Haluska Hungarian Potato Dumplings With Cottage Cheese Recipes

HALUSKA, HUNGARIAN POTATO DUMPLINGS WITH COTTAGE CHEESE

Steps:

• boil, peel, and grate a large starchy potatoe.
• Combine with flour, egg, and salt and pepper to taste.
• Drop by 1/2 teaspoon into a large pot of boiling water.
• Dumplings are done when they float.
• Remove from pot and drain well.
• Empty water from pot and return dumplings to it.
• Sprinkle dumplings with dill weed then combine with cottage cheese (I prefer small curd but either works).
• Re-warm dish to eating temperature (cottage cheese will reduce temperature) and serve.
• Alternatively combine with boiled cabbage instead of cottage cheese (also very tasty).

HUNGARIAN DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• Using an electric mixer, blend the eggs, lard or oil, water, and milk.
• Stir the flour together with 1/2 t of the salt and the baking powder in a dry bowl.
• Blend this mixture into the liquid. Mix well and set aside for a moment.
• Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil and add 2 teaspoons of salt.
• Using a Spaetzle maker or Spaetzle press, squeeze the dough into the boiling water. Use about 1/3 of the dough for each batch. When the dumplings float to the surface, they are done.
• Remove them with a slotted spoon and place in a colander. They can be served this way with Paprika Gravy or pan-fried with a little butter, just until they are a bit golden, and topped with parsley.
• NOTE: These dumplings can also be made by using a piping bag or dropping very small amounts from a spoon. The latter takes much much longer.

TRADITIONAL SLOVAK HALUSKI

Steps:

• Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Drain the bacon slices on paper towels. When bacon is cool, crumble and set aside.
• Place potatoes into a food processor and process until pureed, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and stir in flour, eggs, baking powder, and salt to make a sticky dough. Set dough aside.
• Fill a large pot about half full of lightly salted water and bring to a boil. Ladle large spoonfuls of the sticky dough to a small cutting board and use a knife to chop the dough into tablespoon-size pieces; as you cut off a piece, drop it into the boiling water. Let the dumplings boil over medium heat until they float, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove dumplings with a slotted spoon to a large serving bowl.
• Sprinkle bacon crumbles and a handful of shredded brick cheese over each batch of dumplings; continue to make, boil, and transfer dumplings to the bowl, sprinkling each batch with bacon and brick cheese. When all dumplings are made, gently stir the haluski to mix all ingredients.

AMERICANIZED SLOVAK HALUSKI

Steps:

• For potato dumplings (Haluski):.
• In a medium bowl, mix flour, eggs, potato puree, baking powder, and salt together throughly, mixing it into a sticky dough. Set aside.
• Take a large pot, fill it a little over half full with water.
• Add a dash of salt to the water. Boil water on high heat.
• On medium heat in a skillet, fry up the bacon until crisp; remove bacon from the pan and allow it to drain on paper towels.
• Cool bacon and crumble.
• Keep bacon fat in the skillet for caramelizing onions and frying up dumplings.
• In the same skillet, caramelize chopped onions on low heat. This should take about 30 to 45 minutes, occasionally stirring. When they are done, drain onions in a strainer over a small glass bowl reserving bacon fat and the set aside. Keep the same skillet to fry the dumplings.
• In the meantime, on a small cutting board, ladle Haluski dough and with a knife, cut about 1 teaspoon sized pieces while holding the board over the boiling water; drop the dough pieces into the water. You might want to do this in batches; a ladle sized amount of dough pieces at a time.
• Let each small batch boil until dumplings are throughly cooked and floating to the top of the boiling water. (They sink when first dropped in). Repeat with another batch of dough until you've used it all.
• Strain dumplings out of the water and add them to a medium bowl to drain for a moment.
• Take each batch and add them to the skillet. Add a little bacon fat over the dumplings and fry on both sides on medium heat until brown.
• Repeat with the remaining batches of dough as they finish boiling.
• Place dumplings into a large serving bowl.
• Sprinkle bacon crumbles, two slices of cheese, a Tablespoon of caramelized onions at a time for each layer.
• Repeat the layering process as you finish cooking additional batches of dumplings - frying in the pan, layering into the large serving dish with bacon, onions and cheese until full batch is done (approximately four layers).
• When complete, take a large spoon and throughly mix Haluski with all of the other layers to incorporate all the ingredients thoroughly.
• Serve as is or add Kielbasa on the side, or slice up Kielbasa and mix it in with Haluski!
• Garnish with sprinkles of freshly chopped chives on top, add a dollop of sour cream to each serving and serve with a nice warm crusty bread!