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These are my family’s traditional kreplach. The recipe has been handed down for generations. I make them gluten free by substituting 1:1 gluten free flour for traditional flour.

The Kreplach Family Tradition – with “six-sigma” quality

Name: For both Kreplach & Knishes (Filling)
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Cuisine: Jewish
Ingredients: 1 1/2 pounds cooked Chuck Roast, cooled and cut into large cubes; 2 large onions, diced; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1/4 teaspoon ground dried ginger

My Dad (z”l) always made the kreplach for Yom Kippur. Under my Mother’s (z”l) watchful eye he would make the kreplach using my Bubbies’ recipe with the precision of an engineer. We always laughed that he actually measured the kreplach dough squares with a ruler to ensure that each one was exactly the same as all the rest…we had the only ”six sigma” quality kreplach anywhere.

For those of you that don’t know, kreplach are traditional meat filled “pasta” triangles. They’re traditionally eaten right before the Yom Kippur fast, as well as other Jewish holidays like Rosh Hashanah, on Hoshana Rabbah and Simchat Torah. Some people even fry them for Chanukah when there is a tradition of eating foods fried in oil.

(Note: this post was originally posted in 2012 right after my father passed away. Sadly my mother has since passed away as well, but the traditions continue with love in my heart for both of them.)

Using a ruler to measure the kreplach dough is the only way to ensure you have “six-sigma” quality kreplach!

My parents had a medieval looking grinder that belonged to my Bubbie (z”l). They would attach with the grinder’s clamps to a folding chair.

My Bubbies old fashioned grinder. I clamp it onto my counter, but my parents (z”l) would clamp it onto a folding chair.

The onions HAD to be crispy and caramelized to make the perfect kreplach filling.

While I was able to “observe” the process when I was younger and still living at home, in recent years when I would try to come over to make the kreplach with my Dad somehow they were always done by the time I got there. We think that my Dad would actually get up before minyan³ to make them and was done making them before 6:45 AM!

The Kreplach tradition continues…

This year I intended to carry on my Dad’s tradition of making the kreplach. As hard as it would be to make them instead of my Dad, I had hoped to make them with my Mom, using my Bubbies’ recipe. Sadly, Mom’s in the hospital again and I ended up making them myself. Sigh. Before making them I asked my Mom for the recipe – I wanted to make sure that I was doing it right.

I knew where the grinder was and had permission from Mom to use it, and she told me that I had almost remembered the recipe correctly…I was missing the ginger.

I roasted the Chuck Roast with lots of onions and spices a few days in advance and when I was ready to make the kreplach the morning of Erev Yom Kippur, it was nice and chilled.

Chuck roast with lots of onions.

Putting tradition into practice

I made the kreplach dough in the food processor, and realized afterwards that if I really wanted to have made them the traditional way I should have made the dough by hand, oh well…I guess I blended “old school” with “new school”.

I let the kreplach dough rest while making the filling. I hand diced two large onions (“old school”) and browned them in some olive oil. I was almost about to pull out a folding chair to hook the grinder to, when I realized that there was a spot on my island that would work, and I clamped the grinder to my island.

Using our family’s traditional grinder is the best way to keep the tradition alive.

I took around a pound and a half of the Chuck and cut it into large chunks that would fit into the grinder. Slowly and carefully, I put some meat and onions into the grinder, turned the crank, and watched in awe as the kreplach filling came out of the grinder. It was a beautiful thing.

Traditional kreplach filling. Mom approved.

I added a little bit of ground ginger, as per Mom’s instructions, and the filling was ready to go. Sigh. In Dad’s honor I pulled out my cutting board that has a ruler imprinted on it, and carefully rolled the dough until it was “kreplach thin”.

I even pulled out a traditional ruler, and proceeded to painstakingly measure each kreplach square. In my Dad’s defense, it occurred to me that if you really want to make sure that all the kreplach are the same size, there really is no other way to do it! (Maybe that’s the engineer in me!!).

The dough has to be thin and even for perfect kreplach.

Raw kreplach waiting to be boiled.

I filled and sealed the kreplach and cooked them in a pot of boiling water.

Make sure the water is simmering and the kreplach have lots of room in the pot to cook.

I was pretty psyched. I had done it!! Sigh. The only problem was that I had a lot of filling left over. In my zealousness to make the filling (and with the fun of using the nifty grinder) I made too much filling. I covered the rest of the filling with plastic wrap and stuck it in the fridge. I figured I could do something with it later.

And the Kreplach verdict is…

I was anxious and nervous as I brought my Mom some of my Yom Tov chicken soup and kreplach later that morning. Did I honor my Dad’s memory, or were my kreplach a bust? I held my breath as my Mom slowly ate the hot chicken soup and bites of fresh kreplach. Tears rolled down my face as her eyes lit up and she exclaimed “These are really good!” Baruch Hashem⁴!!

And then there were knishes!

I then confessed to my Mom that in my enthusiasm I had made too much filling. “Oh, that happened to us all the time!” she confided. “My mother used to make knishes out of the rest of the filling!”

Fantastic!! I now had a plan. I went home, grabbed a knish dough recipe off the internet, and proceeded to make two dozen meat filed knishes for our pre-Yom Kippur seudah⁵.

Meat knishes with dipping sauce. The filling is the extra ground meat filling from the kreplach.

The tradition continues…at my house…

Every year we always had the pre-Yom Kippur seudah at my parents’ house. Although we had convinced them to come to us for nearly every other Shabbat and Yom Tov meal, Yom Kippur belonged to my parents.

Sadly, this year we had the seudah with my immediate family at my house. I was determined to uphold my parent’s traditions even though things had changed. It was a huge comfort to have the kreplach and knishes that my Bubbie, Dad and Mom used to make. Sigh.

Yom Kippur soup with Traditional Kreplach. The tradition continues.

Mom’s still in the hospital, and this morning I brought her some of the knishes that I had made. “Just like your Bubbies, she would have been proud!” she kvelled. I was glad.

We miss you Dad.

May you all have a Happy and Healthy New Year.

Here’s the recipe for Traditional Kreplach and Knishes

You can make the recipe for Kreplach and Knishes gluten free by using gluten free 1:1 flour. It works really well.

For both Kreplach & Knishes (Filling)

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Author: Sharon Matten - Kosher Everyday
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 min
Category: Soup
Cuisine: Jewish
Diet: Kosher

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Description

This savory, traditional kreplach filling has a secret ingredient – ginger that makes it extra special! Don’t forget to caramelize and brown the onions for the most flavor.

Ingredients

Scale

1 1/2 pounds cooked Chuck Roast, cooled and cut into large cubes
2 large onions, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon ground dried ginger

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Instructions

Heat oil in a large skillet.
Add the onions and cook over medium-high heat until onions are browned.
Set aside to cool.
Using a grinder of your choice, grind together the meat and onions.
Stir in the ginger until well combined.

Equipment

CAM2 304 Stainless Steel Heavy Duty Manual Meat Grinder #10 Clamp-on Hand Grinder

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Notes

I roasted the Chuck covered, covered with sliced onions, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika. Rule of thumb is 15 minutes per pound at 350° F.

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