Matzah Ball Pho

I wrote up my matzah ball pho recipe for The Nosher. Head over there to read the full article, and check out other great recipes :)

Matzo Ball Pho

Serves 6-8

For the broth:

2 medium unpeeled yellow onions, halved

1 large 4”-5” piece of ginger, cut in half lengthwise

5 quarts cold water

1 4-5 lb. chicken, cut into parts

½ lb. chicken wings

2 teaspoons kosher salt, or to taste

1 tablespoon rock sugar or Turbinado (raw) sugar

1 cinnamon stick

2 star anise

1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds

2 tablespoons fish sauce or tamari

1 small white onion, thinly sliced

4 scallions, thinly sliced

For the toppings:

1 large bunch of fresh Thai basil

2-3 limes cut into wedges

3 cups mung bean sprouts

2 Fresno chilies or jalapenos, sliced thin

Hoisin sauce, to taste

Sambal oelek (garlic chili sauce), to taste

Sriracha, to taste

For the matzo balls:

1 cup matzo meal

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

4 large eggs, beaten

¼ cup oil schmaltz or oil (vegetable or safflower)

¼ cup minced scallion

For the broth:

Char your onions and ginger by either placing them on a baking sheet under a broiler for 8-10 minutes, or by charring them over a gas flame on your stovetop for a few minutes on each side. The onions and ginger should be nicely charred but still firm - this essential step will deepen the broth’s flavor. Once the onions and ginger are charred, remove the skin from the onion. Rinse the onion and ginger, and use a small knife to scrape off excess charred bits to prevent your broth from getting murky.

Cut your chicken into parts: separating the breasts, legs, wings, and backbone. This will insure that your chicken cooks evenly and that the breasts will not become dry and tough when simmered.  

In a small skillet over medium heat, toast the cinnamon, anise, and coriander until lightly browned and fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Be careful not to burn the spices.

Add the onion, ginger, and chicken to a large pot. Fill the pot with 5 quarts of water. Bring the water to a simmer; skim the impurities as they rise to the top.

After twenty minutes of simmering, or once they’re cooked through, remove the chicken breasts and allow them to cool.

Add the toasted spices, salt, and sugar to the pot. Continue to gently simmer the mixture for 1 hour.

Remove the remaining chicken parts and strain the liquid through a fine meshed sieve. Bring the liquid back to a simmer for another 20-30 minutes, or until the liquid has reduced by about a quarter. This step will further deepen the broth’s flavor. While the broth is simmering, shred the chicken meat and reserve for serving.

Once reduced, turn off the heat and add the fish sauce or tamari to the broth. Taste, and add additional seasoning if desired.

For the matzo balls:

While the soup is simmering, in a large bowl whisk together the matzo meal, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Add the beaten egg and schmaltz/oil. Add the scallions. Mix everything together until just combined. Do not over-mix. Refrigerate the mixture for at least 30 minutes, and up to a day ahead.

Form the matzo ball mixture into even-sized balls, you can determine the size based on your preference, but know that they will double in size when cooked. It makes it easier to form the matzo balls if you rub a little oil on your hands while forming them.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Lower to a simmer and gently drop the matzo balls into simmering water. Place the lid on the pot and continue to simmer for 30 minutes. Once cooked, matzo balls are best stored in their cooking liquid.

To serve the matzo ball pho:

Add the shredded chicken, raw sliced onion and scallion to a bowl. Ladle hot broth into the bowl. Add the matzo balls to the soup.

Serve along with basil, bean sprouts, lime wedges, hoisin, and hot sauces. Allow people to garnish and customize their pho to their liking.

Borscht with Greens

This is not my first borscht post, and it probably won't be my last... but I wanted to share another recipe, because 1) borscht is so good to make this time of year 2) I recently wrote about it for NuRoots and Beyond Bubbie. Happy beet soup making!

....

My parents immigrated from the former Soviet Union in the late seventies. While my family quickly adjusted to life in America, and adopted many of the local culinary practices, there were certain dishes that were fixtures growing up: beet salad, stuffed cabbage, piroshki, marinated and pickled vegetables, and borscht. My grandmother’s borscht has been and will always be one of my favorite things to eat.

For two years in my mid twenties, I was lucky enough to live and work on the island of Oahu. There are many things to love about Hawaii: the smell of plumeria that permeated everything, the fresh mangoes that grew everywhere, and always being a few minutes away from the ocean. But the thing I love most about Hawaii are the people. What does Hawaii have to do with borscht?

One weekend while I lived there a local friend and I decided to spend a day cooking our family’s favorite traditional recipes. He built an Imu (Hawaiian underground oven), and made watercress beef soup, a chicken, and a sticky rice dessert. Using the more conventional above-ground stove, I made borscht. These were the dishes our families made for us, and we were eager to share and try our recipes with the other.

My grandmother made borscht on a regular basis. Soup is eaten every night in her home before supper’s main course. I love how she always adds tomato to the soup, and how she painstakingly shreds and then sautées the beets and carrots separately before adding them to the rest of the broth. I love the pleasure she takes in making borscht. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with her recipe, but over the years I’ve changed some steps, and I’ve played around with the ingredients. Sometimes I switch out cabbage for other greens that I already have waiting in the fridge.

That day in Hawaii was the first time I ever made borscht on my own. Before I did anything, I called my grandmother and had her walk me through each and every step. I took copious notes and followed her instructions fastidiously.  

It took all day for the dishes to cook in the Imu, and it took hours for me to make the borscht. When everything was finally ready we set the table outside on the fenced-in porch that was larger than my friend’s entire home. We ate while rain fell, looking out at the still smoking Imu in the yard and the mountains that loomed over the property. Hot bowls of two different kinds of soup kept us warm on that “chilly” Hawaiian evening in February. It remains one of the more memorable meals of my life; food and place equally incredible. And the borscht came out tasting as close to my grandmother’s version as I could aspire to make.

While that first borscht-making foray may have been the most memorable, I continue to make borscht in far less spectacular settings. In fact, I love this soup for its simplicity. Making borscht is an excellent way to clean out the fridge and throw a bunch of unglamorous vegetables into a pot. You can make a lot of borscht in one go, and feed a big crowd with little investment of time or money. This soup is earthy, sweet, acidic, full of flavor. Adding a few key ingredients - fresh dill, lemon juice, garlic - make this soup taste extra good. Make sure to taste as you go along. Depending on your preference add more of this, less of that, a bigger pinch of salt, or an extra squeeze of lemon. All vegetables vary in flavor so this recipe is a guide not the law. There are endless variations to borscht, but so long as you have beets you’re on your way to making a meal that can feed a small tribe.

Borscht

Serves 6-8

1 lb. beets, about 4 medium small beets

1 lb. carrots, about 2 large

1 large yellow onion, chopped fine

3-4 tablespoons of olive oil

2 teaspoons kosher salt

4-6 cloves garlic, minced fine

1 tablespoon tomato paste

½ cup chopped fresh tomatoes or canned plain tomato sauce

¾ lb. yukon gold or Dutch gold potatoes, diced into small bit-sized cubes

10-12 cups water or homemade vegetable broth

1 bay leaf

3 cups chopped kale, chard, cabbage, and/or beet greens

2 tablespoons dill stems, chopped fine

½ cup dill fronds, roughly chopped, plus more for garnish

½ cup parsley leaves removed from stem, chopped

juice of 1 small lemon, or to taste

toppings

sour cream, to taste

freshly chopped dill, to taste

Peel your beets and carrots. If you want to avoid staining your hands use disposable gloves while handling the beets. Using a food processor with the shredding disc attachment, or using the medium-size hole on a box grater, grate your beets and carrots.

Prepare the rest of your ingredients for the soup: chop the onion, mince the garlic, dice the potato, chop the greens, chop the dill stems and fronds, and chop the parsley.

To a large pot on medium heat add the olive oil. Add the shredded beets, carrots, onion and salt to the pot. Sweat the vegetables over medium heat for 8-10 minutes, or until the vegetables are softened. Add the garlic to the pot and cook for 2-3 more minutes, or until the garlic releases its aroma and is no longer raw. Add the tomato paste, and tomato to the pot, and stir until well combined. Tomato is an important ingredient in this soup - it lends a note of acidity and depth to the sweet beets. During tomato season I prefer to use fresh tomatoes, but use whatever you have. My grandmother has even been known to use jarred Marinara sauce (and she is the queen of borscht).

To the pot add the diced potatoes, liquid, and bay leaf. Bring the liquid up to a simmer, then turn down the heat and simmer the borscht for 35-45 minutes allowing the flavors to come together. After 30 minutes, add the chopped greens, and chopped dill stems to the soup. Simmer for 15-20 more minutes, or until the greens and all of the vegetables are completely soft and tender. Turn off the heat, and add the chopped dill fronds, parsley, and lemon juice. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Add more lemon juice if desired.

Serve with sour cream and a sprinkle of fresh chopped dill.

Miso Matzo Ball Soup

Let me start by saying I broke some rules making this dish (and not just the most obvious one). For one, I made a cheater's version of vegetarian dashi. For an authentic dashi recipe you can check out this or this. There are also some instant dashi mixes on the market. You can also find instant miso soup at many stores, and if that's your thing go for it. If you are still up for making miso soup from scratch I found this post helpful.

Aside from the lack of the dashi's authenticity, this soup is also a little disorienting from the matzo ball perspective. I'm highly accustomed to matzo balls floating around in chicken broth (or vegetarian chicken-tasting broth). When I took the first taste of this soup I wondered where all the familiar flavors had gone. 

Then I took a second bite. I quickly forgot about tradition and authenticity. This is the merger of two comfort foods from two different culinary cultures. The sweet umami salty miso broth is happy to host hearty matzo balls (in lieu of soft tofu or shellfish). The scallions add a refreshing bit of green and bite. I think you could even try out a little fresh dill (gasp!) in this soup. 

One note about matzo balls: I'm not a fan of leaden sinkers, but I do like some chew to my matzo balls. You can make your matzo balls however your bubbe made them. If you really don't want to make matzo balls from scratch you can buy matzo ball mixes at the store. 

There's a lot of room for controversy in this recipe. When you're making super traditional dishes everyone has a strong opinion about what is right and wrong. It's a little daring, but I was happy to throw out the rules and combine two things that aren't frequently brought together.

This recipe could happen in moments if you take all the cheats you want... or this recipe could take just a little longer and you could make every element authentically and from scratch. However you choose to make it, this merger is a happy one.

Miso Matzo Ball Soup

Serves 4 
Makes 10-12 matzo balls

for the matzo balls

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons olive oil (or schmaltz)

½ cup matzo meal

¼ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon soy sauce

½ teaspoon kosher salt

pepper to taste

for the miso soup

1 4-5 inch piece kombu, rinsed (can substitute with an extra sheet of nori)

1 sheet nori

5 cups water

4 tablespoons white miso

2 large scallions, sliced thin

for the matzo balls

In a bowl, beat the eggs and olive oil together. To the egg mixture, add the matzo meal, baking powder, soy sauce, salt and pepper. Mix together until combined. Your mixture should be sticky and wet. Let the matzo ball dough chill in the fridge for 30 minutes before using it.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Once the matzo ball dough has chilled and the water is boiling, form the dough into tablespoon-sized balls. Lower the heat to a simmer, and then carefully drop the balls into the simmering water. They will float and begin to expand. 

Place a lid on the pot, and simmer the matzo balls for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes turn off the heat, and serve the matzo balls, or let them cool in the liquid, and store them in the fridge until ready to use. Matzo balls can be made 1-2 days ahead of when you intend to serve them. While the matzo balls are cooking, make the soup.

for the soup

In a medium pot, add the kombu, nori and water. On medium heat, slowly bring the liquid to a boil and then simmer for 10 minutes until the seaweed has imparted flavor to the liquid, and the nori is falling apart. Before the water has come up to a simmer, when it is warm and about 100°F, take a few tablespoons of the liquid and combine it in a small bowl with the miso. Stir until smooth and reserve.

After the broth has simmered for 10 minutes, remove the kombu and nori from the pot. The nori may fall apart a little and that's ok; the seaweed sediment adds flavor. On low heat, whisk the reserved miso mixture into the pot. Add the onions to the pot. Simmer the soup for another 2-3 minutes, but be careful not to boil the miso.

to assemble the dish

Ladle the miso soup into bowls. Serve 2-3 matzo balls per bowl. 

My grandmother's Borscht

As the child of Russian immigrants, beets played a big role in my culinary upbringing. Borscht is the king of all beet dishes, and no one makes it better than my maternal grandmother.

Borscht is beet soup.  Many Russians include meat in their borscht.  The kind that I grew up eating was vegetarian, and it is the kind I prefer.

My grandparents have very civilized meals.  Among other things, they begin every dinner with a bowl of soup. Borscht is in heavy rotation in a cycle of other great soups.

I have made borscht different ways.  I have also made non-borscht beet soups (creamy, with yogurt and dill). This recipe is the most classic version of this type of soup.  To me, it tastes like home and family. It tastes like sweet earth, bright with lemon and dill. A dollop of sour cream is an essential component. Extra fresh dill always helps. The soup does take a bit of work, but each step is easy.

To make this borscht especially good, I started by getting all of my ingredients at the Hollywood farmer's market.  I especially like going to the market when I have a specific recipe in mind; hunting for root veggies and cabbage couldn't be easier in February... even if you're not in agriculturally abundant California. These ingredients are also readily available at any grocery store.

From my experiences growing up bringing "weird" things to school in my lunchbox, I know this stuff isn't for everyone. But if you're into beets, and you're into soups, you'll probably enjoy Borscht.

Baba's Borscht

Serves 10-12

Ingredients

1 large onion, or 2 small onions, peeled and halved

3 stalks of celery

handful of fresh parsley

1 bay leaf

3 cloves garlic, peeled

3-4 medium sized beets, shredded

2 medium carrots, shredded

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups finely shredded cabbage

2 cups roughly shopped beet greens (optional)

1/4 cup freshly chopped dill

Juice of 1 lemon

kosher salt

freshly ground pepper

Sour cream 

Directions

Fill a large pot with water.  Add your peeled and halved onions, celery stalks, flat leaf parsley, garlic and bay leaf to the pot.  Season the water with a generous amount of salt.  Bring the ingredients to a boil, lower to a simmer, and let the steep for 30 minutes.  

While your broth is simmering, peel your carrots and beets.  If you do not want beet-stained hands, use disposable gloves whilst peeling your beets.  To make life easy, you can shred your carrots and beets in a food processor.  If you don't have a food processor, or you want to work out your dominant arm's bicep, you can shred the beets and carrots with a box grater.  Add the olive oil to a large pan on medium high heat.  Add the shredded beets and carrots to the pan.  Season with salt and pepper. Sautee the vegetables until they are softened, about 15 minutes.

Once the beets and carrots have wilted and softened, and the broth has been simmering for a while, you can scoop out the onion, celery, parsley, garlic, etc. from the broth using a spider or slotted spoon.  Add the shredded cabbage and beet greens to the pot (I save the tops of the beets, wash them really well, and chop them up... if you didn't get your beets with greens, you can skip this ingredient).   Add the cooked beets and cabbage to the pot.  Bring the liquid to a boil and simmer for 45 minutes.  

At this point, the flavors will come together, and the liquid will become a brilliant red color. Add salt and pepper to taste. Turn off the heat and add the lemon juice and fresh dill to the pot. Ladle and serve the borscht with a generous dollop of sour cream.  I like to serve this soup hot, but you can also eat it chilled.

Borscht is best eaten with a chunk of hearty crusty bread.  If you're feeling really Russian, you can also eat your borscht with a side of raw garlic cloves, seriously.