Gondi are dumplings of chickpea flour and ground chicken from the Persian cuisine that are very popular among Jews.
The dumplings themselves play the main role in this dish, and it’s fine to cook them in a store bought chicken broth (although a simple homemade broth will definitely taste better). It is customary to serve the gondi with some of the soup over rice.
Persian dried limes are available in Middle Eastern and Persian markets. You can substitute with lemon or lime juice.
Chickpea flour is available in Middle Eastern and Indian markets, as well as many health food chains.
For a vegan dish, substitute ground chicken with ground vegan meat like Beyond Burger and use vegetable or “chicken flavor” broth to make the soup, without the chicken itself. It is delicious.
Persian chickpea flour & chicken matzo ball soup (Gondi)
Course: SoupsCuisine: Jewish, PersianDifficulty: Easy4
servings1
hour10
minutesINGREDIENTS
- For the soup
5 cups water at room temperature
1 lb. chicken wings, drumsticks or any cut you have
½ yellow onion
1 celery stalk, sliced
1 peeled carrot, sliced
1 teaspoon turmeric
Pinch saffron
Pinch salt
1 Persian dried lime (optional)
1 small can cooked chickpeas, washed in water
- For a vegan soup
5 cups vegan chicken flavor soup at room temperature
½ yellow onion
1 celery stalk, sliced
1 peeled carrot, sliced
1 teaspoon turmeric
Pinch saffron
Pinch salt
1 Persian dried lime (optional)
1 small can cooked chickpeas, washed in water
- For the gundi
4 oz. (¾ cup) chickpea flour
8 oz. ground chicken breast (or ground vegan meat like Beyond Burger)
1 lb. (3 large) yellow onions, grated (keep all their juices!)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon cardamom
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon table salt
DIRECTIONS
- Put all the soup ingredients in a large pot over medium-high heat and bring to boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and cook on low simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the dried lime and discard.
- In the meantime make the gondi. Mix all the gondi ingredients in a medium bowl using your hands. The mixture should be very wet. If it seems too dry, you can add a couple or more tablespoons water (or more grated onion) and mix it in. Set aside until soup is ready.
- Fill a small bowl with water, and put it next to the chicken soup pot. Increase the heat to so the soup is simmering with medium bubbles. Wet your hands and form 2” balls of the mixture, then drop gently into the soup. Bring back to boil, then reduce the heat, cover the pot and cook on low simmer for 20 minutes (the vegan gondi tend to fall apart more quickly, so 10 minutes of cooking should be enough for them.)
- Serve 2-3 gundi and a little of the soup.
