Simanim Salad for Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) is almost here and it's time to plan the meal for the holiday eve. Simanim (signs in Hebrew) salad is one dish that you must have, or should at least consider, since it includes the holiday signs or symbols and emphasizes our wishes and hopes for a better, fruitful and sweet new year.

The full list of Simanim for Rosh Hashanah contains mainly fruits and vegetables with one exception - a fish head. I choose to ignore this and therefore it was easy to use some of the signs to create a yummy salad everyone would enjoy to eat for the holiday.

The signs are: apples dipped in honey, beets, gourd (pumpkin), pomegranate, dates, leeks, black eyed peas and fish head. Some families have other traditions too, like carrots also being considered as one of the holiday signs, but that tradition isn’t one my family follows.

I choose to use apples, honey, pomegranate seeds and pumpkin seeds in my delicious salad. I think you can add dates, beets and carrots as well. I left them out because I think sometimes too many flavors can be overwhelming.

To have more of a base in the salad, I used lettuce and for an extra crunch, I added pecan nuts and walnuts. The apples I used are green apples because I enjoy their tart flavor. You can use red apples too but they taste sweeter. Some families follow the tradition of avoiding vinegar on Rosh Hashanah so I used lemon juice in the dressing.

Other Rosh Hashanah recipes on my blog:
Honey Cake
Nondairy Apple Tart
Apple Bars
Parve Apple and Honey Cake
Honey Buns
Beet Cake
Apple and Honey Cookies
Ricotta and Honey Tart
Silan Date Syrup Cake
Apple Oat Cake
Apple Cinnamon Rosh Hashanah Challah
Gluten Free Honey Cake

Here is the recipe for this festive and delicious Simanim salad: