Kreplach for everyone!

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My Great-Aunt Rae made the best kreplach in the world. The dough was etherial and the filling was toothsome and juicy. This is her recipe. The use of a food processor is my modification.

What makes these “Kreplach for Everyone?

Omnivores will love these meat-filled dumplings, but vegetarians need not pout. Just swap out the ground beef in this recipe for a plant-based ground beef alternative, such as “Beyond” or “Impossible.”

Or, check out these two recipes for vegetarian fillings for kreplach. They are both so delicious that I sometimes use them instead of beef when there are no vegetarians present.

Eating Kreplach on Erev Yom Kippur (or any time) has deep mystical significance.

Red is the color of blood; it represents Divine Judgement in its absolute form.

White, the color of milk and pure love, represents Divine Mercy.

Kreplach, with their tender white dough on the outside and their red meat on the inside, represent our hope that on this Day of Atonement, God’s mercy and lovingkindness will wrap around God’s severe and harsh judgement, to hide it away and have the greater power.

Why do we fold them into kerchiefs instead of half moons, like pierogi? The three corners of the triangle represent our three patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, upon whose merit we rely.

Our matriarchs—Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah—are represented by the whole. That little central pouch, as a cohesive hub, holds it all together. It’s the element of nurturing and protection, without which there’d be no corners upon which the patriarchs could stand.

For unbelievably easy and fabulous kreplach, you can take that brisket that was left over at Rosh Hashanah out of the freezer, chop it very finely, and you’ve got your filling.

I find that, for a more flavorful and tender kreplach, whether you’re using actual ground beef or a substitute, making a meatball mixture for the filling is the way to go. It gives you a more tender and more flavorful dumpling.

Many people pre-cook the meat before filling their kreplach, but I find that it cooks perfectly well while they’re being boiled. Life is busy. We can do away with an unnecessary step.

These kreplach can be made in advance and frozen. Follow the instructions given under the cook the kreplach section below.

Ingredients:

For the filling

1 pound ground beef or plant-based ground beef substitute

1 egg

⅓ cup fresh bread crumbs

ice cold water as needed

1 teaspoon salt

1 or 2 cloves garlic, to taste

1 small onion, finely diced

Freshly ground pepper

A glug of olive oil

‍For the dough

2 cups flour (more for dusting)
2 eggs plus 1 more for making an egg wash
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cold water (or more as needed)

Method:

For the filling

• Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add a small glug of olive oil and give it a minute or so to get hot, then add the diced onion and sauté it slowly until it’s nicely caramelized. Add the minced garlic, give it a stir, and remove the pan from the heat. Set it aside to cool.

• In a medium bowl, combine the beef with the egg, the salt, and a few twists of the peppermill.

• Scrape any remaining onion, garlic and oil from the skillet into the bowl, then add the bread crumbs and begin to knead the mixture, adding a little ice water at a time until the meat feels soft and tender, but still holds together. Set it aside while you make the dough.

For the dough

• Add all the ingredients, except for the water, into the work bowl of your food processor. Pulse it until the mixture is well combined.

• Then, with the machine running, slowly pour in the water. The dough should quickly form itself into a ball.

• If it seems too dry, drizzle in a little more water, a teaspoon at a time.

• Sift some flour over your workspace and turn the dough out onto it. Knead the dough a few times. It should feel smooth and elastic, perhaps a bit sticky but not too sticky to handle. It’s a good idea to flour your hands.

• Form the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, and let it rest in the fridge for at least half an hour. You can also make the dough a day in advance.

• When you’re ready to form your kreplach, unwrap the dough, cut it in half, and re-wrap half of it so that it doesn’t dry out.

• If you have a pasta roller, use it to roll out the remaining dough into a thin sheet. If you haven’t got one, roll it out into a rectangle with a rolling pin, as thinly as you can without tearing the dough. It helps to cover the dough with a sheet of plastic wrap to keep the rolling pin from sticking to the dough.

• Cut the dough into 3” squares.

• Take one teaspoon of the filling, roll it into a tiny meatball, and place it on a dough square, off-center towards one of the corners, for each one.

• Make an egg wash: In a small bowl, use a fork to beat an egg with a small splash of water until it’s well combined.

• Using a small brush, brush a little water around the perimeter of each square, just enough to moisten the dough. Then pick up the corner opposite the filling and fold it over to make a triangle. Press down firmly so that it stays together.

• Set them on a flat plate or baking sheet in a single layer so that they don’t stick together while they wait to be cooked.

Or, cheat.

If you’re really pressed for time, you can use store-bought wonton wrappers. But there’s a trick to using them—my wonton-kreplach had a bad habit of falling apart in the soup. After a fair amount of experimentation I figured out how to solve the problem. Wonton wrappers are thinner than the noodles rolled and cut for kreplach. When you use them for kreplach you need to double them up.

Here’s how: Make your egg wash for holding the wrappers together on the thinner side, meaning use a bit more water than you would for dipping things for breading. Lay one wrapper on your work surface. Very gently, brush the surface with just enough egg wash to cover. Then lay a second wrapper on top, press them together, and fill and fold your kreplach as instructed above. You’ll get 25 dumplings out of a pack of 50 wonton wrappers.

While nothing compares to homemade dough, these still come out very good. And the reality is, there just isn’t always enough time to make it from scratch.

Cook the Kreplach

Freezing: From here, you can freeze the kreplach or cook them right away. Once your kreplach are filled and folded, set them on a baking sheet in a single layer, making sure they don’t touch each other. Slide the baking sheet into the freezer. When they’re frozen, you can safely remove them from the baking sheet and put them into a freezer safe zip-bag to store. They’ll stay perfectly well for several weeks. When it’s time to boil them, add them to the pot while still frozen and add 3 minutes to the cooking time.

Cooking: Bring a large pot of well-salted water to boil and add the kreplach, one at a time. you can make them in batches; don’t overcrowd the pot. Let them simmer for 20 minutes and then remove them with a slotted spoon. Immediately shock them by dropping them into a bowl of ice cold water.

Serve them as is, in hot soup, laying a few kreplach in the bottom of the bowl and pouring the hot soup over them.

Or sauté them with onions in an oiled skillet for a great side dish or appetizer.

Or deep fry them and eat them with your fingers.

Did you make it? Was it fabulous?

These traditional kreplach are stuffed with a tender, seasoned beef mixture.