Kreplach

1. In saucepan, brown the meat and onions in the oil. Don't let the onions get burnt and crispy. Add 1/4 tsp salt and black pepper. Remove from heat and set aside. 2. In a large bowl, mix flour, remaining salt, eggs, and water. Mix until the dough is smooth. Roll into a ball. 3. Cut the dough into 10 pieces. Roll out each piece flat. Then cut 5 circles, about 3 inches in diameter, out of each piece with a glass or pastry cutter. Place 1 tsp of meat filling in the middle of each piece. Fold the dough over and seal the edges. You can make them into triangles, like hamantashen, or into half-moon shapes. Or you could use two circles of dough to make larger, circular kreplach. 4. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Drop in the kreplach, up to 10 at a time, and cook until they float to the top (or else 3-5 minutes, if they dont float). Remove with a slotted spoon. 5. Drop them into the chicken soup a few minutes before serving. Yields 50 kreplach. Kreplach are generally served with chicken soup. They could also be fried like pirogen and served as an appetizer or side dish. NOTES : These stuffed dumplings are eaten three times a year: on Erev Yom Kippur, on Hoshanah Raba, and on Purim. One explanation is that these are the three holidays of beating - on Yom Kippur we beat our breast (alt.explanation: we "beat" kapparos, the atonement offering); on Hoshanah Raba, we beat the hoshana bundle; and on Purim we beat Haman! (The connection between beating and eating dumplings remains unclear to me.) Again, the key idea of eating dumplings on Purim lies in the hiddenness of their contents. The miracles of Purim happened in a seemingly hidden way, until the entire story was revealed.