Serves 4
6 hours (or ideally overnight)
Ingredients
Chicken thighs 1kg
Chicken legs 500g
White onions 3 large
Carrots 5
Celery sticks 3
Leek 1
Chicken stock 2
Bay leaves 3
Thyme 4 sprigs
Peppercorns 1 tsp
Matzo meal 75g
Chicken fat 2tbsp
Eggs 2 medium
Baking powder 1/2 tsp
Dill few sprigs
Method
Chop the onions in half but leave the skin on, chop the carrots into 2cm pieces and halve the celery and leek.
Place the vegetables and chicken into a very large pan (5l capacity) and pour over cold water. The water should cover everything by 5cm- should be about 3l.
Bring to the boil and use a spoon to skim off all the scum.
Add the stock, the bay leaves, the thyme and the peppercorns along with a large pinch of salt. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours.
Turn off the heat, season to taste and allow to cool.
Pour everything through a sieve into a large bowl or container, add the carrot pieces into the broth if desired, and then make sure you squeeze all the juice out of the veg and the chicken.
Cover the soup and place into the fridge for a couple of hours or ideally overnight. The soup will gel slightly when refrigerated.
To make the matzo balls, beat the eggs in a bowl and add 35ml water. Spoon off 2 tbsp of fat from the top of the soup (it will have risen to the top as it cooled) and stir that into the mix along with a large pinch of salt and pepper.
Add the baking powder, then slowly stir in the matzo meal until combined. Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 mins.
When the mixture has hardened slightly, oil your hands and roll small bits of mixture into balls (8-10). Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and drop the balls in, letting them simmer for 25 minutes. They should double in size.
5 minutes before your balls will be ready, skim the rest of the fat from the soup and pour it in a large pan to heat up. Add some vermicelli noodles if you wish!
Serve the soup with a few matzo balls and some sprigs of dill.
Eat and enjoy!