Celebrating Passover with Matzo Ball Soup

By Kelli Swensen, Dietetics Student, Sargent College

Every Wednesday Karen Jacobs EdD, OTR/L, CPE, FAOTA hosts the Sargent Choice Test Kitchen in Stuvi 2 Apt. 2302 from 8-11pm. She kindly welcomes the BU community to test new Sargent Choice recipes while we eat, talk and play Bananagrams

Check out the Sargent Choice event calendar and joins us next week!

 

Happy 4th night of Passover! As with most holidays, Passover is rich in traditions, especially food traditions. At Karen Jacob’s last night we celebrated by making one of the many traditional foods served during Passover: matzo ball soup.

For those who grew up eating it, matzo ball soup conjures up the image of a fluffy white dumpling sitting in a pool of warm soup that’s been simmering all day. If you are one of these people then this recipe may not be for you. Is it delicious? Yes. Is it warm and comforting? Definitely. Is it traditional? No.

So who is this soup for? This soup is a great option for someone who likes to enjoy matzo ball soup throughout the year and wants to fit it into a healthy diet. Plus, it doesn’t need all day to simmer: it’s ready in under an hour!

At the test kitchen last night we made both regular matzo balls and these whole wheat ones so we could compare. One thing that we kept constant was the vegetarian broth, which was very flavorful and almost reminded me of a light French onion soup broth.

Now, down to the comparisons.  the traditional matzo balls were as expected: fluffy and flavorful. While the whole-wheat matzo balls were not quite as fluffy, they still had a good texture that contrasted well with the vegetables in the soup. Texture alone, I did not have a strong preference for the traditional matzo ball over the whole-wheat one. However, the whole-wheat matzo balls were lacking in flavor compared to the traditional, so next time I would try adding some seasonings or letting them simmer for a while in the broth.

Conclusion: while we at Sargent Choice promote a healthy lifestyle, we understand that traditions have a place in your life as well. So for Passover I would say eat whatever kind of matzo balls you want. But for the rest of the year, this whole-wheat matzo ball soup is a great option to add into your meal rotation.

 

Sargent Choice Vegetarian Matzo Ball Soup
Yields 6-8 servings

Ingredients for the Matzo Balls:
2 eggs lightly beaten
2 T olive oil
2 T vegetable stock
½ cup unsalted whole wheat matzo meal
1 T fresh dill
½ tsp salt

Ingredients for the broth
6 cups vegetable stock
4 carrots, cut into ¼ in slice
2 onions, coarsely chopped
2 parsnips, coarsely chopped
3 T fresh dill
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Matzo Balls
1. Stir together eggs, oil, and vegetable stock in a small bowl. Add matzo meal, dill, and salt. Stir until evenly combined. Cover and refrigerate 15 min – 8 hours.
2. Bring large pot of water to a boil; add a dash of salt. Using olive oiled hands, form dough into 12 1-inch balls. Drop the balls one at a time into the boiling water. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Directions: Soup
1. While matzo balls are simmering, make soup by adding all ingredients and bringing to a boil.
2. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes

To serve: Spoon 2 cooked matzo balls into a bowl and ladle 1 cup of soup over them

 

Nutrition Facts
Serving: 1 cup soup with 2 cooked matzo balls
Calories 140
Fat 9g
Saturated Fat 1g
Protein 3g
Carbohydrates 13g
Sodium 290mg

4 Comments

Apagerangan posted on April 16, 2013 at 3:28 pm

That soup look so delicious

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