Halushki Recipe Traditional Ukrainian Dumplings

HALUSHKI

Steps:

• Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Turn the dough out unto a floured surface. Roll the dough out to about 14-inch rectangle and 1/4-inch thick. Cut the dough into 1-inch squares. Add the dough to the boiling water and cook for about 4 to 5 minutes, or until the dough floats for 1 minute in the water and is fully cooked. Remove and drain on paper towels. Season with salt. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large saute pan. Add the onions. Season with salt and pepper. Saute until tender, about 3 to 4 minutes. In a large mixing bowl, toss the dumplings with the onions and cheese. Toss well. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon into a serving bowl and garnish with parsley. Serve warm.
• In a mixing bowl, combine the water, oil and egg. Mix well. Add the salt and 3 cups of the flour. Mix until the dough comes together and form a smooth ball. **If the dough is too sticky-add a little more flour, about 1/4 cup at a time. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 30 minutes.

HALUSHKY OR KNEDLIKI

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the flour, farina, baking powder, and salt. Mix well.
• Add the butter in small pieces. Crumble the flour mixture with your fingertips to form a coarse meal.
• Add the eggs and milk. Stir until the batter is smooth.
• Bring the salted water to a boil. Using two tablespoons, drop the batter into the boiling water. Cover, and simmer for 8 minutes. Cook 6 to 8 at a time.
• Remove cooked dumplings from the water with a slotted spoon and place them in a buttered ovenproof dish. Keep warm in a slow 250°F oven until all the dumplings and the topping are done.
• To prepare the topping, melt the butter in a skillet. Saute the sliced onions until they are light brown and starting to crisp. Remove from heat.
• Cover the dumplings with the fried onions. Serve accompanied by a bowl of sour cream, if you wish. Yield: About 12 to 15 dumplings.
• Leftover halushky are delicious fried in butter or bacon fat.

HALUSHKY (POTATO DUMPLINGS) UKRAINE / RUSSIA

Steps:

• Be sure to wash the potatoes before doing anything with them.
• Take the one uncooked, peeled potato. Grind in a meatgrinder.
• Cook the other potatoes in salted water. Drain, cool, peel and grind them also in the meat grinder.
• Combine cooked potatoes with fresh potato and egg.
• Brown finely chopped onion in oil. Combine with flour and stir. Season with salt and red pepper. Mix with the potatoes.
• Bring at least a quart of salted water to a simmmer. Drop in spoonfulls of the batter. Cook at a slow boil for 8-10 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon to a colander. Do not overcrowd the cooking water.
• To serve, put on a plate and drizzle with butter. Pass with sour cream. It can also be served with fried mushrooms to go with meat dishes.

HALUSHKY

Steps:

• Place 4 quarts water in large cooking pot and place on high heat. Prepare dough while waiting for water to boil.
• To blender, add cup of water, egg and salt. Turn blender on "high" and add potato chunks a few at a time, blending all untill completely liquified.
• Pour water/potato liquid in large mixing bowl. Add cup of flour and mix with sturdy mixing spoon.
• Continue to add flour slowly until mixture is just slight stiff. It should be sticky and soft, yet firm enough to hold its shape so that it doesn't flow off a large dinner plate. If too soft, it will flow like lava. lt's okay to be too stiff. Dumplings will just have to cook 5 minutes longer.
• The best way to make consistently-sized dumplings is to use a spaetzle/halushky maker. Halushky can be made without the use of a "maker", the way it was done for generations in the old country.
• The manual method involves dumping some of the soft dough onto a large, flat plate. Hold the plate, at a slightly downward slant, on the edge ofthe boiling water.
• Wet a large spoon with the water. (A "large" spoon puts more distance between your and the boiling water!) With the spoon, cut off small pieces of dough (about the.size of a Halls cough drop) and let it plop into the boiling water.
• Continue this process until all the dough has been turned into dumplings. (The wet spoon can be used to push more dough to the edge of the plate to make it easy to cut off the dumplings. The sticky dough won't stick to a vvet spoon.).
• After the last dumplings are in the boiling water, boil for about l5 to 20 minutes.
• Remove from the stove and strain through a colander. Don't rinse.
• Dumplings can be used for various stand-alone halushky recipes or can be added to soups or stews. (lf being added to soups or stews, the dumplings can be cooked directly in the soup or stew without boiling first separately.).

JILL'S UKRAINIAN HALUSHKI

Steps:

• Fry bacon in deep skillet until you have about 1/4 to 1/3 cup grease.
• Set bacon aside for BLT's or nibbling.
• (I add it to the recipe just before serving.) Add onion, and saute over medium heat until almost translucent.
• Add cabbage, about 1/3 at a time, covering pan and lowering heat a bit to prevent scorching.
• Continue until all cabbage is in pan, and cook until limp and tender.
• Add 1/2 to 1 full tablespoon fresh pepper-- salt at the very end-- be reserved with salt-- the cabbage picks up the sodium in the bacon and the cooked noodles.
• Add cabbage mixture to cooked noodles, tossing well to mix.
• Serves about 450 people as a side dish, 6-8 as more of a main course.

SLOVAK HALUSKI

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook egg noodles in the boiling water, stirring occasionally until cooked through but firm to the bite, about 5 minutes. Drain.
• Melt butter in a skillet over low heat; cook and stir onion until onion is softened and butter is golden brown, 5 to 10 minutes. Add cabbage and toss to coat. Place a lid on the skillet; cook cabbage mixture, stirring occasionally, until cabbage is tender, about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove lid and continue to cook until cabbage begins to brown, 5 to 10 more minutes.
• Mix noodles and cabbage together in a serving bowl; season with salt and pepper.