From black-eyed pea hummus spiked with homemade horseradish harissa to matzoh-meal fried chicken cooked in shmaltz, to peach noodle kugels touched with garam masala, Afro-Ashkefardi is my way of cooking Jewish. While some of my DNA goes back to old Jewish genes, I converted to Judaism in 2002. For 14 years I’ve been working on creating a working Jewish identity grounded in my love of being African American and the African Diaspora melded with my love and appreciation for the Jewish people, my other Jewish family. Around my table, only kashrut fences me in. On my plates there are no limits!

Front and center is sorghum. I love sorghum, it’s a gluten-free grain that can be crushed to produce a sweet syrup that doesn’t crystallize. Domesticated in Africa thousands of years ago, it was once grown across the South and Midwest as a cheap sweetening agent. Today in the new Southern cooking based on local ingredients and traditional flavors, sorghum has made a comeback.

In honor of Rosh Hashanah and in hopes for a sweet year to come, I offer these geshmakht sorghum chicken wings, so good your Ima, Umi, or Mameleh will have to run for cover (to avoid the obligatory mama-smacking). As I begin writing my forthcoming food and family memoir, The Cooking Gene,  I hope for more discoveries linking my table with the past and stories to share that will inspire us all to nourish our stomachs and family trees.

Wishing you all a Shanah Tovah U’mitukah, a sweet New Year and a tasty one too!

Ingredients:

Chicken:

5 pounds chicken wings, separated at the joints into drummettes and flats, (wing tips reserved for other use such as soup)

1 tablespoon kosher powdered chicken broth or bullion

2 tablespoons of vegetable or canola oil

1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

Sorghum Glaze:

1 clove of minced garlic

2 tablespoons of minced onion—yellow or red

1 tablespoon of vegetable or canola oil

¼ cup of water seasoned with 1 ½ teaspoons of powdered kosher chicken broth

2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons of prepared chrain or red horseradish

¼ cup of sorghum molasses

Directions:

In a large bowl, season the chicken wings with the broth powder, oil and black pepper, tossing to coat well. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line two baking sheets with 1-inch sides with aluminum foil.  Place cooking racks on foiled sheets and spread chicken and roast for 45 minutes.

While the wings are baking, in a medium pot, saute the garlic and onion in the oil.  Add the broth-water, vinegar, chrain and sorghum molasses.  Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a low simmer, stirring frequently for about 7-10 minutes or until the sauce reduces significantly or coats the back of a spoon.  Remove from heat, and allow it to thicken for 20 minutes.  Remove the roasted wings from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

Place the roasted wings in a large metal or ceramic bowl. Drizzle half the prepared sauce over the wings, reserving the other half for dipping, and stir several times to coat well.  Place the wings on a new set of racks with and allow them to glaze in the oven for another 15 minutes.