Withdrawal

So we've all finished hitting each other with spring onions (Afghani Passover tradition adopted enthusiastically by the Ashkenazis among us who aren't content with hiding bits of matza in our bookcases and sprinkling raw horseradish liberally over our hors d'oevres). The morning after two long nights of Exodus reminiscences is a toughie - the novelty has worn off, the hangover born of 8 glasses of scarily sweet ritual wine is setting in, and all there is between you and next weekend is an array of matza crackers. So. It's time to get creative with unleavened ingredients. in between hopping up and down the road and lifting mini weights while catching up with The Voice on You Tube, I have combined fine matza meal, oil. salt and water to make a version of a bread roll. I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole at any other time of the year (or a crutch, ha ha) if I'm honest, but at Passover barge poles start to look incredibly attractive. Something about being denied a basic staple of the daily diet makes you unreasonably desperate for anything that comes close, and matza crackers do not come close. They aren't even in the ballpark. So. The rolls come out of the oven looking, well, a bit like cretaceous rocks. But I will fill them with cream cheese, mayonnaise-thick salady stuff, Nutella, peanut butter...well, anything that helps with the general fantasy. And, weird though they look, and as little as they resemble the real deal, I guarantee that the rest of the family, in s similar state of deprivation, will snarf them down before lunchtime has even been declared.