Schupfnudeln

After the cacophony of dainty sweetness of the last post, I thought it was time to show you a good, solid, and hearty savoury meal. Let me introduce to you... Schupfnudeln!

Schupfnudeln are German potato dumplings - you can think of them as thin dumplings, or thick noodles. I made them one night this week, after becoming obsessed by the recipe in my Dr. Oetker Schul Koch Buch that the family in Germany sent to me for Christmas last year. They're a little tricky to make - you have to boil and mash potatoes, then make the mash into a dough, hand roll the little dumpling shapes, boil them and then fry them - but even so, the whole process wasn't too difficult, just a little time consuming. And they are seriously good. I've translated and posted the recipe below. (You can thank me later, hehe).

According to the recipe, you can serve them with goulasch or other stews, just like the creamy paprika chicken served at Muttis. However, Sandra says her Mama back in Germany only makes them with sauerkraut. I know sauerkraut is widely available here, but we happened to have a packet of "3-minute sauerkraut" sent over from Germany, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to use that.


By the way, I love the idea of 3-minute sauerkraut! It even has directions on the back for microwaving it at work. So awesome, and probably healthier than the 2-minute MSG-loaded instant noodles so many of my coworkers eat. (Although to be honest, I can't read German that well, so I have no idea if this sauerkraut is full of preservatives or not. Either way - cabbage must be healthier than noodles made with white flour and oil, right?)

The packet does say it has speck in it, but I wasn't too sure how much would actually be in the packet, so I added some extra. I happened to have a thin piece of speck (AKA Kaiserfleisch) in the freezer, which I defrosted overnight in the fridge.


So, I chopped up the speck into thin pieces and fried it in a pan until crispy.


Then I tumbled in the cooked and drained Schupfnudeln, slowly turning them over and scraping them off the bottom of the pan until about three quarters of them were crispy.

Then I tipped the packet of sauerkraut over, clamped on a lid and let it cook for - you guessed it - 3 minutes, until the sauerkraut was heated through.

Very herzhaft (hearty)

Sauerkraut can be quite strongly flavoured, but the Schupfnudeln are very bland so it works together well. If you were to use pre-made Schupfnudeln (either homemade and frozen, or from a packet), then it would make a very quick midweek meal indeed.

If you look at the top of this post, you'll see that I saved some of the Schupfnudeln and fried them separately in butter to see how they'd turn out. The answer? Crispy and delicious. Next time, I'd love to try these crunchy doughy dumplings of awesomeness with a hearty stew.


Schupfnudeln
Translated by me from Dr. Oetker's Schul Koch Buch

300g floury potatoes
salt
1 egg
100g plain flour
freshly cracked pepper
nutmeg

Peel and rinse the potatoes. Place the potatoes in a pot, add 1/2 tsp salt, cover with water and bring to the boil. Cover with a lid and cook for about 20 minutes, or until cocked through. Drain and allow to steam dry. Mash the potatoes with a masher or a potato ricer and let cool.

Place the mashed potatoes with the egg, flour, salt, pepper and nutmeg in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook. Mix on a low speed until the dough comes together. Turn onto a floured work surface and knead to a smooth dough.



Pinch off small pieces of dough and roll into approx 5cm long Schupfnudeln shapes. (See picture below - the ends should be thinner than the middle).



Put a large pan of salted water on the heat and bring to the boil. There should be enough water for the Schupfnudeln to "swim" in it. Tip in the Schupfnudeln and cook on a gentle boil (or a strong simmer) for 3-4 minutes.

If you want to test if they're cooked, take one out and cut in half. (Or just bite it if you're very hungry and laugh in the face of danger). It should be fluffy and doughy inside, as per below picture.


Drain and allow to dry. Fry in butter until crispy and serve with goulasch or other stews. Or, fry in butter and speck as per above example and eat with sauerkraut. Oh, herzhaft und lecker!

Makes enough for 2.