Knephla Soup

By foodfixer

My mother taught me to make this soup many years ago and it is a favorite of my friends and family. Knephla (pronounced 'neff-la') is a snipped dumpling and works well with the vegies, potatoes, and ham that make this soup delicious. It is a little labor intensive but well worth the effort. I have started to enlist the help of my family to both teach and to make it easier. The dumplings should be mixed up an hour before they need to go into the soup. I usually make the broth the day before and strain and let sit in the frig to skim fat off before preparing the rest.

I make this soup in a 20 quart Martha Stewart stainless steel kettle. It makes a huge batch you could cut it in half and still have lots of soup. I figure if I am going through the motions I might as well make a bunch because I can either entertain a crowd or share with my children.

Ingredients

• Broth:
• 2 - 3 large smoked ham shanks cut into 3 or four pieces each (my butcher shop does this)
• Celery, carrots, and onion cut in large pieces to boil for tasty broth
• 2 TBSP Pepper or Montreal Steak Seasoning
• 3 48 oz. containers of water
• Soup Ingredients:
• 1 bunch of celery, sliced
• 1 bag baby carrots, chopped
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 8 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into bite size pieces ( I use crinkle cutter)
• Extra ham (2 - 3 cups, cut up)
• 1 quart 1/2 and 1/2
• Ham Soup Base (Orrington Farms makes a good one)
• 1 32oz. beef broth
• 1 32oz. chicken broth
• Dumplings:
• 3 level cups flour
• 2 tsp. Baking Powder
• 2 eggs
• Water

Details

Servings 20

Preparation

Step 1

Bring to a boil and then simmer the broth ingredients for several hours. Let cool and strain (discard vegetables). Set broth in refrigerator until any fat raises to top and skim. Pull ham meat off shank bones and set aside.

Make two batches of dumplings by stirring flour and baking powder together in a bowl. Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture. Beat two eggs in a 1 cup measuring cup and then add water until cup is full. Mix into flour mixture. Mix with fork and then butter hands (take rings off)and knead until stiff dough. Rub butter over ball of dough, cover and let sit for at leat 1 hour. (Do this twice for 2 batches of dumplings!)

Saute onions, carrots, and celery in a large frying pan with 4 TBSPS of butter and a little olive oil until soft and tasty. Add to broth along with the two boxes of additional broth. Add cut up potatoes and ham.

Cut each of the dumpling doughs in quarters and each quarter in 1/2 until each batch is in eight pieces. Roll dough between your palms (palms facing each other and rolling dough back and forth) until you have a rope about 8 - 10 inches long. Do this with each piece of dough(this is the labor intensive part!). With a scissors snip into small pieces (1/4 tsp) and add to boiling soup mixture. The dumplings will puff up and need to boil for about 20 - 25 minutes until cooked through.

Let soup cool a little and add 1 pint 1/2 and 1/2 and pepper and ham base to taste ( I don't add salt because the ham and broth have lots already). Thicken with mashed potato flakes if desired. When you reheat bring just to boiling point but try not to boil after you have added the 1/2 and 1/2. The soup gets better the second and third day! Enjoy. . . .Rhonda