Homemade Lox for Passover is an easy recipe for lox similar to the one often found in iconic New York bagel or appetizing shops (appys), but for Passover!
This traditional dry cure with salt, sugar, and dill creates a delicious lox (dill lox or gravlax) without having to use a smoker!
It’s delicious sliced and piled on a sheet of matzo with a slice of onion or any of your favorite kosher-for-Passover toppings!
It’s perfect to have at a Sunday brunch spread or at get-togethers, picnics, or family events!
Food labelled “kosher for Passover” by default is often more expensive than regular kosher food, even if the food is by default kosher all year round as long as you use kosher for Passover ingredients)
But this simple 5-ingredient recipe brings delicious lox to your table at a fraction of the price of store-bought lox during the holiday.
The process is simple.
Take a piece of raw salmon:
Gather the rest of the ingredients together:
Smother the entire piece of salmon with the dill, salt, sugar, and pepper.
Wrap well in plastic wrap and place in a baking pan that is large enough to hold the entire thing:
Then place another baking pan on top of the wrapped salmon and weigh it down with something heavy, such as large canned goods.
Then, place in the refrigerator and follow the rest of the very simple instructions. That’s it!
And you can eat this on the day of the seder because, in itself, it contains no matzo!
Eating on the day of the seder
Jews who keep the laws of Passover do not eat matzo or any foods that contain anything from matzo (such as matzo meal or matzo cake meal) the entire day before the seder, which is in the evening.
Some people even have the custom of not eating such foods for two weeks before, beginning on Rosh Chodesh Nissan or even as far back as Purim, which is a month before.
Food on Passover
Torah-observant Jews do not eat chametz (the fermented products of five grains: wheat, spelt, barley, oats, and rye).
In addition, Torah-observant Ashkenazi Jews do not eat kitniyot (or kitniyos as pronounced in Ashkenazi Hebrew). These include legumes, corn, rice, and similar foods that were deemed forbidden to eat by rabbis in the medieval period and are still not eaten today. Sephardi and Mizrachi Jews do not follow this tradition.
Many observant Ashkenazi Jews will not even eat the derivatives of these kitniyot, while others do (each family holds their own traditions regarding this).
Then, there are Ashkenazim who don’t eat “gebrokts” (or gebrochts).
Gebrokts (gebrochts) means “broken” in Yiddish, and in this case refers to matzo that has absorbed liquid. Not eating gebrokts is observed by many in the Hasidic Jewish community and Ashkenazim who have taken on this tradition, where they basically don’t mix anything wet with matzo.
So, things like matzo sandwiches, fried matzo, and even matzo balls are a no-no for them.
There is a joke that sums it all up:
On Passover, we should remember people who have little to eat on this holiday. They are called Ashkenazim.
Over the years, I have learned to adapt “normal” food for Passover so that my family won’t complain about boring, tasteless, or repetitive meals.
I find that having good food and variety makes the week of Passover a very pleasant experience, and I hope this recipe will help make yours just that!
I’m not great at meal-planning ahead, so I like to keep a large variety of ingredients in my Passover kitchen so I don’t have to run to the store last-minute or borrow from a neighbor.
So, I maintain a variety of ingredients during the week of Passover.
If you do this, just make sure that everything is Kosher for Passover (or KLP—Kasher L’Pesach, in Hebrew) and if you are Ashkenazi, that list will be shorter than if you are not.
Make sure to check with a qualified rabbi if you have any questions.
Here’s a list of items that I make sure to have for the holiday every year:
- salt
- ground black or white pepper
- granulated garlic or garlic powder
- onion powder
- ground cinnamon
- sugar (granulated)
- brown sugar
- chicken consommé powder
- onion soup mix
- various herbs
- additional spices to adapt taste to preference
- oil / margarine / butter / cooking spray
- potato starch as a thickening agent
- baking powder
- matzo cake meal (matzo meal, but ground finer)
- tomato sauce/tomato paste/canned tomatoes—diced or crushed/pasta sauce
- milk substitute (neutral flavor)
We always have eggs in the fridge and onions and potatoes on our shelves (if we were not Ashkenazi, I would certainly keep rice as well).
In addition, having fresh vegetables , such as carrots, celery, bell peppers (red, green, etc), tomatoes (if you don’t want to use canned), etc. can be very useful when putting together a quick but delicious meal.
It’s also a good idea to have some ground meat or chicken (breast, ground, or in parts) in the freezer for anyone who likes meat dishes in a snap.
A lot of these items can be kept from one Passover to the next.
Weather can have an effect on some of the spices and on the chicken consommé powder, so I keep as many of the seasonings in the refrigerator or freezer as I can, and I keep everything tightly closed in containers.
Homemade Lox for Passover
Homemade and delicious, easy-to-make dry dill-cured lox for Passover!
Ingredients
- 1 pound of fresh salmon filet, skinned
- 1 cup kosher salt
- 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
- 4 ounces sprigs of fresh dill, chopped
- 1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a bowl, mix the salt, sugar, chopped dill, and black pepper.
- Lay a length of plastic wrap on the table that is a few inches longer than the piece of salmon and more than twice as wide.
- Place half of the mixture from the bowl on the plastic wrap in the size of the piece of salmon.
- Cover the top part of the salmon with the remaining mixture.
- Wrap the salmon with the mixture in the plastic wrap and place in a baking pan.
- Place another baking pan on top of the fish and put a few canned goods (or something similar) in the top pan to weigh it down.
- Place in the refrigerator for 2-3 days, pouring out any liquid from the bottom pan and turning the salmon over approximately every 12 hours or so.
- After 2-3 days, remove the salmon and wash well (the more you wash, the less there will be of a taste of the dill).
- Slice into very thin slices.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 295Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 71mgSodium: 15202mgCarbohydrates: 15gFiber: 1gSugar: 12gProtein: 26g