Ben-Gurion rice and whatever goes into the broth

Felix Ruchaevsky

If so much and in detail has been told about the famous chicken broth of our grandmothers and mothers that it would be strange to return to this topic - Jewish chicken broth is Jewish chicken broth, that says it all - then the question is, what to serve this very broth with? still not fully revealed.

Chicken yukh, or yukh - this is what our culinary miracle is called in Yiddish, it seems. And it seems to me that the Russian word “yushka,” meaning the same rich broth, has a direct connection with the Hebrew name.

Knead and cut

So, what do we use broth with? Probably, first of all, we should talk about the most common attribute associated in our minds with broth. This is lokshn, aka noodles, which we ate, are eating and will eat until our death, God grant us all until we are one hundred and twenty. Lokshn is very easy to prepare at home.

Broth with loxn

Ingredients: 1 chicken leg, 1 onion, 1 carrot, 200 g wheat flour, 1 chicken egg, 100 ml water, herbs, salt, pepper to taste.

We cook regular chicken broth from a chicken leg, onion and carrot. Meanwhile, knead the dough: add a pinch of salt, egg and water to the sifted flour. After kneading, roll it out as thin as possible, adding flour all the time. Next, roll the sheet of dough into a tube and cut it - first on one side, then on the other. Place the chopped noodles on a towel and let dry for 15–20 minutes. Then boil it like regular pasta, in slightly salted water. And put it in the prepared broth, right on the plate.

From matzo or semolina

I hasten to bring to your attention that matzo flour, also known as matzo chalk or kemah matzo (in Yiddish, respectively, and in Hebrew) is used by Jews not only during the Passover holidays. This unremarkable in appearance, completely unpretentious, but very functional product can be found in the kitchen of any zealous housewife. And if this is the case, then preparing kneidlach (kneidelach) for broth or matzo babka at any time will not be difficult. Here are the recipes for you.

Kneidlach

Ingredients: 300 g matzo flour (matzo chalk), 150 ml vegetable oil, 4 chicken eggs, salt and white pepper to taste, 600 ml water.

Kneidlach can be prepared in many different ways. I got used to preparing a mixture for them based on the choux pastry model - yes, the same one that goes into eclairs or profiteroles. The procedure is as follows. Bring water and oil with salt and pepper to a boil and add matzo flour into the boiling solution, while vigorously stirring the mass. This way you brew the flour - hence the name of the dough. The mass should be dense, but not hard. When the mass has cooled down and gained, as I say, strength, you should beat the eggs into it, one at a time, and it is better to do this with a mixer or blender. Form balls from the resulting mass. Their size is arbitrary - it all depends on your preferences, but usually the kneidlach is made the size of a ping-pong ball. Boil them in salted water until they float to the surface.

If you are not going to use the kneidlach immediately, in the broth, you can store them by filling them with cold boiled water. Otherwise, the kneidlach will darken.

Babka is also made from matzo flour, a type of casserole that can also be called “kugel” (see: Felix Ruchaevsky. How they do it in Jerusalem // Lechaim. 2013. No. 11). However, babka is made from both lokshn and semolina... The babka is cut into fairly large pieces and each portion is poured with boiling broth directly on the plate. It would seem so simple - but how much fun it is for the family.

Of course, the broth can be quickly and easily seasoned with semolina. Pour semolina into the boiling broth in a thin stream - in an amount sufficient to ensure that the dish is neither too thick nor too thin. But if you have a little time and desire, it makes sense to cook the famous Jewish farfels. This is the name given to pea-sized balls made from eggs, flour and semolina. They are used to season soups and broths.

Farfelach

Ingredients: 2 tbsp. l. semolina, 300 g wheat flour, 3 chicken eggs, salt to taste.

Place 2 tbsp in a large wide bowl. l. semolina, take a teaspoon of beaten eggs, put on the semolina and rub with your hand. Gradually add flour and eggs and continue to rub with your entire palm. The farfelach should be round, like balls, slightly smaller than a pea. Place the finished farfels to dry on a sheet of paper or dry them in the oven.

Grandma from lokshn

Jewish couscous

The need to produce a universal product that could replace rice and couscous arose in Israel in the mid-20th century. The country was young, there was a shortage of literally everything, including traditional Middle Eastern products. And the first Israeli prime minister set the task of developing a full-fledged replacement for them. This is how ptitim was created, also known as Israeli couscous, Israeli rice, or Ben-Gurion rice.

This is how they began to call small pasta made from durum wheat, which is produced in a variety of shapes - in the form of grains of rice, hearts, balls, shells, stars, and various figures that children like. Ptitim comes in different colors thanks to different natural additives. Developed by food technologists of the young Jewish state, ptitim quickly gained popularity in European countries, the USA, Turkey, Algeria, and Morocco. Of course, I don’t recommend making poultry yourself—it’s better to buy it ready-made and add it to the broth. Your children will thank you. There is no need to cook it at home, but it was impossible not to mention it, since we are talking about fillers for the broth. But what you can definitely cook yourself is mandelah.

Do you know what mandelah is? If not, I’ll explain: the closest analogue is croutons. If you make mandelah in a hurry, you will get croutons: take wheat bread, cut it into cubes with a side of 2-3 cm and fry in vegetable oil. However, this simplified version of mandelah is not our goal. Real mandelah is made not from bread, but from flour.

Mandelach

Ingredients: 1 glass of wheat flour, 2 chicken eggs, half a glass of vegetable oil, a third of a glass of water, salt to taste.

Beat eggs with salted water, add flour and knead into a soft dough. Roll it out into a thin sausage and cut into small slices. Fry them in boiling oil until golden brown. Place in a colander to drain the fat and serve with the broth.

Of course, this will add calories to the broth. But it will please the eye and tongue. Mandelach is a real delicacy, not like banal croutons. Your family will surely appreciate them.