Kreplach

Template:Short description Template:Infobox food Kreplach (from Template:Langx) are small dumplings in Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine filled with ground meat, mashed potatoes or another filling, usually boiled and served in chicken soup, though they may also be served fried.<ref name=roden1/> They are similar to other types of dumpling, such as Polish pierogi, Polish and Ukrainian uszka, Russian pelmeni, Italian ravioli or tortellini, German Maultaschen, and Chinese jiaozi and wonton. The dough is traditionally made of flour, water and eggs, kneaded and rolled out into thin sheets. Some modern-day cooks use frozen dough sheets or wonton wrappers.<ref name=mavenmall1>Quick and Easy Kreplach Recipe Template:Webarchive | MavenMall</ref> Ready-made kreplach are also sold in the kosher freezer section of supermarkets.

History

In Ashkenazi Jewish homes, kreplach are traditionally served on Rosh Hashanah, at the pre-fast meal before Yom Kippur, and on Hoshana Rabbah and Simchat Torah.<ref name=roden1>Claudia Roden, The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand and Vilna to the Present Day, Penguin Books, 1999, p. 77-78. Template:ISBN</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Kreplach with vegetarian or dairy fillings are also eaten on Purim because the hidden nature of the kreplach interior mimics the "hidden" nature of the Purim miracle.<ref>Claudia Roden, p. 32</ref> 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 on Shavuot. Fried kreplach are also a popular dish on Chanukah because they are fried in oil, which references the oil miracle of Chanukah.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Stuffed pasta may have migrated from Venice to the Ashkenazi Jews in Germany during the 14th century.<ref name="roden">Claudia Roden, p. 133-134</ref><ref name=":0" />

Name

File:Kreplach soup 2.jpg

kreplach soup

The Yiddish word {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} kreplekh or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} kreplakh (properly transliterated as qreplekh and qreplakh) is the plural of krepl, a diminutive of krap, which comes from Yiddish's ancestor language Middle High German, where {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} meant "a piece of pastry".

From the same source come the German {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("deep-fried pastry") and its East Central German dialectal variant {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, as well the Silesian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("doughnut").

By folk 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 for Purim, which together form the word KReP. However, this hypothesis ignores that Kippur is spelled with a כִּ (kaf) and kreplach with a ק (qof).<ref>Kreplach: The parcels packed with history</ref>

Shape

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

See also

• Ravioli
• Joshpara
• Jewish cuisine
• List of dumplings
• Maultaschen