Kreplach (Ashkenazi Jewish Dumplings)

Ingredients

For the Dough

• 3 eggs
• 3 tbsp olive/vegetable oil
• 6 tbsp water
• 3 cups flour
• 1-1½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder

For the Meat Filling

• 6 oz cooked ground beef – or – leftover rotisserie chicken – or – leftover pot roast/tender beef
• 3 oz broiled liver (you may simply increase the amount of cooked meat if you don’t have/want liver)
• 2 onions, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced
• Schmaltz or cooking oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• 4-8 cups broth for boiling

Instructions

1. 1
   To Make the Dough:
   In a small bowl: Beat eggs and oil. Add the water and beat again. Set aside.
2. 2
   In a large bowl: Sift flour with baking powder and salt. Add the wet ingredients and blend well. Knead until dough forms. Wrap in plastic wrap or a Ziploc bag. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
3. 3
   To Make the Filling:
   Cook onions in schmaltz or oil until caramelized, set some aside for garnish. Sauté garlic until golden.
4. 4
   Mix onions and garlic into meat and food process (or use immersion blender) pulsing until broken down but not too finely. You want a bit of bite. Add the salt and pepper until desired level of seasoning is reached. Cool filling until ready to fill.
5. 5
   To Make the Dumplings:
   I use a large 8-10 quart pot and use about 4-8 quarts of broth or salted water.
6. 6
   Heat your broth in a large pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. Since the filling is cooked, you are not looking to cook the filling, so you are only cooking the dough and heating the filling. If you are cooking the kreplach in soup that you will be eating right away, just put in as many as you can without overcrowding and remove the cooked ones to a plate while you cook the rest. The residual starch may thicken the soup, so you may want to thin it out with some extra broth as you go.
7. 7
   When cooking in broth, cook only as many kreplach as will fit on the surface without crowding at one time. Cook one batch at a time until the kreplach float to the surface and then continue to cook for about 30-45 seconds longer to ensure the dough is cooked through.
8. 8
   Remove the cooked kreplach to a strainer and then move them to a storage container. Separate each layer with either parchment paper or plastic wrap to keep them from sticking together. Store in the refrigerator for up to one week. Store UNCOOKED kreplach in the freezer for up to 3 months.
9. 9
   Meat kreplach are generally served in soup, but it can also be served just as is, topped with additional caramelized onions.