Matzo Ball Soup

I’ve been wanting to make a matzo ball soup for as long as I remember. I love matzo ball soups - they bring a sense of warmth, comfort and home. Matzo ball soup is a traditional ashkenazi jewish dish, eaten on Passover, but also throughout the year. Here’s my recipe for a pretty easy matzo ball soup. It took me about 1hr 15 minutes to make this and my stove top is SLOW!!! If you have a faster stove, it should be under an hour.

You’ll need the following for the chicken stock:

1. 8-10 chicken legs + wings (you can also include chicken necks)

2. 1 large parsnip

3. 1/2 yellow sweet onion

4. 5 carrots

5. 5 celery

6. 1 peeled and diced potato

7. 5 black peppercorns

8. strands of parsley and dill

9. seasoning: salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, dried minced onion and i used mushroom umami powder from trader joes. It was my first time using this seasoning but it worked out well

Here’s what you need for the matzo ball:

1. 2 eggs

2. 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil ( i used sunflower oil and I wouldn’t suggest olive oil for this)

3. 1 packet of Manischweitz matzo ball mixture

Make the chicken stock and let it boil for 45 minutes before you make the matzo ball mix. For the chicken stock, here’s the steps:

1. Wash the chicken and place it in a large cooking pot. Fill it up to 3L of water. Bring it to boil on high temperature and add some kosher salt (it boils faster)

2. Once the chicken boils, remove the scum (the dirt and fat), lower the heat to a medium and add the parsnip, 4 celeries, 1/ 2 onion, and 4 carrots. Season the stock with more kosher salt (to taste), garlic powder, onion powder, peppercorns, dried minced onions and let the soup simmer on a medium (or medium-low depending on your stove) for 45 minutes. Keep an eye on it - stir occasionally and taste the broth.

3. At 45 minute mark, add the 1 potato (diced in cubes), and the rest of celery, carrots, strands of parsley and sill. Continue to simmer on low. Check in on the taste - if it’s over salted or under salted. Mine was slightly over salted, so I added a bit more water.

4. In a separate bowl, make the matzo ball:

   1. add 2 eggs

   2. add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

   3. mix the egg and vegetable oil using a fork

   4. add 1 packet of the matzo ball and mix it in with a fork

   5. Put the bowl in the fridge for 15 minutes

5. While the matzo mix is in the fridge, heat up 1L (or 16 quarts) of water in a smaller cooking pot. Add a little bit of kosher salt and bring it to boil.

6. After 15 minutes is up, take out the matzo mix from the fridge and using wet hands, create small matzo balls. Make sure they are small because matzo expands in hot water! I didn’t know that at that time! It doubles in size. Each packet yields to about 6-8 balls.

7. Place them in hot water, bring it to boil and let it simmer for 20 minutes until cooked through.

8. Check in on your stock - see if needs anything extra in terms of seasoning. This would be the last time to add any seasoning. Make sure it’s simmering - as in, it’s boiling but on low temperature. Let it boil for another 15 minutes and set aside.

9. Once the stock finished boiling and cooled down a bit, remove all the vegetables and the chicken. You should be left with 2L or slightly less of chicken stock. The matzo ball should be ready at this time as well.

10. Serve the broth with matzo ball and add some dill for garnish. Enjoy!