Hearty Matzo (Matzah) Ball Soup

Written By Garv Bhasin

With much of the nation experiencing freezing temperatures, I spent this weekend perfecting my Matzo (Matzah) Ball Soup recipe, a perfect antidote for the freezing cold. Matzo or Matzah balls are an Ashkenazi Jewish soup accompaniment that is made from matzo meal, eggs, and chicken fat or oil beaten together. Matzo meal (unleavened bread) is simply ground matzo crackers and can usually be found in pre-made packets in most supermarkets.

Portion Size- Feeds 4-5

Ingredients-

  • 1 whole free range chicken approx 5 pounds

  • 3 Large onions

  • 4 full sized carrots

  • 6 sticks of celery

  • 6 cloves of garlic

  • 1 large turnip

  • 3 parsnips

Herbs

  • 2 Large bunches of parsley

  • 1 bunch of dill

  • 5 bay leaves (broken in half)

  • About 15 black peppercorns

Matzo

  • Any pre-made packet Matzo meal (I used Manischewitz )

  • 4 eggs

  • 4 tablespoons oil or chicken fat

  • Salt and pepper to taste

  • few sprigs of parsley

Method

  • Wash and dry the chicken.

  • In a 12 quart pot, add 5 quarts of water and the whole chicken. Bring this to a boil and skim off the chicken fat that comes to the surface ever so often and save to use for the Matzo balls.

  • While the chicken is boiling, roughly peel and chop all the vegetables and add them to the pot of boiling water with chicken alongside the garlic cloves, peppercorn, bay leaves, parsley, and dill (essentially all your herbs), and 1 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

  • After 30 minutes of boiling, change the heat to simmer for one hour.

  • To make the matzo balls, beat 4 eggs into a pan and add 4 tablespoons of chicken fat or oil to the mix. Then add 140 grams of Matzo meal, some of the chopped parsley, and a quarter teaspoon of salt to the mix. Leave the mix in the fridge for 20 minutes. Once the Matzo mix has cooled make 1 inch Matzo balls from the Matzo meal. Use some water to wet your hands so that the mixture does not stick to your hands.

  • Transfer the whole chicken out to a pan to cool. Once cool, pull chicken meat from the bones.

  • Seive out the bay leaves, peppercorns, dill, parsley and vegetables.

  • Drop the matzo balls in the clear soup stock and let them cook for 20 mins.

  • Plate the soup with the matzo balls, add shredded chicken and vegetables

    Health Benefits and Additional Tip for Extra Fluffy Matzo Balls-

    Chicken soup is made with the nutritious veggies that can help with a common cold. This meal provides extra liquids, carbohydrates from the Matzo balls, and medicinal properties from the herbs and vegetables. Some recipes even put in about 1 tbsp. seltzer to matzo ball mix for each ¼ cup of matzo meal to help the Matzo balls rise and make them light and fluffy.

Garv Bhasin
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