Vegan Matzoh Ball Soup

I used tofu in my matzoh balls, if that’s not part of your tradition for passover, Isa Mosokowitz has shared a tofuless flaxy matzoh ball soup recipe here. (and you can watch the Passover edition of the PPK and recipe.)

Now, I’m not much for writing up recipes, so bear with me.

Soup Ingredients

• about a tbsp of olive oil (but follow your heart on how much more or less)
• 1 chopped onion
• 2 chopped carrots
• 4 chopped stalks of celery
• 10 cups of water
• 1 tsp of kosher salt
• a few sprigs of parsley

Matzoh Ball Ingredients

• 3 tbsp olive oil (or oil of your choice)
• 1 cup matzo meal
• 1 package of drained extra firm tofu (some tofus are certified kosher for passover)
• 1 carrot
• a few sprigs of parsley
• 1/2 tsp baking powder (you can get this in a kosher for passover variety)
• 1/8 tsp salt (or get salty, do what you want)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder

Tools

• Large soup pot
• Food processor (not mandatory, but it sure helps)
• Large flat baking pan, with parchment paper.
• Immersion blender (also not necessary, but it makes for a nice broth)
• Stove

If you’re me, this is when you preheat your oven because you’ll be baking matzoh balls in less than half an hour – but really, having enough time to let your matzoh ball mix settle in a covered bowl for a few hours or overnight is ideal but this is MeShell style. So preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and it’s time to throw the broth together.

Turn the burner midway (depending on your stove) – in a large soup pot add the oil with the chopped onion, and stir around until it’s translucent then throw in the chopped celery and carrots, turn down the temperature, and leave it alone for a while. It should just hang out and simmer, and be quietly doing it’s thing while you move on to Matzoh ball town.

Crumble up some tofu and toss it in the food processor with a blending blade as well . Add the pieces from one carrot, parsley, and the oil. Blend it together until it resembles a paste, it is not going to take long. Now it’s time to put it in a bowl, add the matzoh meal, the baking powder, and the salt and spices. Are your hands clean? Good – stick your hands in and mix everything together. You should end up with a thick dough. If it’s too sticky – add some more matzoh meal and mix a bit more.

This is where I added water, salt, and parsley to my broth pot, and let it simmer until the matzoh balls are done.

If you have time – cover the matzoh ball mixture and leave it in the fridge to settle, but since it’s me, we’re making them into balls immediately and putting them on the covered baking sheet. You can measure out 2 tbsps of mixture per a ball or just follow your heart on this. I ended up with 16 decent sized matzoh balls from this quantity. Just roll them out in your hands for a minute or so until it’s nice and round, and put it on the baking sheet. Repeat until the mixture is all gone.

Put the baking sheet in the pre-heated oven for approximately 20 minutes, rolling them around at about the 10 minute mark.

Before you throw the matzoh balls into the broth, take your immersion blender and blend the broth down with a few quick pulses. It makes for a nice thick broth (which I’m partial to) but still has some decent sized chunks of vegetables.

Add the matzoh balls to the broth, and let it simmer on low for 15-20 minutes or until you’re ready to eat.