I love autumn for the comfort food. Warming spices, delicious smells and rich flavours. Growing up, autumn was the time when my mum made some of my favourite meals, using fruits and vegetables that were in season. When the temperature dropped recently, I started to feel nostalgic and thought about some of my favourite autumnal memories, and quickly went down the path of reminiscing my favourite childhood foods. One of those autumnal specialties was Polish plum dumplings – so, I attempted to recreate it!
Ingredients for Polish plum dumplings
- 380g potatoes, peeled
- 160g plain flour
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
- 10-15 plums (depending on their size) – scroll down to read about the type of plums I used
- a few tablespoons of sugar
Plus, your favourite toppings, for example:
- melted butter
- sugar
- cinnamon
- cream
- yoghurt
What type of plums to use
When I moved to England, I learnt that plums don’t look the same all around the world. The type of plums I was used to living in Poland are small, oblong, often with a line running along the longer edge on one side of the fruit. Those plums tend to be a cool shade of purple. Inside, the flesh is originally green and then turns yellow-orange when the fruit is ripe. In England, I saw plums that were around the size of a tennis ball and perfectly round, with red flesh inside. From my experience, it’s usually quite tricky to remove the stones from those plums, whilst the stones of Polish plums pop right out. You can make knedle with any type of plum, but it will be easiest to use Polish style plums.
I’ve been trying to figure out the exact variety of plum that’s typically found in Polish stores, but it’s not an easy task! Apparently, all plum trees are classified as common plums, with a few recognised subspecies. I believe the closest match can be the “Hauszwetschge” common plum variety. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen these plums in mainstream British supermarkets, but luckily, there are plenty of stores selling Polish goods all around the UK.
How to make plum dumplings
Peel and boil the potatoes in water until fully cooked and soft.
In the meantime, prepare the plums. Make an incision along the longer side of the fruit and remove the stone. The type of plums I used have easily removable stones. If you use other plums, it may be more tricky. Make sure not to slice the fruit into two separate halves!
Once the potatoes have cooked, drain them and mash when still warm. Technically, you could use leftover cooked potatoes from the previous day, but it’s easier to make knedle with moist, soft, warm potatoes.
Add the flour, starch and egg to the potatoes and mix everything together until smooth – you can use your hands to knead the dough.
Tear a small chunk of dough, around the size of a golf ball, and flatten it with your hands into a circle. Place a plum in the middle, then carefully add half a teaspoon of sugar into the middle of the plum where the stone was – try not to spill the sugar outside of the plum.
Wrap the dough around the fruit to close the dumpling. Make sure to smooth the dough so there aren’t any cracks.
Fill a large pot with water and bring it to boil. Carefully drop the dumplings into the water. Don’t overfill the pot – all dumplings should fit in one layer.
The dumplings will drop to the bottom of the pot initially. Gently stir them with a wooden spatula to make sure they don’t stick to the bottom of the pot. Wait for them to emerge back to the surface, then cook for a further 5 minutes and remove from the water with a slotted spoon.
Enjoy warm with your favourite toppings.
What to serve plum dumplings with
When I was a child, we always had knedle with melted butter and caster sugar sprinkled all over. If you want the ultimate, comfort treat – try them in that version! Then, when I was a teenager, we came up with an idea to add cream and cinnamon to the party. The cinnamon really elevates the flavour and now I wouldn’t have these dumplings without it.
Now, as an adult trying to eat healthy, nutritious meals rich in protein, I tried to make these dumplings a bit more balanced. I enjoyed them with some high protein yoghurt sweetened with erythritol. They were delicious!
Knedle - Polish Plum Dumplings
Delicious, aromatic autumnal treat
Ingredients
- 380g potatoes, peeled
- 160g plain flour
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons corn or potato starch
- 10-15 plums (depending on the size)
- a few tablespoons of sugar
- toppings of your choice
Directions
- Peel and cook the potatoes in water until soft.
- Make an incision in each plum and remove the stone.
- Mash the potatoes when still warm.
- Add flour, egg and starch and mash or knead until you have a smooth dough.
- Take a chunk of dough around the size of a golf ball and form a flat circle.
- Place a plum in the middle of the dough, with the incision from taking out the stone facing up.
- Carefully add half a teaspoon of sugar inside the plum – try to avoid spilling the sugar on the dough.
- Wrap the dough around the plum to close the dumpling.
- Continue until you’ve run out of dough.
- Fill a large pot with water and bring it to boil.
- Carefully put dumplings in the boiling water. Don’t overfill the pot – all dumplings should fit in one layer.
- Gently stir with a wooden spatula to make sure the dumplings don’t stick to the bottom of the pot.
- Let the dumplings cook until they rise to the surface, then continue to cook for another 5 minutes.
- Remove the dumplings from the pot with a slotted spoon.
- Serve warm with your favourite toppings. Try melted butter and sugar, or Greek yoghurt and cinnamon!
Also see:
Alphe's Corner 