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.

*********

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

stuffed cabbage .... unstuffed

this recipe has all the taste of stuffed cabbage rolls sans all the hard labour. not that i am lazy. i am far from it — i have been forced this year to do it this way due to time limitations. here is a quick "how-to" unstuff your stuffed cabbage rolls. this recipe takes a bit of foresight as you need an overnight before finishing off the recipe for best results.

it is homey food for a cold evening. not a beauty but satisfying peasant-style fare which is appropriate for the season and holiday nonetheless.

unstuffed cabbage

the simple cast of unlikelies:

main characters: shredded cabbage, meat fortified w/ rice, tomato sauce & ginger snaps

supporting cast members: brown sugar, lemon juice, eggs, ginger ale & spices.

ingredients:

medium cabbage, cored and shredded with a knife

1.5 lb ground beef
1/3 c rice [i use white jasmine]
2 eggs
salt
pepper
onion powder
garlic powder
paprika
cinnamon & allspice [optional]
dried minced onions [you can sub 1/2 small onion, diced]

3/4 c brown sugar
1/3 - 1/2 c lemon juice
1 can gingerale
1 28 oz can diced or crushed tomatoes
1 5.5 oz can tomato paste
8 gingersnap cookies, broken into small pieces
[optional but really don't skip this part] --> see previous post for recipe

method:

cut cabbage in half. core and shred it with a cook's knife. put it aside.

in one bowl, mix together the meat with the rice, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 tsp of garlic and onion powder, 1 tsp paprika, 2 tsp of minced onion [or the fresh] and 2 eggs. mix well and set aside.

in another bowl, mix together the tomatoes, the tomato paste, the 1 tbsp and 1 tsp dried onion, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/4 tsp of cinnamon & allspice, 1 tsp paprika, the brown sugar and 2/3 can gingerale.

turn on the oven to 350 F.

in a fairly large casserole — i use a big le creuset — or pyrex pan, add half of the shredded cabbage.

place half the sauce over the cabbage. then sprinkle half the cookies on top.

take scoops of meat and make meatballs a little smaller than a fist or just lay the meat across the top of the sauce if you want. use all of the meat.

now, repeat the layer of cabbage and sauce but mix in the cookies with the remaining half of the sauce.

place this uncovered in the oven for 45 minutes. remove from oven and lower the temperature to 250 F. take aluminum foil and tightly cover the pot and place the lid on top. just cover tightly if using pyrex. replace in the oven and bake 2 more hours.

remove from the oven and let cool. put this in the fridge overnight.

the next day, put the pot back in the oven for 2 more hours at 300 F. after one hour, check to see if you need to uncover the pot to finish cooking down the liquid.

enjoy

recipe given to me by a friend. sorry about the bad pictures. lighting was way "off".

seven days in the sukkah we shall sit

picture: le serigrafie inedite di Emanuele Luzzati
"Succoth - La festa delle capanne"

sukkoth is first of one of the three biblical harvest festivals and can be seen as a sort of a jewish equivalent of a thanksgiving holiday. sukkoth lasts 7 days with the first two and last two being full holidays. these last two days have their own names and specifics [to be discussed at another time].

this agricultural celebration required ancient jews to travel, often long distances, to the holy temple in jerusalem to bring their best offerings at the conclusion of the autumn harvest. as mentioned in my previous post, the holiday is called the feast of the tabernacles in english. these tabernacles were the huts or booths that jews lived in during the harvest season. there was no time to return to villages due to the workload. these temporary shelters were built with roofs of foliage.

the temporary dwellings, from which the name of the holiday is derived, also represent the 40 years that jews wandered and survived in the deserts after leaving egypt. it was a structure easily erected and disassembled and was highly moveable. as it says in leviticus:

You shall live in booths seven days ... in order that future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I am the Lord, your G-d."

over the next seven days, jewish men are commanded to eat their main meals, pray and celebrate in these structures. the rest of the family joins them for grand feasts and special prayers. some people will even sleep in them overnight. the sukkah [the hut itself] is decorated and built to specification: at least three sides with the roof made of materials that allow the stars to be seen through openings. bamboo and foliage [such as pine boughs] are used as first choices often.

this site called the sukkah project shows you several examples of some various people have made.

the OU.org site provides beautiful photos of sukkot in jerusalem. click on the link for the slideshow. [i linked this in the entry about etrogim].

not all sukkas are the same. often different countries have different customs for building them and celebration of the holiday. this article briefly speaks of the the sukkas & traditions of the jews of the caucausus, dagestan, kurdistan & yemen.

foods for this holiday are often stuffed — cabbage rolls, peppers, zucchini, tomatoes — all representing plenty. other items which may show up are stuffed pastries like knishes and my favourite .... burekas made of either dough or filo. filled shtrudels are common dessert items. fruits are often cooked with meats, chickens and turkeys stuffed to capacity and a number of casserole dishes are featured on menus. the list of possibilities are endless.

you can also look here to read more about other harvest festivals around the world. no matter what the tradition, we all are thankful in the end for that which sustains us.

* * * * *

the first north american thanksgiving occured in 1578 in newfoundland
&
the first canadian thanksgiving on april 15, 1872

april, huh? interesting. now the holiday occurs on the second monday of october every year. definitely a moveable feast.

though from a kids site, this is interesting information about canadian thanksgiving.

a scent like no other

as the harvest holiday of sukkoth or known in english as the feast of the tabernacles is almost upon us only but a few days after yom kippur, many observant people have been searching high and low for the perfect specimen of the most intensely scented fruit required by jewish law called etrog or citrus medica var. etrog.

source: university of california, ccpp

from jewishfoods.org:

Modern naturalists assume the north of India to be its native home; but it passed to the countries of the Mediterranean from Media or Persia ; hence the name of the tree, "Citrus medica," and of the fruit, "Malum medica," or "Malum Persica".

It is therefore possible that the Jews brought the tree with them from Babylonia to Eretz Yisrael on their return from the Babylonian Captivity.

jews regard this fragrant fruit so highly — and in fact, are required to have one as part of the four species needed in order to fulfill the commandment for this holiday — that they will pay hundreds of dollars [literally] for the one perfect etrog that meets all the specifications of jewish law. there are even markets catered just to the selling and buying of this citron in israel & other big metropoli such as new york city.

for centuries, jews have had fashioned ornate and extremely detailed silver etrog containers for this fruit with plush linings so that no damage will occur throughout its handling.

an interesting note is that one should not smell the fruit until the correct time of the harvest festival and that the remnant stamen end, called the pitom, must remain intact or the fruit is not regarded as kosher for the fulfillment of the commandment. many etrogim have their pitom ends grown inside and are therefore more highly valued.

from jewishfoods.org [again]:

A superior Esrog is of medium size, its bright yellow surface is furrowed and covered with Blitos, bumps (a feature which distinguishes it from the ordinary lemon).

A Kosher Esrog for Sukkot:

• Consult your Rabbi about questions.
• Esrog must be shaped "like a tower"--its bottom larger than its top.
• Pitom, the flowered blossom at the tip of the fruit, and Uketz, the stem which is sunk into the broad base, must be examined carefully to make sure that both are present and intact.
• If the Pitom falls off or is broken during Sukkot, a rabbi should be consulted. To avoid this problem, many people prefer to use Esrogim which grow without Pitoms.
• The Pitom should be directly in line above the Uketz

for more about malum medica, try here, here or here which details the picking of the fruit in southern italy [of all places].

for some beautiful photos of etrogim [pl] look at this slideshow.

the fruit itself is very acidic and is more valued for its rind which is extremely thick. at the end of the holiday some people will try to gather as many etrogim as they can and will make a conserve from this rind and the juice. cakes can be made as well as preserving the peel.

here is a recipe for it and information about the other things people do with the fruit when the holiday ends.

there is even a citron liqueur available.