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| Type | Dumpling |
|---|---|
| Created by | Ashkenazi Jews |
| Main ingredients | Dough:flour,water andeggs Filling:ground meat,mashed potatoes or other |
Kreplach (fromYiddish:קרעפּלעך,romanized: Kreplekh) are smalldumplings inAshkenazi Jewish cuisine filled with groundmeat,mashed potatoes or another filling, usually boiled and served inchicken soup, though they may also be served fried.[1] They are similar to other types of dumpling, such as Polishpierogi, Polish and Ukrainianuszka, Russianpelmeni, Italianravioli ortortellini, GermanMaultaschen, and Chinesejiaozi andwonton. The dough is traditionally made offlour,water andeggs, kneaded and rolled out into thin sheets. Some modern-day cooks usefrozen dough sheets or wonton wrappers.[2] Ready-made kreplach are also sold in thekosherfreezer section of supermarkets.
InAshkenazi Jewish homes, kreplach are traditionally served onRosh Hashanah, at the pre-fast meal beforeYom Kippur, and onHoshana Rabbah andSimchat Torah.[1][3] According to Kabbalah, it is customary to eat kreplach during these days because they are days of judgment, and we seek divine mercy. Therefore, we eat meat covered in dough—the meat symbolizes the attribute of strict justice, while the white dough represents kindness and divine compassion. In this way, we symbolically ask God to envelop the severity of judgment with mercy.[4]
Kreplach with vegetarian or dairy fillings are also eaten onPurim because the hidden nature of the kreplach interior mimics the "hidden" nature of the Purim miracle.[5] In many communities, meat-filled kreplach are served on Purim. A variety with a sweet cheese filling is served as a starter or main dish in dairy meals, specifically onShavuot. Fried kreplach are also a popular dish onChanukah because they are fried in oil, which references the oil miracle of Chanukah.[6]
Stuffed pasta may have migrated fromVenice to the Ashkenazi Jews in Germany during the 14th century.[7][6]
The Yiddish wordקרעפלעךkreplekh orקרעפּלאַךkreplakh (properly transliterated asqreplekh andqreplakh) is the plural ofkrepl, adiminutive ofkrap, which comes from Yiddish's ancestor languageMiddle High German, wherekrappe, krapfe meant "a piece of pastry".
From the same source come the GermanKrapfen ("deep-fried pastry") and itsEast Central German dialectal variantKräppel, as well theSilesianKrepel ("doughnut").
Byfolk etymology, the name has been sometimes explained as standing for the initials of three Jewish holidays which are not real holidays; therefore the meat is covered in dough: K for(Eve of Yom) Kippur, R for(Hoshaana) Rabbah, and P forPurim, which together form the word KReP. However, this hypothesis ignores that Kippur is spelled with aכִּ (kaf) and kreplach with aק (qof).[8]
Some cooks use a square of dough that is filled and folded into triangles. Others use rounds of dough resulting in a crescent shape, or two squares of dough.[9]
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