Another Classic Czech recipe: Stuffed fruit dumplings / plnene ovocne knedliky
May 13, 2008
Summer is almost here so let’s get ready for it! Besides Bublanina, Ovocne knedliky (Fruit Dumplings) are definitely the signature Czech (and Slovak) summer dish. Dumplings in general are eaten by a variety of cultures ranging from the Armenians, Chinese and Jamaicans to the Dutch, Irish and of course the Eastern Europeans. They can taste sweet or savory – both equally good choices. The Ovocne knedliky belong to the sweet-tasting dumpling family as they are filled with fruit. One can stuff them with any kind of fruit imaginable; if you want to you use kiwis, go for it (although I am not sure about the taste)! The strawberry dumplings are the best though and that is what am I presenting to you today. The recipe comes from my dear Czech friend Petra who found a super-easy way to the otherwise dumpling-making nightmare (especially for us living abroad). They may not taste exactly like the ones made by your authentic Czech mom but they are pretty close – plus they are healthier.…
Ingredients:
- Ricotta cheese (15 oz)
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups of all-purpose flour
- strawberries
- Topping:
- 1/2 stick of butter
- 1-2 cups of powdered sugar
Method:
- Mix the ricotta cheese, eggs and flour together and knead into a dough (step 1 bellow)
- Form a roll and slice it up into slices about 1 inch thick (step 2)
- Roll out each slice into a circle – 1/4 inch thick and 4 inches in diameter (step 3)
- Fill with desired fruit; in this case use cut up strawberries
- Seal well and form round dumplings
- Boil in salted water for about 5-8 minutes
- Top with melted butter and powdered sugar ( I also also like to spoon over some kind of a fruit yogurt)
– SERVES ABOUT 4 PEOPLE
PS: as far as the flour goes, I used the whole wheat flour and the dumplings came out really good. However, they did have a little heavier texture than the classic white flour ones.
A good Czech cookbook, by the way:
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If you use King Arthur flour, you can’t go wrong on the taste and its unbleached so it’s a little healthier.
That’s what I use too! Kind Arthur flour….And if you top these healthy dumplings with vanilla yogurt instead of butter and sugar it’s pretty much like having a power bar for lunch
Yummy!
Again, one of my favorite meals. I always loved any sweet entres. These rank up there with fruit dumplings from yeast dough (melted butter, sugar and farmers cheese as toppings) and blueberry-filled potato dumplings topped with melted butter, sugar and ground poppy seeds.
My American hubby calls these “donuts for dinner”
Thank you, Tanja! This recipe looks like the PERFECT surprise for Christmas this year when we’re in the US.
Martin’s grandma always used frozen strawberries. I’ll let you know how it goes.
You do that! Mine came out very good! I was a little scared at first because I thought they were really hard to make..but I guess not!
I do have to say that they are not as soft as the traditional Czech style but they are easier to make and a little healthier. Just remember to put a lot of melted butter to weigh out the the healthy factor
Tak jsme prave dotlacili vyse uvedene knedlicky se svestkami /prune plums/ (ktere v lete prodavaji na zakladne a tak jsem si nakoupila plno do zasoby a zamrazila je). Knedliky byly moc dobry, jenom jsem musela pridat o mnoho vic mouky (normalni white), protoze se to silene lepilo. Manzel jich naraz zbouchnul asi 8. Takze moc dekujeme za recept a tesime se na dalsi
Aha, tak ty jsi nepouzila “all-purpose”?? Ja jsem pouzila “all-purpose flour” a moc se mi nelepily….to mi pripomina, ze ten muj recept musim opravit z “white flour” na “all-purpose flour”.
A kolik myslis, ze jsi pridala te mouky? Jako o 1/2 capu vic?
Diky!
Tana
I’m cooking it right now
greetings from italy 
Hi Rachel!
Nice to meet you! I hope your ‘knedliky’ turned out OK!
[...] Last night my family and I had dinner with our longtime friend Marketa Luskacova in her apartment in Prague. She made us some traditional czech fruit dumplings (we had plum, apricot and cherry). I have only had them once before in my life–another time when Marketa made them–and they were delicious. Marketa was kind enough to share the recipe with me. I think I’ll take a stab at making them next summer when fruit comes into season. Marketa’s recipe is below and I found another recipe czech dumplings on-line here. [...]
Hi there! Just made a batch and they turned out amazing! Altered it a bit to make it way more authentic… just like mom used to make! Warm up 1/2 cup of milk in a pot (warm, not hot!) add 1tbsp sugar and one packet of dry active yeast. Cover with cloth and let sit for 20 mins. After you mix your eggs and flour, add the raised yeast and mix. Let stand in bowl for 1 hour. Then continue to make dumplings… Instead of boiling, Steam with pot of water and cheese cloth for 10-15 mins. Oh my god!!! Amazing!!!
…p.s. i forgot to mention to remove the warmed milk from heat when letting to stand for 20 mins.
takze riccota je nejblize mekkemu tvarohu?????????
ano!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mam dotaz-moje babicka a maminka je vzdy delala a nastrouhala na to tvaroh na strouhani. Co tomu muze byt nejblize? – farmers cheese?? nebo jsem v obchode videla nejaky spanelsky “white cheese”, vypadal podobne jako ten tvaroh na strouhani, ale nevim, jak chutna. Co tak na to dat cottage cheese??
Dekuji
Taky bych se rada zeptala, nevi nekdo jestli se tady nekde daji koupit vyrobky ze sojy? (sojove platky, sojova sunka …) Nejim maso, tak si to vzdy privezu z Ceska, ale rada bych to kupovala tady. Dekuji.
Ahoj Eleno! Hmm…my jsme to taky takhle delavali – s tvrtdym tvarohem, ale to jsem tady jeste nezkousela
( Doufam, ze nam poradi nekdo jiny!! Taky bych to rada vedela…Druha moznost je zkouset ruzne syry..
PS: Jo, jo, sojove vyrobky tu najdes vsude a to pod jmenem ‘soy products’
[...] How is that possible? The biggest playing factor is their bad eating habits – especially their weakness for very fattening foods – something that has been going on in the Czech Republic for centuries. Unhealthy cooking has been [...]
Dnes jsem udelala synovi jahodove knedliky a byly moc dobre. Dekuji.