Kreplach Fillings
Submitted by tiny#1
Traditional Jewish kreplach fillings including meat, kasha, cheese-potato, chicken and chicken liver. Five classic stuffings for savory Ashkenazi dumplings in soup.
YIELD
6 servingsPREP
20 minCOOK
25 minREADY
55 minKreplach are the Ashkenazi dumpling, typically served floating in chicken soup on holidays like Rosh Hashanah, Purim, and the eve of Yom Kippur. Every Jewish grandmother had her favorite filling, and this collection covers the five classics so you can pick your tradition or try them all.
The ground beef version is the most familiar. Onions cooked slowly in fat build the sweet-savory base, then beef browns into them for 10 minutes. Keep the meat finely crumbled. Large chunks tear the thin dough during pleating.
The kasha (buckwheat) filling is deeply Eastern European, earthy and nutty. Cheese-potato bound with an egg lands in dairy-meal territory and gets a sour cream drizzle. Chicken and chicken liver bring rich options for using up holiday leftovers.
Kitchen Tips
- Cool every filling completely before assembling. Warm filling steams the dough, and you’ll end up with kreplach that split in the pot.
- Under-salt slightly. The filling concentrates as it cooks sealed inside, and the broth it sits in adds its own salt at the table.
- The chicken liver version benefits from grinding or chopping fine. Rustic chunks look unsightly inside a translucent dumpling.
Variations
- Swap chicken fat (schmaltz) for butter when making a dairy meal filling, or for olive oil to keep it pareve.
- Mix mushrooms into the kasha for a heartier, more traditional Russian-Jewish take.
- Season the beef filling with a pinch of ground ginger and nutmeg for an old-world flavor that echoes stuffed cabbage or sweet-and-sour meatballs.
Ingredients
Directions
Heat the fat (I use oil) in a skillet and cook the meat and onions in it for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add the salt and pepper. Cool before placing in squares of dough. *Kasha: 1 cup minced onions 3 tablespoons chicken fat or butter (depending on whether you are serving a meat or dairy dish) 1½ cups cooked kasha ¼ teaspoon pepper Lightly brown the onion in the fat or butter. Stir in the kasha and pepper. *Cheese-Potato: ½ cup minced onions 3 tablespoons butter 1½ cups mashed potatoes ½ cup pot cheese 1 teaspoon salt ⅛ teaspoon pepper 1 egg Sour cream Lightly brown the onions in the butter. Add the potatoes, cheese, salt, pepper and egg, beating until smooth. Serve with sour cream. *Chicken: 1½ cups ground cooked chicken 4 tablespoons browned minced onions 1 egg yolk ¾ teaspoon salt 1 Dash pepper 1 tablespoon minced parsley Blend all the ingredients together. *Chicken liver: ½ pound chicken livers ½ cup minced onions 2 tablespoons chicken fat 2 hard-cooked egg yolks 1 teaspoon salt ⅛ teaspoon pepper Cook the livers and onions in the fat for 10 minutes, mixing frequently. Grind or chop the livers, onions, eggs, salt and pepper. Cool before placing in squares of dough.
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