fast and easy kreplach for the prefast meal

when time is in short supply, luckily there are kosher wonton wrappers! "who'da thunk" chinese products for holy day meals, and yom kippur — noch.

wonton paste? love the translation

if you want to make your own dough, and have the time and ko'ach (energy, strength), then look here. just remember to roll extremely thinly or use a pasta machine, if you have one. of course, if you don't want to go through any of this trouble, there's always the jewish deli!

while these soup additions are served for the yom kippur prefast meal, not to mention sukkoth (on the last day - hoshannah rabbah) and purim, they can be eaten year round. make enough to freeze some for later. it's quite a bit of work, especially if you are making the dough from scratch so you might as well make more for later on while you're already at it. having extra helping hands and making them production-line style does speed things up enormously, however.

the kreplach can also be made vegetarian by using TVP (soy) as a substitute for the ground beef or another prepared type of fake ground beef. they can also just be filled with a mix of ground or shredded vegetables.

quick kreplach for yomtov

a purely ashkenazi addition to chicken soup, these kreplach (or dumplings) are served only at certain times of the year. they are made for the pre-fast meal with minimal salt and spicing so that one will not crave liquids over the next 25 hours of total fasting (no eating, no drinking).

makes ~ 48

ingredients:

1 pkg wonton wrappers

filling 1: (chicken)

1 full cup chicken, precooked from soup
1 onion, finely chopped
few springs parsley
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp griven, chopped (optional)
1 egg
1 tbsp matzo meal or bread crumbs

filling 2: (beef)

beef - same but substitute ground meat or flanken or shin meat for chicken

fry beef with onions and then process to a finer consistency or grind in meat grinder.

filling 3: chicken liver (traditional filling)

cook chicken livers and brown onions; grind or chop very finely and add chopped hard boiled egg(s). season with onion and garlic powder, salt and pepper. chopped parsley, optional.

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1 egg white or yolk for all fillings to close up/seal kreplach

method:

(if you have a meat grinder, use it instead of chopping everything).

chop onion and sauté it over low heat until soft and only lightly browned.

while onion is cooking, chop the cooked meat (or add the beef if using to the onions).

fill up one cup of chicken or beef.

in a bowl, place the onions, griven if using, meat and parsley together.

add the egg and the spices and matzo meal or bread crumbs and mix well until it comes together.

if using beef, process the mixture first then add the egg and spices.

mix the egg white with a bit of water or the egg yolk and have a pastry brush ready.

open the package of wonton wrappers. place them next to the eggwash, wontons and meat filling.

place the wrapper(s) on a clean surface and paint each with the eggwash on one side only.

take a 1/2 tsp of filling and place it on the wrapper in the middle.

fold the wrapper over and match the points to form a triangle. squeeze any air out.

there are two ways to form the krepl (dumpling). see the link at the end of the post for the other way to do it. either way is right, it depends on what you're used to (and where you're ancestors are from, most probably).

in your hand, pick up a krepl and coat one of the opposite ends as in photo with eggwash.

fold the opposite end over first.

then fold the painted ended and press down a bit to seal.

it is easier to make them batch style than one at a time. it goes much more swiftly like this (see below):

place the kreplach on a plate or on a baking sheet (to freeze them). keep them covered with a well wrung out (slightly damp) dishcloth.

one all are made, freeze or use right away. cook until they float; they only take 3 to 5 minutes to completely cook as the filling is precooked. keep the frozen ones in either a ziploc or container but be careful they don't break as they're a little fragile once frozen.

for another version, check out my friend pamela's more elaborate way (thanks pam!).

g'mar hatimah tovah