Sunday, September 09, 2007

it's just not always about matzo balls........

traditionally, matzo balls and chicken soup are always partners in crime when it comes to jewish holidays and the sabbath — well .... almost always, that is.

depending on family tradition, and sometimes, time of year (i.e. passover), the following soup addition will show up in many a bowl of steaming golden yellow chicken soup. humbly made from eggs and a bit of water and flour, these cute little rolled up "noodles", or lokshen as they are called in yiddish, make for a nice presentation, besides tasting wonderful.


eier lokshen • egg noodles for soup

these can be served anytime of the year and can be made in advance and kept in the fridge until serving time when they are added to individual bowls of hot soup.

makes 2 to 3 bletlach ("leaves") per egg

ingredients:

1 tbsp matzo cake meal or regular flour
3 - 4 tbsp very cold water
1 egg
salt to taste
1/2 tsp oil (opt but helpful for stopping them not stick)

increase recipe (quantities) as required

method:

add flour and COLD water (start with 3 tbsp) in a bowl and mix well with a whisk. no lumps allowed!

add the egg, oil and some salt and mix well until perfectly smooth.

heat a nonstick fry pan and grease it lightly with a paper towel. keep the paper towel aside to reuse it.

take a small amount (a few tablespoons) and quickly add it and spread it around the pan to make a bletl (round leaf).

cook the bletl until it looks dry on top. it should cook quite quickly.

flip it over and cook for another 1 or 2 minutes until lightly coloured.

place the bletl on a plate and finish make all of them, stacking each on top of one another.

take each bletl on a flat surface (like a chopping board) and roll each it up very tightly.

cut it into small rounds, about 1/2 inch thick.

serve in soup (don't unroll them!).

enjoy!


3 comments:

burekaboy — said...

hi em - LOL, well now you CAN'T say you've NEVER seen them before! they're actually pretty standard here (more the eier lokshen) depending on whose home you're eating at -- there's still the older first gen crowd from (eastern) europe in my city.

wouldn't be surprised if there's some asian connection (you're prob thinking of japanese food; they make these very sweet and roll them up and cut them same way).

Emily DeVoto, Ph.D., said...

Nope, they're completely new to me, believe it or not! Yeah, you're probably right, I'm thinking of those Japanese omelet things they make sushi with.

burekaboy — said...

emily - the japanese rolls have sugar in them; took me a few times to get used to it but i actually like it. sushi, mmmm :))