On the menu of most Hungarian restaurants you can find internationally known desserts, all kinds of puddings, cakes and soufflés. Some of the typical Hungarian desserts are not always a success with international picky eaters, but they are Hungarian people’s favorites. But Hungarian plum dumplings or szilvás gombóc in Hungarian, which always remind me for my childhood, is a favorite of anyone’s.
My granny used to prepare a lot of these Hungarian plum dumplings when I and my cousins spent our summer holiday at their flat. She made them when she had the right plums and potatoes were in season. These plum dumplings are sweet and you eat them with sugar. Yeah, I know, it looks like a dessert. But, believe me; they are typically eaten as a meatless main dish after a hearty soup like Goulash. Children like eating it for late breakfast as well.
Ingredients
- 2 kg potatoes
- 300 g flour
- 400 g plums
- 180 g breadcrumbs
- 120 g lard
- 20 g butter
- 1 large egg
- 80 g powdered sugar
- cinnamon powder
- salt
How to prepare
- Cook the well washed potatoes (preferably the kind that falls apart during cooking) in salted water.
- Peel and mash them while still hot.
- When the potatoes are partially cooled, add the flour, lard, egg and a pinch of salt, and mix into dough.
- On a floured surface, roll the dough to ½ cm thick and cut it to 5×5 cm squares.
- Place a pitted plum in each square, and some cinnamon sugar in the place of the pit. (My granny put 1 extra sugar cube into each pitted plum because she had sweet tooth.)
- Fold the corners over and form a ball.
- Place the ball (aka dumpling) on a floured surface.
- Boil slightly salted water in a large saucepan.
- Cook the dumplings in the boiling water over moderate heat until they come to the surface (approx. 10-15 minutes).
- Meanwhile lightly brown the breadcrumbs in the lard, and add some butter.
- Remove the dumplings from the water with a slotted spoon, let drain, and then roll in the breadcrumbs.
- Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over the dumplings and serve immediately.
During apricot season, my granny prepared dumplings with yummy sweet apricot. They are also super delicious. Give it a try!
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