Hungarian Curd Cheese Dumplings
Curd cheese dumplings are a quick and inexpensive dish. The basic ingredient is dough made from curd cheese, semolina, and eggs, which is rolled in toasted breadcrumbs and served with a variety of flavors after cooking for a few minutes. It can be served as a main course or a dessert. Some of the semolina can be replaced with flour, resulting in lighter curd cheese dumplings.
The story of dumplings
It arrived in Hungary via Austrian mediation and, according to cookbooks, it began to spread around the second half of the nineteenth century, roughly when the domestic dairy industry began to grow and dairy products were no longer available only from pails in the cities. Despite the strong Austrian influence, the legend of the Czech origins lives on, as evidenced by the Czechs’ love of dumplings. Today’s dumplings, Knedle, etc., but we still need to look for the origins of the situation not only in the last two hundred years, but much earlier. For thousands of years, dumplings have been a traditional and integral part of the gastronomy of Alpine peoples and countries.
Dumplings that have been around for thousands of years
The first Austrian dumplings were discovered during excavations of Neolithic pile villages in the Mondsee area. These lakeside villages were inhabited between 2500 and 1800 BC, making the first Austrian dumpling discoveries at least four thousand years old. Some believe that kneading porridge (porridge) into balls and then drying it, along with drying meat and fruit, was one of the first preservation methods. The early ancestors of filled pasta were also discovered in the Salzkammergut. People living there “wrapped” fruits and meat in pasta four thousand years ago, leading to the discovery of the distant ancestors of plum dumplings and meat dumplings. Only 1,000 of the first written mentions are known, in comparison.o.
Versions of curd cheese dumplings
Curd cheese dumplings with fruit are sometimes made. Vanilla, ground cinnamon, or nuts can be added to the toasted crumb. You can also serve the dumplings with vanilla sauce or strawberry mousse.
The dish is also available in salty variations. In this case, the dumplings are typically prepared in the same manner as described above, but with a variety of salty dressings (garlic, dill sour cream, tomato sauce, Parmesan sauce mixed with chive) for flavoring.
Fake curd cheese dumplings
The most dangerous aspect of making curd cheese dumplings is overcooking them. It will either fall apart or become rock-hard or sticky in this case. Errors are said to never occur again with the new trick. The method calls for semolina to be boiled in milk with sugar until thick and then allowed to cool. After that, using wet hands, form balls from the cooled semolina and serve in the traditional manner.
Ingredients:
- 3 eggs
- 500 g curd cheese (“túró”) or Ricotta or Cottage cheese
- 3 tbsp of semolina
- 3 tbsp of plain flour
- 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract or 1 tbsp of vanilla sugar
- 1/2 tsp of grated lemon peel
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt (or more to taste)
- 3 tbsp of butter
- 2 tbsp of sugar
- 2 tbsp of cooking oil or lard
- 1 cup of breadcrumbs + 3 tbsp of sugar
- sour cream and powdered sugar for serves
Steps:
- Separate egg whites and yolks.
- Add egg yolks, semolina, flour, vanilla, lemon zest, melted butter and salt to curd. Mix thoroughly. Place in refrigerator for at least 3 hours.
- Whip egg whites with 2 tablespoons sugar and gently fold into the curd mixture.
- With wet hands, form medium sized balls from the mixture.
- Cook dumplings in lightly boiling salted water until balls rise to the surface + 5 minutes. Cut a dumpling in half and check if it is cooked through.
- Fry the breadcrumbs in hot oil for 3-4 minutes. Add the sugar and continue frying until golden brown.
- Roll the dumplings in the breadcrumbs and serve with sour cream and powdered sugar.
Watch our video about this recipe: