Tag: dumplings

Croatian Apricot and Plum Dumplings

Posted on by Jasmina Brozović

I can’t imagine a better dessert that includes potatoes. Some Croatians would disagree with me about these dumplings being a dessert. It’s still a subject of debate as many Croatians eat them as main course and not as a dessert. In other words, they just eat dessert for main course. I still prefer to have couple of soft, warm, sweet dumplings after a meal 😉

Variety of similar dumplings can be found in Eastern and Central Europe, with savory or sweet fillings. In Croatia, we usually make them with plums or apricots in the summer during the apricot and plum season. They are topped with breadcrumb and butter mixture, sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon. You can also serve them with sour cream as well.

Ingredients

for 16 small dumplings

  • 800 g (1.75 lb) potatoes, cooked in shell
  • 200 g (1 1/2 cup) all purpose flour
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 16 apricots or plums (pitted)
  • 100 g (1 cup) breadcrumbs
  • 120 g (1/2 cup) butter for the topping
  • sugar to taste
  • cinnamon to taste (or not at all, read Z’s note at the end)

I made them LIVE on AZ Entertainment’s show Savour The Flavour back in 2015.

Preparation

  1. Wash the potatoes well and cook them in the shell.
  2. Cool the cooked potatoes for 5 minutes before peeling, but don’t get them too cold as it will be harder to peel the skin off.
  3. Peeled potatoes immediately mash, add egg and butter, stir well, season with salt and add the flour.
  4. Knead the dough until compact.
  5. Pour dough on a lightly floured surface, roll out and cut into equal squares.
  6. At each square place the halves of pitted fruit, put some sugar and cinnamon (optional) on and form dumplings with hands.
  7. Place the dumplings into a pot of salted boiling water, stir gently and allow them to cook. After about 10 min dumplings will pop up to the surface and then cook them for another 5-6 minutes.
  8. During this time, in a small non stick pan, melt the butter and fry the breadcrumbs. Add more butter/breadcrumbs until you reach desired consistency.
  9. In a small dish, mix sugar with cinnamon for sprinkling.
  10. Drain the cooked dumplings and place them in a serving dish.
  11. Topped them with fried breadcrumbs and toss gently so that they don’t fall apart.

Serve hot dumplings sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon and dig in!

Z’s note:
I personally find that cinnamon takes away from the apricot flavor and never use it. People often also like to put sour cream on top, when serving. What I like to do is serve dumplings, with sugar, cinnamon and sour cream separately. People then season them as they please and two people rarely do it the same way 🙂

What is your favorite dumpling filling?

Chicken and Beef Soup with Semolina Dumplings

Posted on by Jasmina Brozović

Every Croatian Christmas table has a rich soup made with meat, dumplings or noodles, and vegetables. Soups are usually made from chicken or beef, but for Christmas both types of meat are used for richer, festive taste. Meat used for soups has to have bones for that strong, flavorful taste of a home made soup.

This recipe is part of Foodies+ Christmas Recipes from Around the World cookbook, amazing cookbook with over 400 pages that shares many recipes you can use all year round. All proceeds are going to Action Against Hunger.

Ingredients for the soup

serves 10

  • 1 kg chicken meat with bones
  • 1 kg beef with bones
  • 4 medium carrots
  • 4 medium parsley roots
  • ½ kohlrabi
  • ¼ cabbage head
  • ¼ kale head
  • 1 large onion
  • 1 celery root
  • 1 potato
  • 1 tomato
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 3-4 black pepper grains
  • salt
  • 2 liters of water
  • 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley leaves for garnish

Preparation

  1. Wash the meat briefly in cold water and place it in a pot of cold water. That way the soup will have stronger flavor.
  2. Fry the whole onion on all it’s sides in a dry pan.
  3. When the water comes to boil, add cleaned, length cut vegetables, salt, black pepper grains and previously fried onion, all except tomato. Tomato is added when other vegetables become soft.
  4. When the soup comes to boil again, set heat to low and let it cook for 2 more hours.
  5. Before you strain the soup, add small glass of water and let the soup sit aside for a bit, this way the soup will be clearer.
  6. Take the meat out, strain the soup and cook in semolina dumplings.

Along with homemade soup noodles, dumplings are most common addition to Croatian soups. If you don’t have one or the other, soup is considered “empty”. There are three types of dumplings that are made: liver semolina dumplings, simple semolina dumplings and flour dumplings. In the old days when people had their own chickens running around, liver semolina dumplings were more common. These days, you buy chicken without the insides, and simple semolina dumplings are more common.

Ingredients for the dumplings

  • 1 egg divided
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 4 tbsp semolina
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 tbsp fresh chopped parsley

Preparation

  1. Mix oil and egg yolk until foamy.
  2. Add semolina, salt and parsley.
  3. Mix egg white until stiff.
  4. When all is well combined, stir in gently stiffed egg white.

Make dumplings with teaspoon and put one by one into boiled soup. Cook them for about 15 minutes until they are soft and tender. Watch out not to overcooked them because they will fall apart.

Serving
Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.

Do you prepare soups for Holidays? Which one is your favorite?