Broccoli Rising and a Special Weekend Simmer or Why is this Broccoli Rising Different from all other Broccoli Risings?
Passover begins Monday at sundown. Families and friends gather in households all over the world to retell the story of Jews’ history from bondage to freedom, to hold in our hearts those who are not free, and to share a Seder meal.
In many homes, one of the beloved staples of the Seder table is matzo ball soup, a rich, golden broth embellished with matzo balls. Matzo balls transform hard, crackerlike matzo, the simple unleavened bread of affliction, into fluffy, savory dumplings. Every family has a special secret recipe, and every family believes theirs is the best, Some matzo balls are dense, some are ethereal, and until quite recently, they all relied on eggs, But one of the precepts of Passover is we invite all who are hungry to come eat. That includes vegans.
It doesn’t take magic to make vegan matzo balls, just a little plantbased culinary wisdom. I’m honored to share wisdom and vegan matzo ball soup recipes from not one but two gifted kitchen pros, Joan Nathan and Nava Atlas.
Nava Atlas, cookbook author a dozen times over, not to mention artist, advocate, and friend, has been a vegan visionary for decades. She’s been a sure and steady guide for anyone making the journey to plantbased.
Joan Nathan is a Les Dames d’Escoffier Grande Dame and winner of both James Beard and IACP awards. However, she may not be the first name you associate with vegan. Prepare to be surprised and delighted. Her intimate new book My Life in Recipes is a journey in and of itself. It begins with a recipe for her family’s traditional recipe for chicken soup with matzo balls, ends with a recipe for vegetable soup with vegan matzo balls, and has a hundred recipes and stories sandwiched in between.
I’m sharing both their recipes now, because as Nathan — and anyone who’s hosted a Seder knows — planning and preparation are crucial. Since both the soup and the matzo balls may be made ahead, I invite you to shop and cook this weekend and get a head start on a spectacular Seder menu.
Debating between Joan’s recipe and Nava’s? They’re both delicious, they’re both vegan, they both have celebrity endorsements (Nava’s recipe got a shout-out from Mayim Bialik. Joan’s has Natalie Portman’s seal of approval). Why struggle? Make both!
Broccoli Rising returns to your inbox as usual on Monday —- an Earth Day Passover double-header!
Photo credit and many thanks to Susan Voisin.
Vegan Matzo Ball Soup by Nava Atlas
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 celery stalks, diced
One 32-ounce carton vegetable broth
6 medium potatoes, peeled and finely diced
6 to 8 medium carrots, sliced
Handful of celery leaves
1 tablespoon all-purpose seasoning (like Frontier® or Mrs. Dash®)
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill, or to taste
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
I like to start the vegan matzo balls before starting the soup, so head on over to that recipe first. You can also make them ahead of time.
Heat the oil in a large soup pot. Add the onion and celery and sauté over medium heat until golden.
Add the broth, potato, carrots, celery leaves, seasoning blend, and 2 cups of water. Bring to a rapid simmer, then cover and simmer gently for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.
Stir in the dill, then season with salt and pepper. If time allows, let the soup stand for several hours off the heat to develop flavor. This can also be made a day in advance.
Just before serving, bring to a simmer. Adjust the consistency with more water if need be, and taste to adjust seasonings. Add warmed matzo balls to individual servings of soup.
Vegan Matzo Balls with Vegetable Broth by Joan Nathan
From My Life in Recipes: Food, Family, and Memories © 2024 by Joan Nathan. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Matzo meal, potato starch, a little olive oil, lots of ginger, dill, and cilantro lend plenty of flavor, while chickpea water (known as aquafaba) pro-vides the necessary protein and binding powers that would otherwise come from eggs. You can use the liquid from a can of chickpeas, but I prefer soaking dry chickpeas in water and then cooking them for about a half-hour. Chickpeas are a powerhouse food, one of the oldest high- protein ingredients known to mankind, and I love that people are finding new ways to use even their cooking liquid.
Ginger and nutmeg are characteristics of German Jewish matzo balls; the Yemenite addition of cilantro and dill contributes even more bright-ness and flavor to an often bland vegetable soup.
Serves 4 to 6, with 20 matzo balls
For the Matzo Balls:
1 cup (115 grams) matzo meal
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ cup (48 grams) potato starch
1 teaspoon minced fresh dill
2 tablespoons minced fresh Italian parsley
2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger, or to taste
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 teaspoons kosher salt, or to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
¼ cup (60 ml) olive oil
About 1½ cups (355 ml) aquafaba (chickpea cooking liquid; from home-cooked or a can, preferably low- sodium)
For the Broth:
8 cups (1.9 liters) vegetable broth or water
1 leek, cleaned and diced
1 medium onion, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, diced
½ kohlrabi bulb, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Lots of chopped dill, cilantro, Italian parsley, or basil, for serving
Zhug or harissa, for serving (optional)
1. To make the matzo balls Mix the matzo meal, baking soda, baking powder, potato starch, dill, parsley, cilantro, ginger, nutmeg, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl. Add the olive oil and enough chickpea liquid to make a slightly sticky mixture that’s not too wet or loose. (The matzo meal will absorb lots of the liquid.) Refrigerate the batter for about ½ hour.
2. To make the broth Bring the broth or water to a boil, and add the leek, onion, olive oil, garlic, kohlrabi, celery, carrots, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables are cooked through, and then remove the pot from the heat.
3. When the matzo mix is cold, return the broth to a low simmer. Dip your hands into cold water, and form balls about 2 inches in diameter, or the size of a large walnut; you should have about twenty matzo balls. Carefully drop them into the broth, cover the pot, and simmer for 20 minutes. Garnish with lots of fresh herbs, and if you want more punch to your soup, serve with some zhug or harissa.