Kreplach for everyone!

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

These kreplach can be made in advance and frozen. Once your kreplach are filled and folded, set them on a baking sheet in a single layer, keeping them from touching each other. Slide the baking sheet into the freezer. When they’re frozen, you can remove them from the baking sheet and put them into a freezer 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—5 minutes to the cooking time.

What makes these “Kreplach for Everyone?

Omnivores will love these meat-filled dumplings, but vegetarians can enjoy them, too. Click here to go to three recipes for Vegetarian Kreplach. One of them just swaps out the ground beef in this recipe for “Beyond” or “Impossible” plant-based ground beef alternative. The other two are for vegetable kreplach.

Eating Kreplach on Erev Yom Kippur has deep mystical significance.

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

White, the color of milk and 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.

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 kreplach themselves.

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.

This recipe uses ground “Impossible” or “Beyond” meat, for vegetarian kreplach that taste just like the real thing.

I find that, for a more flavorful and tender kreplach, making a meatball mixture for the filling produces more is the way to go, whatever sort of ground “meat” you use. Many people pre-cook the meat before filling their kreplach, but I find that it cooks perfectly well while they’re being boiled.

Ingredients:

for the filling

• 1 lb “Impossible” or “Beyond” Burger beef substitute (or actual ground beef)

• 1 egg

• 1/3 cup fresh bread crumbs

• ice cold water as needed

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1-2 cloves garlic

• 1 small onion, finely diced

• Freshly ground pepper

• A glug of olive oil

for the dough

• 2 cups flour (more for dusting)
  2 eggs
  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 grinds of the peppermill.

• Scrape in the onion and garlic from the skillet with any oil and liquid that might be remaining, 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 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 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.

• 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.

• 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 of baking sheet in a single layer so that they don’t fall apart.

Or, cheat.

If you’re really pressed for time, you can use store-bought wonton wrappers. Make the kreplach following the instructions above. It doesn’t matter if they’re not perfectly square and the triangles aren’t perfect. While nothing compares to homemade dough, these still come out very good.

From here, you can freeze the kreplach or cook them right away. Bring a large pot of water to boil and add the kreplach. Don’t overcrowd the pot. Let them simmer for 20 minutes and then remove them with a slotted spoon.

Serve them as is, in hot soup. 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.