Potato Kugel
Francis Lam, Itta Werdiger Roth, “Spice, Spirit”
1292 ratings with an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars
1,292
2 1/2 hours
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For filling: In a small skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, and sauté until well browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Toward end of cooking add garlic, and stir well.
Add beef, breaking it up well with side of wooden spoon. Sauté until it has lost its raw color. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper, and sauté another 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.
For dough: Mound flour on a wooden board (or in a large mixing bowl). Make a well in center. Break eggs into well, then add 2 tablespoons lukewarm water. With a fork, beat eggs and water together, incorporating a bit of the flour. As liquids blend, continue to push flour into well. Drizzle in 2 more tablespoons water, one at a time, or as needed to make a cohesive dough.
When dough is well blended, mix it by hand, then begin to knead it on a flat surface. With a bench scraper, turn dough and press it with your fingertips, then knead a few strokes again. The dough should remain slightly sticky but become smooth and elastic; if dough is very sticky, lightly sprinkle work surface with flour. Form dough into a ball and let rest on the board, covered with a bowl or a piece of plastic wrap, for 30 minutes.
Using half the dough at a time, and keeping other half covered, roll out very thin on floured board. You may need to stretch as you roll. Alternately, use a crank-handled pasta machine on thinnest or near thinnest setting.
To fill and shape kreplach, cut rolled dough into 3-inch squares. Put 1 rounded teaspoon of filling in center of each square. With a brush or a finger, moisten edges of squares with water. Fold dough from corner to corner, forming a triangle, and seal carefully.
To cook kreplach, bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil over high heat. Working in batches, if necessary, add kreplach -- do not crowd pot -- and boil until dough is cooked and tender to taste, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain and cool. (Kreplach can be frozen at this point. To use, thaw in refrigerator or at room temperature.)
Place a large skillet over medium-high heat and add about ⅛-inch vegetable oil. When oil is shimmering, add boiled kreplach and fry until well browned and crispy on both sides. Serve hot, accompanied by applesauce, if desired.
Sounds good but, what about using wonton wrappers, or crescent roll
dough?
I ground left over cooked brisket (or other random cooked meat or chicken) added an egg & some matzo meal to help it stick together, a way to get my 'I don't eat leftovers' family to love them. Often I saute an onion in oil until soft & browned then add the boiled kreplach to the onions saute them until hot. I freeze the prepared kreplach (through step 6) and boil them frozen. Won ton skins work but they're not the same this dough is chewier and more substantial.
Never never never use chopped beef. My Jewish grandmother taught me to take a piece of any inexpensive beef and boil it with s&p and piece of onion till cooked. Then You SHRED the beef, add onion, egg, more salt and pepper. This is the correct filling. One absolutely easy tip my sister and I do....YES..buy wonton wraps available in most produce departments. So easy and just as delicious as making your own dough!
This is a very good and easy Jewish meal
Crescent dough is yeasted - it rises. The dough here is pasta, not meant to rise.
I think the NY Times needs a better test kitchen. This was wildly disappointing! The beef was bland- and I doubled the onion and garlic and added buttered shallots and still blah! And the dough even after boiled and then fried was gelatinous disgust. Ask your Bubbe for her recipe and skip this one.
I don't often comment but I made my own kreplach when I was first married, more than 50 years ago. The "recipe" was my mother's and my grandmother's before her. The filling is the leftover meat from any kind of soup, bean and barley, etc. With sauteed onions, Meat has the wonderful taste from the soup. I did always roll out the dough, the hardest part. It was a very stretchy dough, so hard to roll. Wanton wrappers seem a good option, so at my advanced age I'm tempted to try again.
Wonder if using a pie dough from the freezer section would work just as well
I have a Mom who cooks REAL KREPLACH. You cannot make KREPLACH without a brisket and onion filling. I spent 3 days making 100 dozen kreplach with her for family and friends. It is so Labor intensive, that no one wants to make it anymore. My Mom is 87, and continues to make them every year.
I want to come to your house for the holidays
if you have a chicken liver hanging out in the freezer, add it(chopped) to the rest of the filling when sautéing.
My mom and grandmother before her made thick dough with what I think was ricotta cheese inside. Then boiled and served with butter. I wonder whether I could ever recreate that wonderfulness.
I use wonton wrappers to make ravioli too.
Never never never use chopped beef. My Jewish grandmother taught me to take a piece of any inexpensive beef and boil it with s&p and piece of onion till cooked. Then You SHRED the beef, add onion, egg, more salt and pepper. This is the correct filling. One absolutely easy tip my sister and I do....YES..buy wonton wraps available in most produce departments. So easy and just as delicious as making your own dough!
I ground left over cooked brisket (or other random cooked meat or chicken) added an egg & some matzo meal to help it stick together, a way to get my 'I don't eat leftovers' family to love them. Often I saute an onion in oil until soft & browned then add the boiled kreplach to the onions saute them until hot. I freeze the prepared kreplach (through step 6) and boil them frozen. Won ton skins work but they're not the same this dough is chewier and more substantial.
These turned out tasty dipped in soy sauce! They were sticking together after I folded them and put them on a plate together waiting to be boiled. Be careful not to overlap them on top of eachother! After all that work you don't want them to lose their shape. My kids really enjoyed them.
Sounds good but, what about using wonton wrappers, or crescent roll
dough?
That sounds like an awesome hack which may happen very soon in my future, thanks for the tip! I would go with crescent rolls....
Absolutely! But NO ground beef. Boil a cut of beef and shred when cooked. (See my note above. 12/23/18
Crescent dough is yeasted - it rises. The dough here is pasta, not meant to rise.
This is a very good and easy Jewish meal
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