Semolina dumplings in chicken soup (Grießnockerlsuppe)

I came across this post over at Israeli Kitchen, which asked what people were having for Shabbat. I left a comment and Mimi expressed interest in my Grießnockerl recipe. Of course, I'm more than happy to comply.
This is probably the dish I eat the most. Well, not quite, buttered bread comes first, but this hearty soup with fluffy semolina dumplings is a very close second. I eat it every Friday.
One of my earliest food-related memories is visiting my grandma's house and always finding a pot of this soup on the stove. She would serve it to us sprinkled with chives (which I hated at the time) in her delicate china bowls, which had been heated in the oven. Those bowls were small, almost transparent affairs that we weren't allowed to touch at home, because my mom was afraid we'd break them. But at my grandma's, we were always given the benefit of the doubt. No plastic dishes at her house. Of course, we also used real silver cutlery and cloth napkins, even for a weekday breakfast. My grandma was one classy woman.
My other grandma, interestingly enough, used to make a version of these to put in her (tangy sweet) elderberry soup. Her recipe is dairy, though, and sweet.
Anyway, nowadays, I still make this soup every Friday for Shabbat. It really is dead easy to make, once you get the hang of it. This recipe makes 7 big dumplings, enough for 4 very hungry adults.

Taiba's Grießnockerl (I don't usually measure, hence the odd amounts):

• 56 g margarine, room temperature
  
• 2 medium eggs
  
• 135 g semolina
  
• 1 level teaspoon of salt
  
• a generous pinch of ground nutmeg
• about 2 litres (8.5 US cups) of your favorite broth (I usually use chicken, but I used beef this time because it was also an ingredient in the main dish)
  
• 4 medium carrots
  
• a very small bunch of chives for serving (optional, but recommended)

-Cream the margarine in a medium mixing bowl.

-Add the eggs, salt and nutmeg.

-Mix well. There should be no visible chunks of margarine.

-Add the semolina and stir until well combined.

-Cover the bowl of dumpling batter with a damp kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let it rest for at least 30 minutes.

-Bring some lightly salted water to a simmer. A wide pot works better than a deep and narrow one. I don't put the pot on the stove until the 30 minutes are up, so my batter rests for a total of approximately 40-45 minutes.

-When your water is ready, shape dumplings one by one using two tablespoons and drop them into the simmering water right away. You want your dumplings to have as smooth a surface as possible. Too many cracks or holes will let water seep in, which causes the dumplings to split or even fall apart (this still happens to mine sometimes!). The splitting doesn't affect the taste, though, so don't worry if it happens to yours.
You want your shaped dumplings to look something like this:



-Let them simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Afterwards, remove from heat, cover the pot with a lid and let the dumplings sit for another 15 minutes. Don't remove the lid during that time.

-While the dumplings are cooking, wash and peel the carrots and cut them into slices of even thickness (about 1/4 inch thick). Bring your broth to a simmer, add the carrot slices and cook until they are soft, but not mushy (al dente, in other words). This should take about 10 minutes.

-Remove the carrots from the broth and cover them until you're ready to use them.

-When your dumplings are done, remove them from the pot using a slotted spoon. If you're not sure whether they are really done, insert a knife in the center of one. It should be met with very little resistance. Or cut the biggest dumpling in half. There should be no hard yellow center left. If there is, give them another 5 minutes.

To serve:

-Put one or two dumplings per person into a deep dish, add a tablespoon of carrot slices and about two ladlefuls of broth.

-Sprinkle with chopped chives.

-Serve right away.

Notes:

• The term "semolina", "Grieß" in German, is used quite deliberately and can apply to different products. There's corn semolina (used to make polenta), kasha semolina and oat semolina, to name just a few.
  

• To make things more complicated, there are also different kinds of wheat semolina. There's the "hard" (durum) kind, which is primarily used in savoury dishes, and there's the "soft" semolina ("Cream of Wheat"), which is used in porridges, puddings and baby food. This recipe uses semolina made from durum wheat because it holds together better and provides a better bite than soft semolina would. Watch out, though, it's not couscous! While couscous is also made from durum wheat, it's a lot coarser.
  

• Now that you're thoroughly confused, let me tell you that it's actually not that complicated. The semolina you use for this recipe is the same kind that is used for making pasta or for sprinkling bread or pizza dough before baking. It's called Semola di grano duro in Italian.
  

• Put the dumplings in your soup right before serving. Don't let them sit in the broth for extended periods of time, otherwise they will become soggy. However, cooked dumplings can sit uncovered for a while, so you can put them on the table in a separate little bowl if you want to make them ahead of time. They will heat up nicely when you pour hot soup over them. Once they've been in the refrigerator, though, I would cut them into smaller pieces before putting them in the soup to make sure their centers don't remain cold.

• Don't cover steaming hot dumplings with plastic wrap. It makes them soggy and disgusting. It's better to let them cool uncovered before you cover them. They will develop a kind of skin which disappears when you put them in soup and becomes a nice crust when you fry them.
  

• Leftover dumplings can be stored covered in the refrigerator for a couple of days and can be reheated in the microwave. They can also be frozen easily, says my mom. I've never had to do that, though.
  

• Leftover dumplings can be sliced, pan-fried and served with a variety of dishes, for example ratatouille. They are also good diced, fried and sprinkled over a salad, stew or thick soup. The boyfriend likes them fried and served with scrambled eggs. I prefer them pan-fried and covered in gravy. They are quite versatile.
  

• These are very filling (also very large). I recommend serving only one dumpling per person if you have a main course planned.
  

Sesame -> Tehina -> Choumous

I love choumous to death. It's creamy, but dairy-free, filling yet somewhat light and it's healthy. Above all, though, it's just yummy.
If it's done right, that is.
Living in Berlin, I probably have the best access to non-German foods in this country, but I have yet to find a store-bought choumous I like. Most of the stuff you get here is Turkish or Lebanese and so full of spices that you can't taste the chickpeas - which doesn't really suit me. Especially the Turkish style of choumous can differ dramatically from the Israeli style and since I grew up on the latter, I naturally prefer it.
The last time I was in Israel, I brought back a huge tub of choumous from the place in the picture above (where I also had lunch every day). If you ever visit Nahariya, I suggest you go there.
Anyway, of course the choumous didn't last me very long. It became pretty obvious that I would have to make some myself. I had previously tried to get a recipe from my Israeli family members, but seeing as great choumous is basically always available within walking distance from wherever you may be in Israel, none of them had ever made it themselves.
So imagine how excited I was to find this recipe by Mimi from Israeli Kitchen! In my opinion, locals always do it best and finding a recipe by an Israeli made me confident the recipe would work.
And work it did, although it took me quite a while, because I made everything from scratch, even the raw tehina paste. You can get it in organic/health food stores, but it's made from unhulled sesame seeds and I find that kind to be too bitter.
And now, without further ado, here are the recipes:


Tehina paste

• 500 g = 1.1 lbs = 3.5 cups untoasted, hulled sesame seeds

• 40-100 ml = 1/5 - 1/3 cup oil (I used sunflower seed oil, but you could probably use other neutral oils or even sesame oil)

There are two ways to toast the sesame seeds. I did them in the oven. You could also use a pan, which is easier if you have pets and/or small kids running around, or if you're uncomfortable with sticking your hand/arm into a hot oven. There's really no need to get them all done at once, since you're going to have to let them cool anyway, so the smaller amounts you get from using the pan are no problem.

Here's how I did it:

1. Preheat oven to 320° F/180° C.
2. Pour your sesame seeds onto a baking tray or into a shallow, oven-safe glassware dish (the latter makes it easier to move the sesame seeds to another dish for cooling afterwards). Put your tray/dish on the middle rack of your oven.
3. Move the seeds frequently by stirring with a heat resistant spatula. Make sure you get them all, they easily burn in the corners of your tray/dish.
4. Toast them until they are fragrant, but don't brown them. Mine took only 4 minutes, although I was originally told it would take up to 10 minutes.
   
5. Remove from the oven and transfer to another shallow dish to cool.
   
6. After cooling, put the sesame seeds into a food processor or blender fitted with metal blades. You could also use a mortar and pestle.
   
7. Add the oil, a little at a time and process to a smooth paste. Your tehina paste should have a very thick pouring consistency.
8. If you don't need it right away, you can put the paste into a tightly covered container and refrigerate it. The tehina paste will seperate into two layers, with the oil on top keeping the tehina paste underneath fresh for a few months.

Tehina (adapted from Israeli Kitchen)

• About 500 ml = 2 cups of raw tehina paste (I didn't bother to weigh it, just poured everything into a huge measuring cup)
  
• About 300-500 ml = 1 1/3 - 2 cups of cool water
• 1-2 big cloves of garlic (depending on how fresh your garlic is and how long you intend to store the tehina before you use it)
• the juice of 1 lemon
• Salt to taste
• A drizzle or two of olive oil

1. If you use tehina (either home-made or commercial) that has separated, thoroughly stir to blend the two layers. Be careful and avoid spilling any of the oil.
2. If you want to make this is a bowl (i.e. by hand), put the garlic and the salt in a mortar and grind them to a paste. Add the olive oil and mix well.
   
3. Put the tehina paste and the lemon juice in a big bowl and slowly add about a fourth of the water to it. Whisk. Don't be irritated if it thickens a lot initially. Just keep whisking and add water gradually, lest the tehina become too runny. The perfect consistency is like whipping cream.
   
4. Just before it reaches that perfect consistency, add the garlic-oil-mix. Stir well. If your tehina is too thick, add some more water, only a little at a time.
   
5. Put the tehina into a screw-top jar and store in the fridge until you need it.
6. If you make your tehina in a food processor, just put in all the ingredients at once, except for the water. Pour it in gradually and keep checking your mixture so it doesn't end up being too runny.
   

Choumous (adapted from Israeli Kitchen):

• 500 g = 3 1/8 cups dried chickpeas
  
• 8 Tablespoons = 1/2 cup tehina (again, didn't weigh it, just added tehina by the spoonful until I liked the taste)
• 1-2 big cloves of finely chopped garlic (again, depending on how old your garlic is and how long the choumous will rest before it's served - I'd err on the light side next time)
• the juice of 1 lemon
• about 4 Tablespoons = 60 ml olive oil
  
• Salt to taste
• Parsley, chopped
• A little cayenne pepper
  

1. The night before you want to make your choumous, put the dried chickpeas into a pot, cover them with plenty of fresh water and let them soak overnight. I changed the water once, because it looked murky. By the way, I found out that chickpeas emit a pretty peculiar smell when you soak them. Don't throw them out, they're supposed to be a little stinky (I confirmed that by repeating the experiment with another bag of dried chickpeas).
2. The following day, gently rub the chickpeas against each other while still in the soaking water. This will cause many of their skins to come off. Discard the skins. This step isn't absolutely essential, but apparently the skins are not digested too well and fewer skins will produce a smoother choumous. I just rubbed them against each other a couple of times. Don't skin every single chickpea, it's not worth it.
   
3. Drain the chickpeas and cook them in fresh water until they are very soft (1 1/2 - 2 hours). I changed the water once halfway through the cooking time. Don't add any salt to the cooking water, it will make the chickpeas tough.
4. Occasionally skim off foam and chickpea skins that have floated to the surface.
5. When the chickpeas are very soft, drain them, reserving the cooking water, and put them into your food processor.
   
6. Add lemon juice, oil, garlic and tehina and process until the choumous is smooth. If it won't become smooth enough for your taste, gradually add some cooking water and/or olive oil until you like the consistency.
   
7. Add salt to taste. I also added a tiny pinch of cayenne.
8. Serve by spooning a good amount of choumous onto a plate, making a donut-like shape. Put some tehina in the middle, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with parsley and add a handful of whole cooked chickpeas if you like. Serve with pickles and pita bread.
   

I took my home-made choumous ve tehina to my parents' house for brunch on Sunday and everyone loved it. None was left, but fortunately, I still had my "confirmation batch", half of which I turned into choumous, while the other half remained whole for snacking and a great chickpea salad I intend to make this week.
If your family isn't as gluttonous as mine when it comes to this kind of food, you can put your leftover choumous in a jar, cover it with olive oil and keep it in the fridge for a while.