Matzo Balls

These matzoh balls go with this chicken soup. Both the balls and the soup are phenomenal!. The matzoh balls are just the right amount of chewy and fluffy and the soup actually tastes like chicken!

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon (15g) Kosher Salt
8 Large Eggs
1/2 Cup Melted Chicken Fat (schmaltz). Use the schmaltz! If you don’t have any, you can actually buy it in the store in a little frozen tub. Who knew?
1/2 Cup (approx) Water
2 Cups (285g) Matzo Meal – note that this is a little more than half of a 1 pound container, so you may need to buy extra if you’re making a double batch.
  • Put the eggs, schmaltz, water and salt into a large mixing bowl and whisk until it all looks like scrambled eggs (all a uniform color).
  • Add the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until just mixed.  If you mix it too much, you’ll get tough matzoh balls.
    If it’s too thick, add a little water to thin it out. The batter should be about like thick oatmeal.
  • Cover and place in refrigerator for at least several hours, or overnight. This is important. If the batter isn’t fully hydrated, the balls will be “grainy”
  • When you’re ready to cook, fill a large pot about half-way with water and generously salt the water. Mix the water and taste it. It should be about as salty as the ocean. Bring to a boil.
  • Wet your hands, and gently roll a balls about the size of a ping-pong ball, and gently drop in the water. You can fill the pot top to bottom if you need to. The balls do not all have to be in a single layer on top of the water and a large pasta pot can easily hold 40 balls. They expand while cooking, so a ping-pong size ball will be about the size of a plum when it’s done cooking.
  • Don’t re-use the water for a second batch! There is some kind of chemical reaction that will make the second batch of balls look gray with spots (discolored egg). If you need to do more than one batch, you’ll need to boil a second pot of water.
  • Cook for about an hour and a half, and serve in warmed Chicken Soup
  • Note that they’ll “look done” after about 10 minutes, however it really does take at least an hour to cook all the way to the center of the ball. If you cut one open and the center looks yellow and grainy,  it’s not done yet.
  • You can’t overcook a matzo ball. It’s not possible. But you can absolutely under cook one. So if you need to leave it in longer, that’s OK.

Makes about 24 balls, a smaller than a tennis ball, but bigger than a ping-pong ball.

Weight Watcher’s® PointsPlus®: 3 points/ball