Kreplach are Ashkenazi dumplings, similar to pierogi, stuffed with meat or potato and served in chicken soup. My grandmother used to make the stuffing out of chicken liver mixed with a little ground beef.
Kreplach are served, traditionally, whenever the Jewish calendar requires “beating,” since the filling of the kreplach is “beaten” (or ground, which is the same word in Yiddish).
This happens three times a year: on Yom Kippur, when Jews beat their chests to atone for their sins; during Sukkot, when the leaves of the willow are beaten; and on Purim, when Jews recollect how Haman was beaten. (My grandmother added a fourth occasion for making kreplach—when the meat you cooked turned out badly.)
Kreplach (Ashkenazi dumplings)
Course: Soups, sidesCuisine: Ashkenazi, JewishDifficulty: Medium30
dumplings1
hourKreplach is Ashkenazi dumplings, usually served in chicken soup.
The recipe below gives two traditional filling options for the kreplach: either potato or chicken liver.
INGREDIENTS
- For the kreplach dough
2½ cups (12½ oz.) all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
5 oz. hot water (not boiling)
1 large egg
2 tablespoons mild flavor oil
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- For the potato filling
3 cooked and peeled gold potatoes
4 green onions, finely chopped
Kosher salt to taste
Black pepper
- For the chicken liver filling
½ lb. chicken liver
3 tablespoons chicken schmaltz or mild oil, like corn or canola
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- To cook
6 cups Salted water or chicken broth
DIRECTIONS
- To make the dough, put all dough ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook and knead for 7 minutes. Stop the mixer and use a spatula to scrape the flour as needed. If the dough is sticky, add1 or 2 tablespoons flour and continue to knead. Remove from the mixer, cover bowl with kitchen towel and let stand for 20 minutes at room temperature.
- In the meantime, make either the potato or chicken liver filling. Instructions at the bottom.
- Bring a wide and deep pan filled with salted water (or the chicken broth we used for the matzo balls) to boil over medium high heat, then cover pan, reduce heat to low and keep on low simmer until kreplach are ready.
- Lightly dust the counter top and rolling pin. Divide dough into two, keep one half covered in the bowl and roll the other half to very thin rectangle, about ⅛ of an inch. Use a knife to cut the dough to 3 inch squares, you’ll get about 15 from each half.
- Spoon filling in the center of each square. Use your finger to wet the edge of the dough, then fold to a triangle and pinch to seal.
- Gently drop kreplach into simmering salted water, bring back to boil, then cook for 4-5 minutes. Do not overcrowd the pan with kreplach.
- At this point you can remove kreplach using a slotted spoon and transfer directly to chicken soup. Or you can keep kreplach on a rimmed baking sheet, drizzled with a little oil, and just reheat in soup when you’re ready to serve. You can make kreplach up to 2 days in advanced and keep the cooked kreplach in the fridge until ready to serve, then just reheat in chicken soup.
- To serve kreplach as an appetizer, transfer them to a serving platter, drizzle with a little oil to keep kreplach from sticking to each other.
- To make the potato filling
- To make the filling, Put potatoes in a medium bowl and use a potato masher to mash them. Add green onion and salt and black pepper to taste and mix. Set aside.
- To make chicken the liver filling
- Remove any connective tissue from liver. If you’re keeping kosher, prepare chicken liver according to instructions here.
- Melt schmaltz or oil in a large non stick pan over medium-high heat and sauté onions until golden-brown, about 8 minutes. You may need to reduce heat to medium after a few minutes, if the onion seems to get too brown too soon. Transfer onions to a bowl. Put pan back on medium-high heat.
- Now add chicken liver to the pan, sprinkle with salt and black pepper and sauté until it’s cooked on the outside and pink inside (if you have a thermometer, the liver should reach 165 F degrees.) Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Put liver and onions in a food processor and pulse to chop(you can also do it on a chopping board with a large knife.) Transfer to a bowl and add salt to taste.