Halushky Or Knedliki Recipes

HOUSKOVE KNEDLIKY - CZECHOSLOVAKIAN BREAD DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• Place water and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in a stockpot and bring to a rolling boil.
• Melt the butter in a large sauté pan or skillet; toast bread cubes until golden.
• Remove from heat and reserve.
• Add the remaining ingredients together in a bowl.
• Fold cooled bread cubes into the dumpling batter.
• Shape dumplings into 1 1/2" by 3" cylinders and gently drop into boiling water (this works better if hands are slightly moistened).
• Reduce heat to a low simmer; cover and cook 20 minutes (turn dumplings over at ten minutes).
• Remove from pot with slotted spoon and drain.
• Slice into 1/2" thick disks with a knife and serve immediately.

HALUSHKY

Steps:

• Place 4 quarts water in large cooking pot and place on high heat. Prepare dough while waiting for water to boil.
• To blender, add cup of water, egg and salt. Turn blender on "high" and add potato chunks a few at a time, blending all untill completely liquified.
• Pour water/potato liquid in large mixing bowl. Add cup of flour and mix with sturdy mixing spoon.
• Continue to add flour slowly until mixture is just slight stiff. It should be sticky and soft, yet firm enough to hold its shape so that it doesn't flow off a large dinner plate. If too soft, it will flow like lava. lt's okay to be too stiff. Dumplings will just have to cook 5 minutes longer.
• The best way to make consistently-sized dumplings is to use a spaetzle/halushky maker. Halushky can be made without the use of a "maker", the way it was done for generations in the old country.
• The manual method involves dumping some of the soft dough onto a large, flat plate. Hold the plate, at a slightly downward slant, on the edge ofthe boiling water.
• Wet a large spoon with the water. (A "large" spoon puts more distance between your and the boiling water!) With the spoon, cut off small pieces of dough (about the.size of a Halls cough drop) and let it plop into the boiling water.
• Continue this process until all the dough has been turned into dumplings. (The wet spoon can be used to push more dough to the edge of the plate to make it easy to cut off the dumplings. The sticky dough won't stick to a vvet spoon.).
• After the last dumplings are in the boiling water, boil for about l5 to 20 minutes.
• Remove from the stove and strain through a colander. Don't rinse.
• Dumplings can be used for various stand-alone halushky recipes or can be added to soups or stews. (lf being added to soups or stews, the dumplings can be cooked directly in the soup or stew without boiling first separately.).

BREAD DUMPLINGS (HOUSKOVE KNEDLIKY)

Steps:

• Beat eggs, salt& milk in a large mixing bowl; add flour gradually.
• Continue beating with a large spoon (the dough must be smooth& stiff enough to hold its shape).
• Stir in bread cubes last.
• Have a clean, wet towel ready.
• Shape the dough with wet hands into an oblong, roll in a towel& drop into a large kettle of salted boiling water.
• Boil, covered, for 45 minutes.
• Remove the towel& slice the dumpling 1/2 inch thick (if not sliced immediately, the steam cannot escape& the dumplings will be soggy& hard).
• Keep hot until ready to serve.