Croatian Plum Dumplings Recipe Knedle Sa Šljivama

CROATIAN PLUM DUMPLINGS RECIPE - KNEDLE S SLJIVAMA

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• In a large bowl, combine potatoes, eggs, and salt.
• When well combined, add flour and mix until soft dough forms.
• Place a sugar cube in the center of each pitted plum. Place a large pot of salted water on and bring to a boil.
• Using lightly floured hands, take a portion of dough and pat it flat in your hand. Place a plum in the center and bring sides of dough up over plum, enclosing it completely. Moisten edges if necessary to seal.
• Carefully drop into boiling water. Repeat until all plums are in the water. Cook 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, melt butter in a small skillet, add breadcrumbs and brown.
• Using a slotted spoon, remove dumplings to a colander.
• Transfer to a serving platter and pour buttered crumbs over dumplings. Dust with granulated or confectioners' sugar and cinnamon, if desired.

CROATIAN PLUM DUMPLINGS (KNEDLI OD SLJIVA)

Steps:

• Cook potato in skin until soft (like for potato salad). When ready peal the skin and mash potato on flat surface. Be careful it is very hot.
• Add butter (crush it a bit to speed melting), flour, semolina, nutmeg and salt. Make it into a dough, and when cools it a bit add two eggs. You will think now that you make a big mistake because it will turn very wet, but you have to be firm and continue to make dough. It is OK to add more flour.
• The right amount of flour will be clear to you after you make this several times, this is amount I usually put. It also depends on quality of potato; some are softer than others. When the dough is firm, but soft enough, make the dumplings.
• Cut a piece of dough and roll around cleaned and washed plum. The dough shouldn't be more than 1 cm thick. If you make it without plum stone, break the plum into half, remove the stone and put a sugar cube instead. After that, do as previously mention.
• At this point you can freeze the whole amount of dumplings, but do it on flat surface making sure they don't touch. After they freeze, you can put them in a bag.
• If you want to cook them right away, use large pot, fill with water up to 2/3 and add some oil. When water boils, put the dumplings into the water and cook until they start to float on the surface. You may use a toothpick to check if they are soft.
• In the meantime melt butter in a frying pan and fry some breadcrumbs. When removing dumplings from the pot put them into hot butter with breadcrumbs and fry them just a bit to reduce surplus of water.
• You may serve them as a desert, but also as a lunch, of course amount of dumplings will differ in both cases.
• When you open the dumplings, you may put some sugar over it and also some grounded cinnamon. Some people add sour cream over dumplings, but I don't like it that way.