Traditional Slovak Dumplings

So many recipes to choose from. Some people say that you should never add an egg into the dough, or sour cream into a sheep cheese. I am quite open-minded and I also like to prepare things how we like them at home. Even though so called “Bryndzové Halušky” is the Slovak national dish, I was never a big fan of it. I find it simply too heavy. The bryndza is our typical soft sheep cheese that you can substitute with Feta cheese for example. It has a very strong flavour, therefore you can reduce it a bit with some sour cream, milk or salted pasta water. “Hadžadža” was a scrumptious dish my mom used to prepare for us when we were small: it is basically dumplings without the sheep cheese, just with some sour cream and cooked grated potatoes. What an interesting taste!

Hadžadža or Traditional Slovak Dumplings, here we go

To make the basic dumpling dough, follow my instruction as per in my Scrumptious Veal Stew Recipe. I use 2 kinds of flour: coarse and plain, which can be replaced by semi-coarse flour. Good amount of sea salt and 1 egg. Some people add potatoes into the dough, but I want to present you the beauty of a meal in combination with dumplings and potatoes seperately. It is really tasty! You mix them with lots of sheep cheese, sour cream, roasted smoked bacon and spring onion or leek. Oh my! The best is to accompany with an acidophilus milk.

Hadžadža is the perfect meal suitable for kids from the age of 3. Offer with a cup of milk and enjoy!

Total Time: 1 hour

First, cook the potatoes in salted hot boiling water until soft, for about 15-20 minutes, depending on their size. Afterwards, let them cool down a bit. Peel them and grate into a medium bowl, through a simple egg grater. Set aside.

The Dough

Meanwhile the potatoes are cooking, prepare The Dough. In a large wide bowl put both flours and a good amount of sea salt. In a small bowl dissolve 1 whole egg with around 1dcl of cold water. Mix.

Start adding the egg into The Dough and beat the air out to avoid any lumps. The consistency should be nor thick, nor liquid, similarly to a classic donut dough. Let it sit in a warm place for at least 15 minutes.

Afterwards, cook in a large pot filled with salted hot boiling water. Use a dumpling strainer. Place it above the surface. Mold The Dough on top and push it inside of the hot water through the strainer.

Cook around 3-5 minutes until all the dumplings come to the surface.

Presentation

In a small frying pan place the chunks of bacon and roast them on high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of lard and chopped spring onion. The green part you can leave for the final decoration.

Sprinkle the cheese in the bottom of a large serving bowl. Then, take out all the dumplings of top. Add few salted pasta water and mix with spatula. So yummy already now. This is the basic national Slovak dish called “Bryndzové Halušky”.

Next, mold all the potatoes in, few tablespoons of sour cream and most of the bacon with onion. Stir and taste.

Serve warm with a cup of acidophilus milk or a cold lager. Finish with a sour cream, bacon and green spring onion. Dobrú chuť!

Makes 5 serves.