Hungarian Plum Dumplings (Szilvas Gomboc)

This is what the author of The Hungarian Cookbook says about eating plum dumplings. "To the initiate, the moment of revelation comes even before the first bite, namely when he jabs his fork into the dumpling and hot plum juice squirts out. From then on, it is a riot of sensations, gluey versus chewy, sweet versus bland - a unique item in anyone’s repertoire."

I recommend you try this recipe; you will surely love it. But you will want to kill me because it’s kind of (ha!) a pain to make.

Hungarian Plum Dumplings

Adapted from The Hungarian Cookbook by Susan Derecskey

Serves 6

6 medium potatoes (about 1½ to 2 pounds)
Salt

18 purple plums (the kind called Italian or Hungarian or prune plums available in the fall)
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
3 eggs
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, at room temperature

18 small sugar cubes

¾ cup dry bread crumbs
Cinnamon

Cinnamon sugar

The night before you plan to make the dumplings, peel the potatoes, and steam them until they can be pierced easily with the point of a paring knife. (Steaming keeps them dry instead of soggy.) Put them through a food mill or ricer (I use a ricer), then spread them on a half sheet pan, and let them stand overnight in a cool place to dry them out. (I usually throw a flour sack towel over them while they are drying out.)

You should have about 3 cups of riced potatoes, loosely packed. Transfer that amount to a mixing bowl, and mix in the flour and 1½ teaspoons salt. Drop the eggs into the bowl, and work the dough together with a your floured hands. Beat in 5 tablespoons of butter, a tablespoonful at a time, and continue to work the dough with your hands until it is smooth. Let it rest for 20 minutes, then roll it out ¼ inch thick on a floured board. Cut the dough into squares about 3 inches by 3 inches.

When you are ready to make the dumplings, take the unpeeled plums, cut them in half, pit them, and set them aside.

(Are you ready to kill me yet? Just wait.)

To form the dumplings, take half a plum, put a sugar cube into the center of it, sprinkle on a little cinnamon, and put the other half of the plum over the sugar cube, re-forming a whole plum. Place the re-formed plum in the middle of a square of dough,pinch the dumpling closed, and roll it into a round smooth ball. Place it, pinched side up, on a floured board or plate until ready to cook.

Drop the dumplings one by one into a large pot of boiling salted water. Do not crowd them. After a minute, give the dumplings a stir with a wooden spoon to keep them from sticking to the bottom. Once they rise to the surface, let them cook about 12 minutes uncovered. Just like when cooking ravioli, taste one. The plum should be hot and the dough firm but not gummy when done. Be sure not to overcook the dumplings.

While the dumplings are cooking in the pot, brown the breadcrumbs in the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter. As the dumplings are ready, lift them carefully out of the water with a slotted spoon, roll them in the browned breadcrumbs, and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Serve immediately. (Can plop on a little vanilla ice cream or some regular cream if you want, which is, of course, delicious, but you really don’t need to, and I never do.)