Matzo Ball Soup

Chicken soup with matzo balls

Turns out, I really, really like matzo ball soup. [Matzo balls (also known as kneidelach) are dumplings made of matzo meal (matzo flour).] I haven’t had it in ages (about a year, I think) and then, had it twice within the span of about a week. So I thought I’d give it a shot and learn how to make it myself, especially since I’ve been craving chicken soup (which is completely foreign for me). With that, I was off on the internet search for fluffy matzo balls and I settled on a recipe from Jewish Magazine. And of course, I made a couple substitutions: I used only 3 TB of oil instead of 4 that’s called for in the original recipe, and I let it sit in the fridge a little less than an hour because I’ve seen other recipes which call for only a half hour, and I used regular cold tap water instead of ice water (I don’t have ice). Maybe these changes resulted in not-quite-so-fluffy matzo balls. [If it looks complicated, let me assure you it's really simple and the results are definitely worth it.]

Ingredients for soup:
3 small carrots (cut in narrow quarter-moon shapes)
2 zucchini (cut in large chunks)
Chicken (2 legs and 2 thighs, or a whole chicken cut up)
1 parsnip (looks like a large white carrot; cut in narrow quarters)
10-12 cups of water
1 onion (diced)
mushrooms (a handful, optional)
2 scallions (for garnish, optional)
Salt, pepper, and any other spices you’d like, to taste.

Ingredients for Matzo Balls:
4 eggs, slightly beaten
3 tablespoons of oil
4 tablespoons of ice cold water
1 cup matza meal
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoons of pepper

Steps for Matzo Balls:
1. Combine all ingredients and refrigerate for an hour.
2. Shape into balls (it’s easier to wet your hands so the mixture doesn’t stick too much; you can use a small ice cream scoop to keep the uniform in size; I made mine fairly small because they really puff up while cooking).
3. Cook in the soup, for half an hour to about an hour.  Other cook them in salted water sometimes too.

Steps for the soup:
1. Saute onion, carrots, and parsnip until they get a little soft, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the water and the chicken. Let cook until the water boils.
3. Add the zucchini, mushrooms (if using) and matza balls and reduce the heat to about medium-low. The matza balls will expand (so that’s why I made them smaller than typical) so be sure to use a pot large enough.
4. Cook for about a half hour to an hour, on medium to low heat.

You can freeze the leftovers without any loss of texture of flavor.

Parsnip

A note about parsnips. I have not seen a lot of recipes using this root vegetable, and that’s regrettable. It’s a wonderful addition to soups and roasts and is pretty good roasted on its own. It has a light, delicate flavor that echoes parsley, only somehow fresher and brighter. When roasted, it’s rather sweet and goes great with beef and potatoes.  In soups, it’s hardly noticeable, except that it imparts this unmistakably fresh aroma and flavor. So delicate that you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know something great is there.  Hope you do give it a try.

Matzah Meal and Eggs

Matzah and eggs mixed

Matzah Balls

Veggies sauteing for soup

Chicken added to soup

Matzo Balls Cooking