When researching traditional Chanukah foods, I stumbled on this recipe for Fried Noodle Pudding. While it seems different from a traditional latke, it does have a lot in common – plain starch as the main component, onions for flavor, eggs to bind, and fried in oil.
In this case, fine egg noodles are boiled until tender and a chopped onion is cooked until caramelized. The cooked noodles and caramelized onion is mixed together with some salt, pepper, and eggs.
This mixture is poured into a heated pan coated in hot oil, and cooked until a beautiful golden brown. The mixture is then flipped over, and cooked on the other side.
I enjoyed this so much that I made it several weeks in a row, reheating it at work and savoring every slightly greasy bite. Here’s my lunch pictured below, a wedge of fried noodle pudding and two Colombian buñuelos – look for that recipe coming soon!
Ingredients
- 8 ounces fine egg noodles
- 2 tablespoons pareve margarine (can use butter instead)
- 1 large onion, diced
- 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 eggs, beaten
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Boil a pot of water. Add the egg noodles, cook according to the package directions, and drain. Place the drained noodles in a bowl and add the margarine, turning until the noodles are all coated and the margarine has completely melted into the noodles.
- Preheat a frying pan over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons of oil, then add the onion. Fry the onions until they have gone past the translucent stage and are a golden color. If the onions are browning too fast, turn down the heat and add a little water to stop the color.
- Add the caramelized onion to the bowl of noodles. Add the salt, pepper, and eggs and mix the ingredients together.
- Return the frying pan to the stove, and add the remaining 4 tablespoons of oil. When the oil is hot, add the noodle mixture, spreading it out in an even layer all across the pan.
- Cook until it's a nice golden brown, periodically checking to make sure it isn't burning, or moving the pan around on the burner if there's a light spot.
- Now it is ready to turn. The safe way is to place a large plate over the pan, turn it over so the noodles fall onto the plate, then slide the noodles back into the pan. The quicker method is to use one or two large spatulas to get underneath the noodle pudding, and then flip it over, re-arranging it if an edge folds over.
- When the second side is nice and golden, remove from heat and slide the noodle pudding onto a cutting board. Cut it into wedges, and serve.
Thats how I have always made kugel.
Very interesting! It very much makes sense as a pareve kugel – I grew up with a dairy kugel only, so that’s what I think of as “kugel” 🙂
We always called this type Kugel and the dairy version was called noodle pudding. Thank you for this recipe since my grandmother never wrote hers down before she passed away. Also, she always made this with mushrooms as well.