furniture. The civil defense tried to put out the fire but they couldn’t save any of our belongings... We’re grateful for these hot meals.
"We lost our modest kitchen utensils and our stove. We couldn’t even salvage one single cooking pot. The entire kitchen is gone.”
Anera's partner in this initiative, World Central Kitchen, is a nonprofit organization that uses the power of food to nourish communities and strengthen economies in times of crisis and beyond. This emergency response builds upon Anera's existing long-time partnership with CSSL, a women’s cooperative and vocational training center, to provide meals to vulnerable families under home COVID-19 quarantine in Gaza. In the last year, Anera and CSSL have delivered 40,225 meals to families quarantined with COVID-19, and to school children in need.
On the first day of this emergency response — and just two days after the ceasefire — the women at CSSL prepared a meal of roasted chicken and rice, fresh salad, bread and banana for 300 residents of Beit Hanoun in North Gaza. Within a few days we were producing and distributing 3,000 meals daily with our local partners to displaced families.
Chef José Andrés with World Central Kitchen shared a video from our own Rania Elhelo from the first day of meal preparations.
Anera and World Central Kitchen are also working with Laterna, a local restaurant in Gaza City, to provide additional meals. The project is supporting the work of some 50 women making meals at five CSSL vocational training centers across Gaza’s five governorates, all of which have suffered bombings and displacement.
Below we share recipes for some of these nutritious and savory meals that we are delivering each week, and photos of the food preparation from CSSL and Laterna Restaurant:
Try making this dish at home following our recipe and take a look at photos of how we're preparing this meal in Gaza.
Ingredients:
- Chicken
- 300 g (10.5 oz) - Chicken
- 200 g (7 oz; approximately 1 large onion) - Onions
- 30 g (2 Tbsp) - Meat spices - a mixture of cardamom, sumac, cumin, black pepper, dried lemons and grilling spices
- 20 g (4 tsp) - Tomato sauce
- 20 g (4 tsp) -Water
- 5 g (1 tsp) - Black pepper
- 5 g (1 tsp) - Lemon juice
- White rice
- 300 g (1 and 2/3 cup) - White rice (dry)
- 400 g (1 and 2/3 cup) - Water
- 5 g (1 tsp) - Black pepper
- 30 g (2 Tbsp) - Vegetable oil
- Salad
- 100 g (3.5 oz) -Tomatoes
- 60 g (2 oz) - Parsley
- 10 g (1/2 cup, packed) - Fresh dill
- 3 g (1/2 tsp) - Lemon juice
Recipe:
- Preparing the chickpeas:
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- Wash dry chickpeas and soak them for 8 hours, changing the water once or twice during this period.
- Immediately before cooking, boil the chickpeas in water for 20 minutes; drain the water. Wash with cold water and leave to drain.
- When the rice is cooked, add the chickpeas
- Preparing the chicken:
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- Clean the chicken thoroughly with water, then rub with lemon juice, flour and salt; allow it to marinate for 15 minutes. This process will remove the zanakha — the funky gaminess of the meat.
- Rinse the chicken thoroughly again; place into a pot with some oil and cook on medium heat, stirring periodically, for 10 minutes.
- Dice onions in a bowl and then add cardamom, salt, and black pepper and the meat spices; add the mixture to the pot with the chicken and stir well.
- Cook the chicken on the stove with the onions and spices, stirring constantly for 20 minutes.
- Add water to the chicken and cook until done.
- Preparing the chicken sauce:
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- Add tomato sauce, lemon juice, black pepper and grilling spices to the chicken pieces. Dip the chicken pieces in the sauce before roasting in the oven.
- Cooking the rice:
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- Clean the rice of impurities and rinse well.
- Heat oil in a pot; once hot, add the rice and stir to ensure the rice becomes evenly coated in oil.
- Add onions and garlic and stir.
- Add spices – black pepper, cardamom and any additional spices you like for rice. Add water and bring to a boil for about 15 minutes.
- Cucumber and tomato salad:
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- Assemble the ingredients: tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley, dill, lemon juice and salt.
- Thoroughly wash the veggies with water, and dice them on a cutting board.
- Add lemon and salt and toss the salad.
Try making this dish at home following our recipe and take a look at photos of how we're preparing this meal in Gaza.
Ingredients:
- Kufta
- 160 grams (just over 3/4 cup) - Minced meat
- 5 g (1 tsp) - Salt
- 3 g (1/2 tsp) - Ground cardamom
- 5 g (1 tsp) - Meat spices (a mixture of cardamom, sumac, cumin, black pepper, dried lemons and grilling spices)
- 5 g (1 tsp) - Black pepper
- Cooked vegetables
- 150 g (3/4 cup) - Potatoes
- 50 g (1/4 cup) - Tomato sauce
- 5 g (1 tsp) - Black pepper
- 5 g (1 tsp) - Salt
- White rice
- 300 g (1 and 2/3 cup) - White rice (dry)
- 400 g (1 and 2/3 cup) - Water
- 5 g (1 tsp) - Black pepper
- 30 g (2 Tbsp) - Vegetable oil
Recipe:
- Kofta (patties of ground lamb with onions, garlic, and spices):
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- Chop or grind the meat into small pieces.
- Add black pepper, salt, meat spices and cardamom and mix well.
- Shape the meat into rectangular finger shapes.
- Rinse the potatoes and cut into medium-size pieces.
- Cut the onions into cubes and place them in a pot on the stove. Add the potatoes, as well as tomato paste, cooking spices, salt and black pepper.
- Once it boils, cook for 20 minutes before adding the kofta patties.
- Boil until the patties reach the desired consistency.
- Rice:
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- Clean and rinse the rice.
- Warm oil in a pot on the stove.
- Add the rice and stir for a moment before adding water, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt and black pepper.
- Leave on a simmer until it is cooked.
Try making this dish at home following our recipe, and take a look at photos of how we're preparing this meal in Gaza.
Ingredients:
- Fish
- 250 g (9 oz) - Fish fillet
- 15 g (3 tsp) - Ground green pepper
- 15 g (3 tsp) - Black pepper
- 25 g (5 tsp) - Cumin
- 25 g (5 tsp) - Lemon juice
- 50 g (2 oz) - Lemon slices
- 100 g (4 cups, packed) - Fresh parsley
- White rice
- 300 g (1 and 2/3 cups) - White rice (dry)
- 400 g (1 and 2/3 cups) - Water
- 5 g (1 tsp) - Black pepper
- 30 g (2 Tbsp) - Vegetable oil
- Vegetable salad
- 100 g (3.5 oz) - Tomatoes
- 60 g (2 oz) - Cucumbers
- 30 g (1 oz) - Parsley
- 10 g (1/2 cup, packed) - Fresh dill
- 3 g (1/2 tsp) - Lemon juice
Recipe:
- Preparing the fish:
-
- Clean the fish with water, then rub with lemon, flour and vinegar to remove the funky smell and flavor of zanakha; rinse again.
- Coat the fish with cumin, lemon, salt, black pepper and ground green pepper.
- Leave the fish to marinate for two hours.
- Fry the fish in oil until cooked
- Plate it and garnish with lemon slices and parsley.
- Sprinkle with crushed green pepper.
- Rice:
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- Clean the rice and rinse with water.
- Fry the rice in the pot with a little fried fish oil.
- Add the fish spices (cumin, lemon, salt, black pepper and ground green pepper) and water and leave it to boil on a simmer for 15 minutes to be well-cooked.
- Salad:
-
- Wash the vegetables: tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley and dill.
- Dice into small cubes and then add salt and lemon.
Try making this dish at home following our recipe, and take a look at photos of how we're preparing this meal in Gaza.
Ingredients:
- Chicken and vegetables
- 200 g (7 oz) - Chicken breast (bones and cartilage removed)
- 50 g (1/3 cup) - Corn
- 60 g (2 oz) - Green bell pepper
- 60 g (2 oz) - Dried onion
- Spices
- 15 g (3 tsp) - Thai spices
- 5 g (1 tsp) - Black pepper
- 8 g (1 and 1/2 tsp) - Chicken spices
- 5 g (1 tsp) - Salt
- White rice
- 300 g (1 and 2/3 cups) - White rice (dry)
- 400 g (2 and 1/4 cups) - Water
- 5 g (1 tsp) - Black pepper
- 30 g (2 Tbsp) - Vegetable oil
Recipe:
- Thai chicken:
-
- Wash the chicken breasts and cut into slices (approximately 2 inches x 1 inch); add salt, lemon, black pepper, and Thai spices. Allow the chicken to marinate for 3 hours.
- Cut bell peppers and onions into slices after washing them well.
- Cook the seasoned chicken breast pieces on the stove with oil and stir regularly.
- Add the onions and bell peppers and continue to stir; cook until done - about 15 minutes.
- Rice:
-
- Clean and rinse the rice.
- Warm oil in a pot on the stove.
- Add the rice and stir in spices.
- Add water and bring to a boil while stirring.
- After it starts to boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes.
- Serve hot
Roasted chicken with rice, salad, and banana
Lamb kofta with potatoes, vegetables, and rice
Fried fish with rice and salad
Thai chicken with rice and vegetables
Pasta with ground meat and parsley, and side salad.
Fasoulia (beans) with beef stew
Bread crumbed fried chicken and rice
Distributing the hot meals to families made homeless by the bombardment
Farm to table
CSSL procures the fresh produce for the meals from 25 local farmers who are also beneficiaries of and partners in Anera’s humanitarian aid work. The Anera and World Central Kitchen initiative is supporting and sustaining some 100 workers at the women’s cooperatives, farms and restaurants in Gaza to deliver tens of thousands of meals to displaced families in the weeks following the bombardment.
