If you’re warding off the chills, add traditional Jewish dumplings (kneidlach), and this homemade chicken broth will restore your faith in goodness.
READ MORE: 6 Delicious Winter Soup Recipes – Plus Sides!
Basic Chicken Stock
Chicken stock is really easy to make: just add all the ingredients to one pot, bring to a simmer, then let it burble away happily for an hour or two. Use cost-effective chicken wings or the carcass of a roast or rotisserie chicken – just freeze until you’re ready to turn it into soup.
Basic Chicken Stock
Ingredients
- 1 pack chicken wings
- 1 carrot peeled and halved
- 1 celery stick halved
- 1 onion halved
- Handful of parsley if you have it
- 2 bay leaves
- 5 peppercorns
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients to the pot and cover with cold water. Slowly bring to the boil over medium heat and skim off any foamy scum that rises to the surface.
- Just as it’s about to come to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer for one and a half hours.
- Drain and cool.
READ MORE: Make This Cold-Fighting Lettuce, Fennel & Pea Soup If You’re Feeling Under The Weather
Jewish Chicken Soup
Chicken soup with kneidlach is the traditional first course at the Seder meal during Passover. Food writer, chef and Jewish food expert Oded Schwartz of Oded’s Kitchen shares his recipe for kneidlach below. His dumplings are made airy with soda water and use extra-virgin olive oil instead of schmalz (chicken fat).
“I also serve the kneidlach as one would gnocchi, with a home-made tomato sauce,” says Schwartz. “It’s basically the traditional 2/3/4/6 recipe [ratio of ingredients to each other; increase accordingly]; I usually use six heaped spoons for kneidlach and seven for gnocchi.”
For the soup:
Make the chicken stock as above but add two leeks (sliced and washed well), two turnips (peeled and halved) and 100g of pumpkin (peeled and roughly chopped). Reserve some of the stock for cooking the matzo ball
For the kneidlach:
Jewish Chicken Soup
Ingredients
For The Soup
- chicken stock
- 2 leeks sliced and washed well
- 2 turnips peeled and halved
- 100 g pumpkin peeled and roughly chopped
For The Kneidlach
- 2 eggs
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 tbsp soda water or very
- cold water
- 6 tbsp mediummatzo meal
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp white pepper
- 30 g dill or parsley leaves very finely chopped
- Chives and dill, chopped, to serve
Instructions
For The Soup
- Make the chicken stock as above but add two leeks (sliced and washed well), two turnips (peeled and halved) and 100g of pumpkin (peeled and roughly chopped). Reserve some of the stock for cooking the matzo ball.
For The Kneidlach
- Whisk the eggs until frothy, then whisk in all the other ingredients (except the matzo meal).
- While whisking, add the matzo meal in a steady stream.
- Cover and refrigerate overnight.
- Bring a medium-sized pot of chicken stock to the boil. Using a heaped teaspoon and wet hands, form the cold matzo mixture into balls and drop into the boiling stock. Turn down the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 to 30 minutes, or until fluffy, doubled in size and cooked.
- Remove with a slotted spoon and serve three each in hot chicken broth sprinkled with chives and dill.
Notes
SERVES 5. Per 308g serving: 1 421kJ, 15g fat (3g sat), 430mg sodium, 26g carbs, 4g fibre, 6g sugars, 28g protein
These three comforting soups will boost your immune system. Plus, get your hands on The Ultimate Soup Cookbook for only R199. This ebook is packed to the brim with nutrients and good-for-you ingredients, you’ll find few dishes that stand up to it tastewise, timewise and healthwise.
