Let’s Make Dumplings

With the exception of chicken, dumplings, and matzo ball soup, you won’t find many recipes for simple drops of boiled dough. This is a huge missed opportunity. Quick, simple, convenient and cheap dumplings are the best way to home cooking, and as we walk around the corner of Soup and Stew Season, it’s the perfect time to get to know each other.

There are really a lot of dumplings. Every culinary tradition in all parts of the world has at least one variation on the use of simple boiled dough. Some versions are cooked directly in the soup or stew with which they are served; some are boiled separately and then fried in a pan until crisp. However they are cooked, the cooking process is very similar: take some flour or starch and mix with water, eggs and / or dairy products until the dough reaches the desired texture. Depending on the proportion of ingredients, finished dumplings range from hard and chewy to fluffy and soft-cushioned – and everything in between. And, being neutral carbs, they turn leftovers into a full meal at home, or sit beautifully on your trendiest serving platter (ideally alongside a festive roast).

I have two recipes for you that illustrate a tiny slice of the vast and wonderful world of boiled dough. On the one hand, we have a real masterpiece: noodles, a hearty stew made from pork ribs, potatoes and onions, topped with breathtaking chewy dumpling spirals. On the other hand, it’s a simple formula for soft, fluffy, bread-like dumplings that are perfect for any weekday stew. Both are Central European in influence – because it’s my comfortable food steering – but the dumplings universe obviously stretches far beyond Europe; you must explore it as you please. With that said, let’s start with a show stopper.

Noodle (Pork Ribs Stew with Spiral Dumplings)

This is my take on a noodly recipe from Mamushka , Oli Hercules’s excellent Ukrainian cookbook . Over the years I’ve made adjustments to suit my pantry and preferences – adding more potatoes and some brown sugar to the stew; apple cider vinegar instead of apple cider juice for degassing; yogurt instead of kefir for dough, which I like to grease with drops from a frying pan, but the basic techniques are the same.

Speaking of substitutions, don’t swap short beef ribs or even another piece of pork here. The ribs make this dish. If you don’t eat pork, the equivalent weight of chicken leg quarters without skin on the bones and on the skin is best for you, although I personally can not vouch for that. If you don’t eat meat, save the dumpling recipe for your favorite vegetarian stew.

For the stew you will need:

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2-3 lbs. Of pork ribs, cut into individual ribs
• 1 1/2 to 2 lb. russet or golden potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
• 2 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar, or alternatively to taste
• Salt to taste

Heat oil in a 6 liter Dutch oven over medium heat. Sear the ribs by placing them in a bowl. Do the same with potatoes. Drain off the fat and add the onions to the pan; cook until translucent, scraping off the lipstick. Deglaze with vinegar and some water. Add the ribs and potatoes together with the accumulated juices to the saucepan and cover with water just barely. Season with salt and brown sugar until liquid tastes good, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook uncovered for 1.5 hours.

While stewing, prepare the dumplings dough. You will need:

• 3 cups (450 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 3 teaspoons (12 grams) granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking powder
• 3 teaspoons (15 grams) table salt
• 1 1/2 cups full-fat yogurt, diluted with water to a liquid consistency if necessary
• Reserved drops from singing ribs

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside. Pour the yogurt over the dry ingredients and stir with a flexible spatula until a shaggy dough forms.

Rotate it with your hands until all the flour is absorbed and you have a nice lump of lumpy, slightly sticky dough. If it still looks dry, add some more water or yogurt. Cover the bowl with plastic and set aside for 30 minutes on the simmering timer.

Sprinkle a generous amount of flour on the counter and rolling pin and divide the dough into thirds. Take a piece of dough and roll it into a rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. (The other sizes don’t matter; you just want the short side and the long side.) Spread a tablespoon of drops of the pan evenly over the surface. Starting at the long edge, roll the dough into a tight log, then curl the ends a little and set aside. Repeat this process with the other two pieces of dough. Finally, cut the logs into 2-inch pieces by collecting them on a plate or baking sheet.

Check the liquid level before adding the dumplings to the stew. The top layer of pork and potatoes should be barely visible through the broth. If it’s completely bare and dry on top, add 1-2 cups of water to soften it.

Bring the stew to a full boil over medium to high heat and gently spiral up the dumplings on the surface. When you run out of dumplings, cover the pan with a piece of foil and top with a lid to seal tightly. Reduce heat to low and cook for 40 minutes, after which the dumplings will become plump and the pork will fall off the bones. Serve immediately with pickles, grainy mustard and a stack of napkins.

Obviously, noodly is too complex and rich to be an everyday recipe. But that’s a function of the stew and spirals, which are fussier than average. Boiled dough is designed to be a good addition to your favorite weekday recipes without even needing a recipe.

How to make dumplings with your own hands

Cold weather food isn’t complete without carbohydrates, but for obvious coronavirus-related reasons, going out to shop for certain carbohydrates for a recipe is not an option. If you want a stew and fresh bread or noodles, dumplings are fine. This is the basic formula I use for fluffy but solid dumplings:

• 2 cups (300 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon (about 14 grams) baking powder
• 1 teaspoon (4 grams) table salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• Up to 1 cup remaining mashed root vegetables (optional)
• Up to 1 cup grated cheese (optional)
• Up to 1/2 cup chopped greens (optional)
• Up to 1 1/2 cups milk, yogurt, buttermilk, or sour cream

Combine the dry ingredients, add the egg and any additional ingredients – I added the leftover sweet potato puree today – and toss together with a spatula. Add dairy products gradually until you have a sticky but viscous dough.

To make them, simply toss spoonfuls of batter into a boiling pot of stew. (This is Smitten Kitchen’s mushroom bourguignon , a great recipe.) Close the lid , simmer for another 35-45 minutes, and enjoy.

The last dish may not win a beauty pageant, but those who judge a comfortable meal by its looks are stupid, unworthy of its award.

Once you have mastered the basic formula, you may feel the need to add dumplings to any recipe that comes your way. This impulse is worth indulging. Dumplings go with every warm and soothing meal: try cornbread dumplings with chili, sour cream and dill in borscht, or Gruyere-filled dumplings for French onion soup. You really can’t go wrong.