It’s the Nine Days, when cooking options are severely curtailed and I’ve been craving cabbage noodles. That’s the name my mother uses for the archetypical European dish alternatively known as káposztás tészta, Kraut Lukshen, or Kraut Pletzlach. It’s perfect for this week because it is pareve and filling.

Thought cabbage noodles was a mostly because it’s ingredients were cheap and readily available, when I was growing up in New York, I hardly tasted it.

That was because of the noodles.

My mother was fanatical about them. Only a certain type of square egg pasta would do. Back in Satmar, my late grandmother had rolled and cut these noodles out by hand, but my mother never did. The 1960s were the golden age of frozen foods and TV dinners. No one made pasta at home back then so she did the next best thing—she trekked to her cousin Duvid’s Brooklyn store, the only place in the Five Boros, perhaps in all of North America where these noodles were sold.

The store was the kind of neighborhood establishment that is nearly extinct today. There was sawdust on the floor a large can of schmaltz herring on the counter and Duvid in his grey grocer’s jacket smilingly greeting his customers by name. Duvid always seemed to be smiling—no small thing for a survivor of a brutal Hungarian labor camp, who had lost eight siblings plus his mother in “the” war.

The noodles were packaged in cellophane with a blue sheet tucked inside giving ingredients and cooking instructions in Yiddish, no English translation as if the manufacturer knew that no one but a Yiddish speaker would ever buy them. And they were worth the trek.

Made with flour and egg yolks, these small squares magically remained al dente even after a long boiling. Thick and chewy they were the perfect foil to the gossamer weightlessness of the sautéed cabbage.

As much as I’ve searched, I’ve never found them so I’ve substituted.— but even with ordinary pasta my cabbage noodles are still yummy and very easy to make Here’s how.

Ingredients

One large onion diced fine

4 cups of shredded cabbage (one bag)

2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 and ¼ teaspoons of salt (taste to see if you need more)

¼ teaspoon black pepper, coarsely ground.

One package of egg noodles cooked according to package directions and drained. Bow ties are nice.

Instructions.

Saute one large or two small onions in the oil .When onions are translucent, add the cabbage and spices. Cook together until soft (about 25 minutes) stirring from time to time so the vegetables don’t burn..

Combine noodles and cabbage and enjoy.

Nine Days variation: chop on pareve hotdogs or tofu marinated in teriyaki sauce and you have a whole meatless meal. Don’t eat this before the fast though-it’s too spicey.

END