5 Ingredients or Fewer

Poppa Hy's Matzoh Brei

by:
March 30, 2010
3.5
4 Ratings
  • Serves 4
Author Notes

My Poppa Hy was a fabulous dancer, a dress designer, a card shark, a wonderful grandfather, and he made hands down the greatest matzoh brei ever. Saturday morning breakfast was the highlight of every weekend visit. He would come home from temple, change his clothes make coffee in their old fashioned percolator and slowly and methodically , start making matzoh brei. We would sit at the table waiting for each pancake to arrive, cut into 8 perfect slices. I like 3/4 of mine with salt, pepper and cottage cheese, and the last with wedge with maple syrup, my brother goes for maple syrup and blueberries. Poppa Hy had a magic pan which is currently in my cousins possession, though that is in negotiations. —Aliwaks

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Ingredients
  • 8 sheets Matzoh, unsalted passover matzoh, if you use salted or egg and onion adjust salt
  • 6 eggs
  • 3 Tablespoons peanut oil
  • salt & pepper
Directions
  1. Break matzoh up into small pieces with your hand, roughly 1", put in large bowl and just cover with HOT water
  2. Whisk eggs with salt & pepper
  3. Check matzoh pieces to see that they have sucked up the water and are nice and mushy, but with just a bit of resistance left in them, they shouldn't be a pile of mush, you should be able to see that they are individual pieces.
  4. Drain out all the water, squeeze it out, there shouldn't be any water at all
  5. Gently mix eggs in to matzoh, let sit while you heat the oil
  6. Heat 1/2- 1 tablespoon of oilin to a manageable pan, by that I mean a pan you can flip over easily with one hand
  7. When oil is nice and hot (bubbles form around the tine of a fork), pour in enough "batter " to cover the bottom of the pan, fry until the edges start to release from the sides and you can slide it around, it should be nice and brown
  8. Now flip, Poppa Hy would slide a plate underneath the done part then magically flip the whole over thing intact, I frequently drop half on the stove.
  9. Cook until the bottom has browned, should be soft and giving in the middle with out being runny.
  10. Serve with cottage cheese, or jam or maple syrup or honey or with smoked salmon & chive cheese cheese.. Small matzoh breis make a great base for Passover Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon or trout. Some people, like my brother, add caramelized onions or fruit. I don't.

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7 Reviews

Aliwaks March 31, 2010
Thanks for your comments, miss my Poppa Hy alot this time of year, he'd like this community alot. Passover was his big night, and the greatest thing is I have a horseradish that has been cut in half and passed down from him to my mother to me, and we dig up a piece every spring.
testkitchenette March 30, 2010
I love family memories with great food! Thank you for sharing such a special memory. I usually make matzoh meal with my leftover matzoh (year round breadcrumbs) but I've never made matzoh brei before...now I am going to.
TheWimpyVegetarian March 30, 2010
What a great story! How wonderful to have such rich memories of your grandfather. I'll bet he looked forward to making them for you and your brother as much as you guys looked forward to them being put in front of you. Sounds like a great recipe too!
Aliwaks March 30, 2010
Good luck Antonia, Hope you like it! I've a world of matzoh recipes for the rest of the box, though it lasts forever.
mrslarkin March 30, 2010
Another great story! And great recipe! Sounds delicious.
arielleclementine March 30, 2010
delicious! what a fantastic idea about a Passover Eggs Benedict! love it!
AntoniaJames March 30, 2010
Raised in a household overseen by a strictly-observant WASP mother, I am seriously jealous. Love the story, love the recipe. Am going to buy some matzo, for the first time in my life, to make this! ;o)