Not Your Grandmother's Kugel

In the days of the ancestors, it was decreed that the whole people should gather in a solemn assembly to celebrate the Lord’s creation, and to begin the Days of Awe. 

And the Lord said to the people, “Thus shall you celebrate:  by preparing a sweet mixture of eggs, sour cream, sugar, wide egg noodles and dried fruit of the vine.  And you shall call this mixture noodle kugel.  From this day forward you and your children and your children’s children shall partake of this meal.”

And the mother-in-law said to the daughter-in-law:  “You shall make my noodle kugel recipe, for there is no other that will please my son.  I have decreed it.”

And the daughter-in-law undertook to do as she was instructed to do.  She approached this task with joy, saying, “At last, a Jewish recipe that does not involve chopping everything into little bits or cooking a hunk of meat for hours.”  But lo, her mother-in-law’s recipe for noodle kugel listed not all of the ingredients.  It was not clear if it required ½ an ephah or ¼ an ephah of sugar.  It gave not the baking temperature; neither did it tell the type of baking pan to use.

And so the daughter-in-law set out to gather unto her all manner of noodle kugel recipes.  She took butter of kine, egg of chicken, cream of sour, wide noodles of egg, and brought forth a fine noodle kugel in a lordly dish.  And she saw that the thing pleased her husband.

As the years passed, the daughter-in-law began to be horrified at the fat content of the noodle kugel and at the vast quantity the recipe made. The heart of her husband was not well within him.  Seeking to do her husband good, like a merchant ship she launched forth and communed secretly with Google to find a healthier and smaller recipe.

And so, at the beginning of this year 5775, the husband spake unto his wife, saying, “Lo, the high holidays are upon us.  It is my fondest wish that we should have noodle kugel during this time of festive convocations.”

And so she girded her loins with strength, and assembled lower-fat ingredients; she set to cooking.  Eating not the bread of idleness, while the noodle kugel was baking she went outside and raked a multitude of leaves to the top of the hill.

Looking well to the ways of her household, she served the noodle kugel.  And lo, her teenaged child arose up, and called her blessed; her husband also, and he praised her, saying, “Now this is the only dish which is not made better by adding cream of mushroom soup.  Many daughters-in-law have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all."

Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that maketh a good low-fat noodle kugel, she shall be praised.

                                                                                        - The Book of Comestibles 31:10-31

     Noodle Kugel 

    

Makes one 9x9 square pan.

     1 cup cottage cheese (lowfat is fine)

     1 ½  cups (12 ounces) sour cream (lowfat is fine)

     1 ½ Tablespoons milk

     3 eggs, beaten

     1/4 cup sugar

     ½ tsp. vanilla

     ¼ cup raisins, or chopped apple, optional – I use both

     8 ounces wide egg noodles

     cinnamon and sugar for topping (mix together 1 Tbsp sugar with 1 tsp cinnamon)

     ¼ cup corn flakes, crushed

Grease a 9x9 square baking pan.  Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cook the egg noodles in a large pot of water till tender. Drain.

Meanwhile, mix in a very large bowl the first 7 ingredients. Combine with the cooked noodles, and turn into the baking pan.

Top with some cinnamon and sugar, and also some crushed cornflakes if you like. Bake in a 350 oven for about 45 – 60 minutes. Cut into squares to serve.

Makes 12 servings.

(If you use 1% cottage cheese and low-fat sour cream, each serving is 5 Weight Watchers PointsPlus.)