Mama's Matzo Balls Soup

I tasted matzo balls soup for the first time when I visited my friend in Israel. His mom cooked a delicious soup with lightest matzo balls ever. Fluffy and mild they made me fall in love with them immediately. What a weird surprise it was to find out they were made of an "instant matzo balls mix" certainly full of stuff that would better be in a chemistry lesson summary than on a foodstuff label.

I still couldn't leave it like that and promised myself to make these gorgeous matzo balls 100% natural. And here is the result - a perfect recipe for the lightest and fluffiest matzo balls. Perfect for a friday night meal with your family. Filling, comforting and so peaceful.

Matzo Balls

Ingredients (makes 30 balls):

100 g matzo meal (3/4 cup)

2 eggs, devided

1 1/2 tablespoons good quality olive oil

1 garlic clove

1/2 yellow onion

1 tablespoon dried parsley

about 7 tablespoons water

a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Finely chop garlic and onion. In a bowl lightly beat egg yolks and add matzo meal, olive oil, garlic, onion, dried parsley and a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix well and add about 7 tablespoons water to help the ingredients to combine.

In another bowl beat egg whites until soft peaks form and mix them gently into the matzo paste. Place the bowl in the fridge for half an hour, the paste will become rather firm. With your hands form little balls taking aboul 1 heaped teaspoon of paste at a time.

Put the balls into boiling water and cook for 15-20 min on a medium heat. These matzo balls go perfectly with classic light chicken soup.

Light chicken soup

Ingredients:

1 kg chicken (organic or free range is always prefferable)

3 litres cold water

3 garlic cloves, washed but unpeeled

3 celery stalks

1 yellow onion

2 medium carrots

1/2 teaspoon curcuma

5-6 whole black peppercorns

a small bunch of fresh thyme and sea salt

Directions:

Remove the skin from your chicken, we don't want excess fat in our soup. Place the chicken into your pan, add smashed garlic, roughly chopped vegetables, thyme, spices and sea salt. Add cold water, bring to the boil, turn the heat down, cover with a lid and let simmer for 2.5-3 hours. Remember to skim from time to time.

When ready, pour the stock into plates, add a couple pieces of vegetables, matzo balls and serve. You will love it!

Bon Appétit!