Vegan seder plate. Photo by mollyjade
Passover starts on Monday night at sundown. This is my favorite holiday. I’ve been collecting vegan Pesach recipes on Pintrest, both with and without kitniyot.Check it out if you’re scrambling to find recipes or if you’re curious how to make a vegan seder plate.
I’ve spent the weekend going back and forth between working on Texas VegFest and cooking up a storm. Among the dishes I’ve made, was a bit of an experiment with matzah ball soup. Eggless matzo balls have a tendency to fall apart as you simmer them. I was curious what would happen if I steamed them instead. And it worked!
Vegan Matzah Ball Soup. Photo by mollyjade
The one at top was boiled in salt water, the one on the bottom was steamed. The edges of the boiled matzah ball are a bit rugged, because bits of matzah ball dough fall off as the ball sits in simmering water. The steamed ball has smooth edges, and it’s just a touch chewier, which I thought was a good thing.
The recipe I used was from Larisa on the PPK and was adapted from the recipe on this blog. I think steaming would work with any matzah ball recipe, though if your recipe depends a great deal on flavor from the broth, you might want to up the seasonings in your matzah ball dough.
1/4 cup potato starch
3 tablespoons water
3/4 cup seltzer or water
3 tablespoons neutral oil
1 cup matzah meal
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon chik’n broth powder (this is the equivalent for 1/2 cup broth)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder (optional)
Mix the potato starch and water in a medium bowl. Add the other ingredients and mix together thoroughly. Use baking powder if you like your matzo balls fluffy and light (“floaters”). Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour. Don’t skip the hour wait. The matzah meal needs time to absorb liquid.
Using a tablespoon, scoop a large rounded scoop of dough. Roll it into a ball. You should get 12-14 matzah balls. Place a piece of wax paper in a steamer basket. Put the balls on top of the paper. Steam for 25 minutes.
Remove the matzah balls from the steamer and transfer them to a storage container. Don’t let them cool all the way on the wax paper as they have a tendency to stick.
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Thanks for the recipe, it turned out great. It was a hit at our seder.
Yay! I’m glad you liked it.
The real trick with matzah balls is to make sure they’re soft and fluffy all the way through the center. And the way to ensure that, besides making sure the dough is light enough, which this recipe takes care of, is to avoid rolling the dough too tightly. When you form the little dumplings, roll them lightly between your hands to form a sphere. It mostly forms itself; you don’t have to press much at all.
Can you cook them in the vegetable soup or does it need to be steamed?
You can cook them in vegetable broth. Be sure the water is just barely simmering. They’ll fall apart at a rolling boil. The reason I steam them is because eggless matzah balls tend to be fragile when boiled.
Trying steaming in my steamer. Usually Mine always float as I scoop dough (with an extra egg white) with a spoon the gently push it off using another spoon. No handling at all & fluffy floaters every time. I always boil in clear h20 but started thinking about steaming instead…and here you are! Thank you!
Quick update. I steamed the matzah balls: one batch in a steamer basket above the broth & one batch in my black & decker steamer. I also tried using a cookie scoop & all turned out great! Only thing….I forgot the wax paper, but I lifted them out carefully & clean up was fine. Tonight I’ll remember the wax paper! Cooking broth & batches of matzah balls separately and in small fresh batches makes all the leftovers perfect for as long as the broth lasts.
wonderful!