College Cooking: Kreplach in Soup

Final (1) — Photo Credit: Eliot Gentiluomo

This coming Friday (Feb. 25-26) is Purim. For those who do not celebrate it, Purim is a Jewish holiday celebrating the saving of the Jewish people from Haman, an Achaemenid Persian Empire official who was planning to kill all the Jew. A lot of the celebrations now involve masquerading as those in the Book of Esther, a part of the Hebrew bible, dancing, drinking, and lots of food. One of my favorite dishes to have is Kreplach in soup. A Kreplach is a small meat-filled dumpling often served in a soup or stock made from the same meat.

Ingredients:

Soup:

3 pounds whole chicken
5 carrots
5 celery stocks
2 tablespoons whole black peppercorn
2 tablespoons salt
½ onion
3 tablespoons fresh dill
4 whole garlic cloves
2 bay leaves

Dough:

1 ½ cup flour + extra for dusting the board
2 teaspoons salt
3 eggs

Filling:

1 ½ cups cooked chicken
1 onion
1 tablespoon dill
2 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chicken fat (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Steps for soup:

Peel and cut the carrots into thirds and cut the celery into thirds as well.

Into a large pot, put the whole chicken, carrots, celery, black peppercorns, salt, whole garlic cloves, bay leaves, dill, and half an onion cut into quarters.

Pour in about 4 quarts of water, the chicken should be completely submerged with about an inch or two above.
Bring to a rolling boil, and boil for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, reduce the heat to a low boil, cover with the lid and let cook for an hour and a half. Every 15-20 minutes, open the pot and gently stir the contents.

After an hour and a half, carefully remove the chicken and let rest on a plate until cool enough to touch.

Using a fine strainer, carefully ladle all of the vegetables and spices out of the stock, leaving as clear of a broth as possible in the pot. Set the vegetables aside and save for later.

Separate the chicken from the bone and shred into small pieces.

Cut all of the veggies into smaller pieces and set aside.
Before serving, add in the remaining chicken and veggies back into the soup and bring to a boil.
Ladle into a bowl and enjoy with the kreplach.

Steps for Kreplach:

Dough:

Into a medium mixing bowl, sift in the flour and salt.

Whisk together the three eggs in a separate small bowl.
Create a well in the middle of the flour and pour in the beaten eggs.

Carefully with a fork, start mixing the flour into the eggs. Start off slowly to avoid flour lumps.
Once a majority of the flour is mixed in, start using your hands to knead the dough and incorporating more of the flour. If the dough seems super sticky, add up to ½ cup more flour.
Form into a large ball, cover in plastic wrap and let rest for one hour.

Filling:

Cut in half and then thinly slice 1 onion.

In a small pan, heat about 2 tablespoons of oil. Once hot, add in the onions and about 2 teaspoons salt.
Continuously stir the onions until they turn to a dark caramel color. Continuously stir to avoid burning the onions. Once done, remove from heat and set aside.

Into a food processor, add in 1 ½ cups of the cooked chicken, the caramelized onions, and dill. Here you can optionally add in the chicken fat for more flavor.

Pulse the food processor until the chicken is in small chunks. It should be about the texture of chicken salad. Do not over process into a paste.
Remove from the food processor and place into a bowl and add salt and pepper to taste.

Assembly:

After an hour of resting. Take the dough ball and cut it into quarters.

Working with one quarter at a time, lightly flour a cutting board and rolling pin. Then, roll out the dough until about an eighth of an inch thick.
Cut the dough into squares about 2 1/2 inches on each side.

Working with one square of dough at a time, place about a tablespoon of filling in the center and carefully fold the dough over and crimp along the edges.