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–+ servings
Polish plum dumplings on a green plate.
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5 from 2 votes

Polish Plum Dumplings (Knedle ze śliwkami)

Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Servings: 2 servings (8 dumplings)
Author: Aleksandra

Ingredients

for the dumplings:

  • 1 pound (500g) starchy potatoes, such as Russets, this is 14oz/400g cooked potatoes or 2 cups lightly packed mashed potatoes
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup (125g) flour + more for working with the dough
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 8 plums RIPE and preferably small but all sizes will work
  • 8 sugar cubes or granulated sugar
  • cinnamon
  • butter for coating the dumplings

to serve:

  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 3 tablespoons powdered sugar or less
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1/4 cup fine breadcrumbs
  • cinnamon

Instructions

Make the dough:

  • Peel the potatoes, chop them into evenly-sized chunks and cook until fork-tender, about 15-20 minutes.
  • While the potatoes are still warm, press them through a potato ricer or mash them with a potato masher. Let the potatoes cool before adding the other ingredients (warm potatoes will absorb more flour making your dumplings tough).
  • Add flour, egg, and salt to the potatoes. Stir the ingredients with a spoon until roughly combined, then knead the dough with your hands until you have a ball of dough. Don't overwork the dough - it doesn't have to be perfectly smooth.
  • Transfer the dough to a wooden board/silicone rolling mat sprinkled with flour. The dough will be a little bit sticky but try to not add more flour or the dough may end up too tough.

Prepare plums:

  • Cut all the plums almost in half, remove the stones, place 1 sugar cube and a pinch of cinnamon in the place of the stone. Press both sides of the plum together.

Shape dumplings:

  • Divide the dough into 8 parts (if you have medium-sized plums) using a knife or a bench scraper.
  • Flour your hands. Take one part of the dough and flatten it into a disk. Place one plum in the middle. Wrap the dough around the plum. Pinch the seam well so it won't open while cooking. Roll between your palms so you have a ball of dough.
  • Place all the dumplings on a well-floured board.

Cook knedle:

  • Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer (the water should not boil rapidly!). Gently lower 4-5 knedle on a spoon into the water (a large and wide pot is preferred - you can add about 6-7 knedle to a wide and large pot, try not to add too many at once or the temperature of the water will drop too much and your dumplings will leak).
    After a minute or so, stir the dumplings gently with a wooden spoon to make sure they're not sticking to the bottom of the pot.
    When they float to the surface, cook them for 4 minutes. The cooking time may depend on the size of the dumplings. If you're not sure how long to cook them, you can test cook just 1 dumpling.
    Remove the cooked dumplings from the water with a slotted spoon and transfer to a plate.
    Drizzle with melted butter to prevent the dumplings from sticking to each other.
    Repeat with the remaining dumplings.
  • While the dumplings are cooking, prepare the sides.
    Whisk the sour cream with powdered sugar until combined.
    Buttered breadcrumbs (bułka tarta): melt the butter in a medium pot/pan, when melted add the breadcrumbs, cook for a couple of minutes or until golden brown in color (be careful not to burn them).
  • Serve your knedle with breadcrumb topping and sour cream and sprinkle them with cinnamon.
  • Enjoy!

Notes

  • The amount of flour: It's difficult to provide the exact amount of flour needed for this recipe because it will depend on the type of potatoes and how big is your egg. The secret to the best potato dough is to add "just enough flour" - not too little so that the dough is too wet and sticky and also not too much so that it will come out too tough. Knead the dough until just combined, not for too long. If you will wait until the flour is perfectly incorporated into the dough, you will notice that the dough becomes sticky. If you add more flour and incorporate it perfectly into the dough it will become sticky again and you will need to add more and more flour. So, it's better to just add this 1 cup of flour (or even a little bit less) and then flour your hands while working with the dough. If there is a little bit more flour outside the dough (and not IN the dough) it will be easier to work with and will not be tough. If your dough is too dry - you can add a small amount of milk or soft butter and if it's too sticky/wet, you need to add more flour.
  • Calories = 1 serving (4 dumplings, 1/2 of the recipe), dumplings and the toppings. This is only an estimate!

Nutrition

Calories: 1060kcal