In a large bowl combine dough ingredients together. Knead and roll out thin on floured board. Cut into 3-inch squares or circles.
Meat filling Ingredients
1 cup ground cooked beef or chicken 1 small onion, grated 1 tsp. salt
Directions
FILLING: in a small bowl mix filling ingredients well. See Kreplach illustrated for filling and folding. Kreplach can now be either sautéed in oil or boiled and served in soup.
TO BOIL: Place in boiling salted water. Cook approximately 20 minutes until kreplach float to top.
TO SAUTE: Heat oil over medium flame in 10-inch skillet. Sauté boiled kreplach until golden brown on both sides.
NOTE: Dough will roll out more easily after being wrapped in a damp cloth for one hour.
YIELDS: 18 Kreplach
Why is kreplach so popular for Purim meals?
Kreplach, a noodle dumpling filled with meat or potatoes, is traditionally served on the Jewish festival of Purim. Some say that kreplach, stuffed cabbage and other foods with fillings are eaten on Purim because the hidden filling is reminiscent of the surprises and secret meanings wrapped up inside the Purim story.
Another explanation for the Purim kreplach eating tradition centers on the chopped meat in the kreplach. Jews in Eastern Europe began to eat food that had been chopped or beaten on Purim to be consistent with the Purim tradition to make noise, stomp feet, clap hands whenever Haman's name is mentioned during the reading of the Book of Esther.
A final explanation for why Jews eat kreplach on Purim comes from Alfred J. Kolatch's The Jewish Book of Why. Kolatch writes that the kreplach's triangular shape symbolizes the three Jewish patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob). And it was from her antecedents that Esther derived the strength she needed to save the Jews from annihilation in Persia.
