Potato Rivel Soup recipe - from the Our Family Cookbook Family Cookbook (2024)

FAQs

What are Rivels made of? ›

Rivels are common in Pennsylvania Dutch cooking. They are composed primarily of egg and wheat flour, which is cut together to create small dumpling-like pieces.

Rivels are little dumplings dropped by hand or a spoon into boiling soup or liquid. They stem from Pennsylvania Dutch cooking and are descendants of German spaetzle. They are likely the easiest dumplings most people have never heard of nor made.

Combine cornstarch and a little bit of water—or the chicken stock from the soup—in a small bowl. With the soup simmering over medium-low heat, whisk in the slurry. The soup should start to thicken almost immediately.

“The more eggs, the more tender the rivels,” she'd say. One egg and about 1/3 cup of milk per cup of flour was typical of hers. Watching her, I learned that the “right” consistency is a gloppy mixture that's thicker than cake batter but not as firm as dough.

To make rivels:

Put flour and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, scramble eggs with a fork. Add eggs to flour/salt mixture and "rivel 'em up" (just stir around with a fork until mixture becomes crumbly). Drop by small handfuls into boiling broth.

Though not certain, I suspect that Pennsylvania Dutch rivels came from spaetzle. Several sources suggest the difference is that milk is not added to rivel dough. I love spaetzle with browned butter, but you can just use melted butter. See the notes below for various methods for forming spaetzle.

This is an old backwoods hand-me-down family recipe that will warm your insides and stick to your ribs. Serve as a soup, or spoon over beef as a gravy. Great for a cold winter's day or just when you want a quick filling meal. Serve with beef roast and garnish with diced fresh garden tomato.

Hototay originated from Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong, which is the largest province in south China. The Chinese usually serve this soup as an appetizer during celebrations. It is believed that the Chinese businessmen in olden times brought hototay to the Philippines.

Why isn't my potato soup creamy? Most creamy soups require you to add dairy of some sort into it. If you're finding your soup is too thin adding milk, add in cream instead, or whole milk.

It's especially appropriate in potato soups as it adds some fat and body to accentuate the starchiness of the spuds. Cream cheese also adds that all-important tang, imparting brightness and a touch of salty-sweetness that provides a depth of flavor to your simmering soup.

What is the best thickening agent for potato soup? ›

Cornstarch is not the only thickening agent you can use. Other alternatives include flour, arrowroot powder, instant mashed potatoes, or even pureed vegetables like cauliflower or cooked oats. Each of these options will add thickness to your soup while imparting its own unique taste and texture.

We then discussed Aquafaba, which is not as crazy an ingredient as you might think. It is the liquid in a can of chickpeas. Cooks are using it by whipping it into a foam and I used it, enhanced with the potato, tapioca starch and black salt to be the “egg” that traditionally is added to flour to make rivel.

This soup is laden with crabs, king prawns, gigantic snails, periwinkles, ngolo (whelks), and barracuda fish; if you like seafood, this is the soup for you. She says, “this soup is filled with lots of nutritious ingredients and it is a seafood delight.”

Hototay is a rich and delicious soup dish composed of various ingredients – pork, chicken, and liver – to name a few. This soup recipe is of Chinese in origin. However – like the siopao and siomai – this dish was embraced by the Filipinos and became part of the cuisine of the Philippines.