Jerra Restaurant
Joined eLuna November 2020, Revisited November 2022
Just about every cuisine style known to man is available somewhere in Israel. For Indian food, there is no place like JEERA. This is an authentic Indian restaurant in the center of Jerusalem. Jeera is the restaurant with the red painted door on Helena Hamalka Street. Don't miss it.
 Owner Tom is a great Indian food enthusiast and every week the restaurant offers a different set of authentic homemade dishes from different parts of India. Yes, Indian cuisine is not one single cuisine. Every geographic area in India has its own style. The cuisine of the north of India, with touches of winter root vegetables reminiscent of the Himalayas. The food traditions of the South combined with the influences of Muslim, Chinese cuisine. And Jeera has expertise in all the different styles.
To give you some sense of the versatility of Indian cuisine, see the Jeera Facebook page, along with photos of the foods, and very nice explanations of the origins of the dishes (Hebrew only).
We revisited Jeera for lunch on a late summer visit to Jerusalem.
As we sat at the outdoor tables placed along the charming Helenei Hamalka street facing a hedge of green, I could easily imagine myself in India or some other exotic far away country.
The folks at the restaurant recommended the Special Thali (usually for two). This is a platter containing a little of everything. It is a very nice introduction to the varied Jeera menu. The menu does change from time to time, so each time you visit the restaurant you may experience something new.
The meal began with a bowl of Dhal Tadka, a lovely lentil soup. Then came an attractive platter with several other dishes. My favorites was the Beetroot Kuzhambu, a stew of beetroot chunks and garden vegetables with curry, beans and spices. This was flavorful, a bit peppery, but mild. It went well with a lovely salad called Kala Chala Chaat, full of red onions, black beans, tomatoes and other good stuff. The platter also had a sort of potato/cheese knish buried under a creamy curry sauce, called Malai Kufta. A deep fried vegetarian samosa decorated the platter nicely. The platter also contained a bowl of yogurt to clean the palat between dishes.
All of this was served with flat Garlic Indian bread.
If you like Indian cuisine, you have come to the right place. If you like to experiment with different styles of cuisine, Jeera will be a delight.
During the cold winter days Jeera offers a wide variety of soups from different parts of India. Dosa and Idli, crowd favorites from the far south, are also regularly on the menu. Here are some of the specialties of the restaurant:
Idly and Sambar:Few foods are as comforting as Idly and Sambar from Jeera Restaurant. These are steamed dumplings made of rice batter and fermented lentils in a spicy vegetables soup rich in legumes, seasoned with South Indian Masala. It is customary to add a teaspoon of Jeera unique tomato chutney to the soup.
 Masala Dosa is a particularly popular South Indian street food. The dosa is made from a batter of rice and halved green seeds. The batter is fermented, creating an airy texture and a slightly sour taste that balances with the spicy tomato filling and the strong aroma of curry leaves. Dosa is served with traditional Sambar Soup and tomato chutney and cashmere pepper. It is best to pick up Dosa at the restaurant and eat it hot and crispy, fresh from the fire.
Kheer: Milk-based rice pudding (dessert). Some say that Kheer is almost as ancient as India itself. The milk-based rice porridge is mentioned in the oldest vodkas, and enters the pantheon of dishes with real Indian roots like the dosa and other dishes from the Ayurvedic tradition.
Khubani ka Meetha is a classic Hyderabadi dessert often served at weddings made from dried apricots from Central Asia. The apricots were brought to India by the Mughals in the 1500's. For this dish the apricots are cooked in cardamom, saffron and sugar water. This dessert, popular in Muslim homes during the Ramadan celebrations, seeped into the streets of Hyderabad itself, and became part of the identity of Hindus and Muslims alike.
Jeera combined these two wonderful desserts, Kheer and Khubani ka Meetha. The Kheer is cooked with cashews, saffron, raisins and almond milk, and the Khubani ka Meetha is prepared in a rose water-based syrup. The dessert is garnished with roasted pistachios and cashews and rose flowers.
The result is a light, fragrant dessert, a perfect end to an Indian meal, rich in flavors and spices.
Sweet Potato Vada: From the streets of Mumbai to the frying pans of Dimona. The sweet potato Vada is a popular street food that made its aliyah to Eretz Yisrael through the large Jewish community that emigrated from the capital of Maharashtra. Despite the confusing name, the sweet potato wada is made from potatoes spiced with black mustard seeds, curry leaves, calamus root, turmeric, and halved black fire (ore dal). It is customary to eat the sweet potato vada accompanied by coconut garlic and dry salty and spicy peanut chutney and we also add our tamarind chutney to complete the experience to the fullest.
Of course we are always ready to send you the food, probably on these busy days, but we recommend those who want to return to the streets of Mumbai for a few minutes, to jump to us
Jeera Restaurant Take Away
You can also enjoy Jeera by either picking up or ordering take away from the restaurant. Jeera delivers to all parts of Jerusalem all week from noon through 9pm. There are specially priced lunch meals delivered to offices in the area and on Fridays Jeera delivers especially pampering Shabbat meals. Order in advance.
Shabbat
Jeera delivers especially pampering Shabbat meals .... If you did not order delivery this Friday, there is also the next ... Just do not miss ordering before they change menu, Shabbat Shalom !!!!Select the menu and order by phone |
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Brinjal Biryani-
A dish with warm flavors from the Muslim side of Indian cuisine combined with strong aromas from the Persian cuisine. The base consists of seasonal small eggplants stuffed with coconut peanut masala and roasted legumes soaked in yogurt, cardamom, saffron, mint and rose water. The yogurt base evaporates the layers of cooked rice studded with mint leaves and caramelized onions. The result is a colorful, refreshing, light dish full of layers similar to those found in India
Lemon Rice - from the far southern Tamil Nadu state. The dish includes legumes, peanuts, and fried cashews, black mustard seeds, curry leaves and a small spicy and aromatic chili. Despite the lemony name, the tartness is subtle. The best part of this dish comes from the surprising crunchiness and exotic aroma of the curry leaves.
Waiting for you at Jeera with more stories ... and hot hot hot chai
From Our Readers:
About Jeera Restaurant in Social Media:
I enjoy trying new places, so today I walked to Jeera, got takeaway. Garlic Naan, Coconut Rice and Dahl. This is truly fabulous vegetarian Indian cuisine. I like that their menu is small, that it changes or has variation weekly, I like that they make your naan bread to order (exactly as it should be!), I liked the spiciness & texture of the dahl , and finding whole spices, nuts and seeds in the coconut rice, I wished the garlic naan had been garlicy-er (not a word, a sentiment) . the riata with plums was an excellent foil to the heat of the spicy dishes & green chutney.
I am happy there is in Indian cuisine accessible again in Jerusalem (missed Indian night at Abraham hostel) I have to go back and try other dishes (I think these were the only non deep fried ingredients dishes on the menu-just a personal preference sometimes) Go or get some of this - if you enjoy true Indian food you will have an enjoyable feast. |
