Kneidlach in Chicken Soup

Posted 2015-07-09 by finy ⇒ follow

Kneidlach are a typical Jewish specialty made with Matzo flour/meal.

I found some matzo meal in a local shop but you could substitute potato starch or even ground up plain biscuits if you cannot buy it, however they would not be authentic as kneidlach have a very distinctive taste!

I have boiled these in my chicken soup which is also very traditional, and the nice part about this soup is you can add whatever flavours you want and it will always turn out flavoursome and healthy. You can also leave the vegetables in the soup, however I discarded them as I wanted to make another completely different soup with this stock as well.

It is also a very handy soup to keep in the freezer for those recipes that require stock and is far healthier, and nicer than the shop bought ones.

Preparation Time: 45 minutes plus 1 hour standing
Cooking Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
Makes: About 10 servings

Ingredients
For the kneidlach
3 large eggs
1 tsp salt
A bit of ginger
3 tbsp oil
6 HEAPED tbsp matzo meal
1 tsp finely chopped parsley (optional)
Boiling soup or water to cook
Bit of almond meal instead of all matzo meal (optional)

For the chicken soup, which should be made the day before
5 chicken frames (or wings/necks)
1 large onion
2 carrots
½ parsnip
1 - 2 sticks celery
Salt and pepper
Handful of fresh parsley stalks
2 chicken soup cubes (optional)
A bit of extre parsley, chopped very finely for decoration

Method
For the kneidlach

Beat the eggs with the salt, oil, ginger and a bit of parsley if using. Gradually add the matzo meal and mix until the dough is firm.

Leave this mixture to stand for about an hour and it should have firmed up by then.

Wet your hands and form the dough into balls about the size of a golf ball or slightly smaller.

Gently place them in your boiling soup and cook for about 15 to 20 minutes.

They will rise to the top fairly soon

This will make about 10 kneidlach.

For the chicken soup

Clean the frames thoroughly and take out any gizzards that are inside the frames.

Put these cleaned frames in a large pot and almost cover with water.

Bring to the boil and skim the froth off the top.

Add the vegetables plus 2 soup cubes and cook, covered for about 2 hours.

When it is cool enough, shred the chicken off the bones, and you will surprisingly get a lot (I froze it for use in a later recipe) or you could also add some of this chicken into the soup.