Chametz-Making 101: Homemade FARFEL!

Made this last Friday, but I’ve been too busy to post the how-to with photos that I put together.  Busy with… well, Pesach, so this is the last time of year you want to be making farfel, but file this away for right afterwards, because it’s EASY and fun!!!  I used a food processor for the mixing and grating steps, but you could easily mix the dough by hand and grate with a box grater like my Bubby used to.

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Make the dough.  I used 2 eggs, a little bit of salt, and enough flour to make a fairly stiff dough.  This is even slightly stiffer than I might use for pasta.  I threw in too much flour, so needed to add a tablespoon or two of water, but ideally, there would be no water in there at all.  I used the food processor to “knead” it, but you could do it by hand, I suppose.
3. Fit the food processor with a large-hole grater attachment.  I wish I’d had one with bigger holes, but it worked just fine with the medium one.  I wouldn’t want to use the fine holes for this.
4. Tear off a chunk of the dough and roll it thin enough to fall easily down the food processor tube.  (ask me how I know this!)
5. Mind kind of looked like I’d ruined the dough.  Luckily, I hadn’t.
6. You can see the previous batch blurry in the background here as I get ready to repeat with the next chunk of dough.  Repeat until all the dough is used up.
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8. When the farfel is all grated, spread in a single layer in a greased baking pan.
9. Toast at 300 degrees, checking every 10 minutes or so until it turns golden brown and has become fairly dry.  You can see in this picture that the farfel around the edges is about as dark as it can get without burning.
10. At this point, when the farfel has cooled, you could safely store it for quite a while in an airtight bag or jar until you’re ready to use it.  But me, I’m always ready for farfel!
11. Begin by frying an onion – of course!  We’re Jews!  Sprinkle with a little kosher salt and stir until slightly translucent.
12. Make it fancy (and healthy) by adding in some broccoli and stir that around for a while until it begins (not finishes) to cook.  (hint:  have your husband pre-check the broccoli florets the night before!)
13. Now, add the farfel and stir it in the pan until it is nice and brown and toasty.  Mine was already toasty, so this didn’t take long.  Store-bought farfel is sometimes pasty, so I stir it a little more.  Add water or soup (I usually do 50/50) to almost cover the farfel.
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15. Cover and turn down to medium-low for 10 minutes.  Check after 10 minutes; farfel is done when it is soft, fragrant and tasty.  If farfel is still hard after 10 minutes, cook 5 minutes more (adding a bit more water, if it seems dry) and check again.
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17. Don’t be scared if there is still some water left when the farfel is finished cooking.  I like my farfel “runny”, and you can always pour off excess water from the spoon when you serve it.  (halachic note:  if serving on Shabbos, do NOT serve with a slotted spoon, but rather, use a solid spoon and tilt it against the side of the pan to drain off the water)

           

Yummy!!!

Now go kasher your kitchen!