Passover was Saturday, April 12 to Sunday, April 20, 2025. To celebrate I made and tried an Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine: Kerplach.
Passover is the celebration of the Jewish people escaping Egypt after 44 years of slavery. Called Pesach in Hebrew, it refers to God passing over the Jewish homes, that had lamb blood on the doors, when slaying the firstborn sons of Egypt during the last of the Ten Plagues. During the Exodus, the Jews had to leave so rapidly that they left before their bread had risen. This is symbolically represented by the Jews not being allowed to consume leaven grain for the duration of Passover; which is why Matzah, basically a large cracker traditionally eaten with butter, is a staple of the holiday.
Kerplach is referred to as the Jewish dumpling. They can have any filling, but it’s usually ground meat such as beef or potatoes. It is most often eaten during Jewish holidays. Some examples include the eve of Yom Kippur: day of atonement, day of fasting, holiest day in the Judaism calendar; Sukkot, commemorates the Israelites wandering in the desert after the exodus from Egypt; Purim, celebrates defeating Haman’s (the king’s advisor) evil plot to exterminate the Jews in Persia, Jews eat triangle shaped foods to symbolize the hat Haman wore, there’s a good VeggieTales episode explaining the history; Rosh Hashanah, Jewish New Year.
While not normally consumed for Passover, I wanted to try the dumplings and thought it would be a good way to celebrate the holiday. I used a recipe by Simply Recipes (https://www.simplyrecipes.com/easy-beef-kreplach-recipe-5221323) with a few changes on my part.
While the recipe said to use one yellow onion, I used barely a fifth and still considered it too much. The next time I make Kerplach, I will add less onions and dice them thinner. Especially for the leftovers as the onions didn’t really reheat well. But when fresh, they added a nice crunch to the overall soft dish.
I added Sweet Hungarian Paprika- a seasoning that’s famously in my family’s Chicken and Dumpling. I was trying not to overpower the dish, but the dumplings- in my opinion- ended up under seasoned. This problem was somewhat solved by putting it in chicken broth. I might even try a different filling.
I really liked making the dumplings. I created a system of making three in a batch and by the time I finished making them the ones cooking would be ready to take out. While this did take longer, it’s perfect if one has a small counter space. The hardest part was making sure the edges stayed closed. The dumplings do stick together, so if you don’t want one clump make sure to separate them.
Overall, I had a really fun time connecting with my heritage and trying a new meal.