Hungarian plum dumplings aka szilvas gomboc

First of all, I need to clarify right from the start: Hungarian dumplings ≠ Chinese dumplings. They are both delicious, but definitely not the same thing. Hungarian dumplings are usually served as a sweet dish after a hearty soup.

Plum dumplings were not a favorite of mine, until I decided that they deserved more attention and experimented to optimize the recipe to my liking. I have to mention that my entire family plus our granny-aged neighbor enthusiastically approved of my alterations. I always found the sugar-cube-stuffed, whole plum inside the dumpling repulsive and the surrounding dumpling material too dry. My dad admitted that he used to 'pit' the dumplings, disposing of the plum on the inside. If you had either of these issues with the traditional dumplings, give these a shot!

Without further ado, I give you the ultimate plum dumplings:

Ingredients
Dough
500g (1 pound) of potatoes
120g all-purpose flour
1tsp semolina/farina
1 egg
1tsp sugar
a pinch of salt
Filling
10 prune plums washed, pitted and halved
1 tbsp cinnamon
3 tbsp sugar
Coating
1 cup unseasoned breadcrumbs
1 tbsp oil
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Preparation
Peel, boil, drain, cool and puree the potatoes. The potato mash needs to be nice and smooth.

While the potatoes are boiling, you can prepare the breadcrumb coating. In a frying pan mix the sugar and breadcrumbs with the oil. Heat on medium, stirring often until the breadcrumbs turn light brown and the sugar caramelizes onto them. Be careful not to burn them! Mix in the cinnamon and pull of the heat. Keep stirring for a while to make sure the crumbs don't burn. Set aside.

In a bowl mix the potato mash with the egg, then add the flour, salt, sugar and semolina. Work into a smooth albeit sticky dough. Amply flour a work area and with your fingers push the dough into a small rectangle. Spread the top with flour as well, and roll out into a 1/2 inch thick rectangle. Cut into 3-inch squares.

Set a large pot of water to boil.

For the filling mix the cinnamon and the sugar.

Place half a plum and approximately 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon sugar at the center of each dough square. Take the squares and squeeze together the corners, enfolding the plum and the sugar. Gently form them into balls. Place them onto a well-floured surface. When the water is boiling, lower them into the water a few at a time. They will likely stick to the bottom of the pot, so after a few minutes carefully dislodge them with a wooden spoon. Be careful not to squish them!

At this point they will be able to float to the surface when done. The picture below shows the dumplings before cooking.

When the dumplings are cooked, remove them with a slotted spoon draining off the water. Place them into the breadcrumb mixture. Start cooking the next round of dumplings. When the ones in the breadcrumb mix had a minute to cool, coat them with the breadcrumbs by shaking the pan. Carefully remove them into a serving dish. They may be very soft at this point, but as the dumplings cool they will get harder.

Serve them warm, dusted with icing sugar:

If you have leftover breadcrumbs, you can freeze them for your next cooking experiment.

These dumplings are also delicious filled with hard plum marmalade. The marmalade will get soft as you cook the dumplings.

The same dough can be used to make nudli, a Hungarian version of gnocchi. Simply cut the rolled out dough into small bits and boil. Remove into the caramelized breadcrumbs and serve with icing sugar and drizzled with hot jam. Jo etvagyat!