Czech delicacy: Furry Dumplings / Ceska pochoutka: Chlupate knedliky

by Tanja on July 24, 2011

This is one of those Czech recipes which has a weird name: FURRY DUMPLINGS. Don’t ask me who came up with that name but it probably comes from the fact that they are covered with mounts of string-like sauerkraut. Or maybe the person who named this recipe kept finding hair in his meal ? Not sure. Either way, they are awesome.

This particular recipe was passed on to Greg by his Czech great-grandmother. The only new thing that is added to it is the spinach ingredient, since we thought it would give it a bit more user-friendly image. Now it has that healthy ‘vegetable’ or ‘salad’ ingredient that everyone is looking for in a healthy or semi-healthy meal, plus it looks more appealing!

CZ: Ja naprosto miluju chlupate knedliky (nevim, kdo na to jmeno prisel, ale mozna je to proto, ze ona osoba v knedlicich neustale nachazela vlasy?). Proto jsem byla velmi nadsena, kdyz jsem tento recept obdrzela od ctenare Grega, ktery ho podedil po jeho ceske prababicce!!! Spolu jsme recept ale malinko pozmnenili: pridali jsme k nemu totiz take spenat, aby byl trosku zdravejsiho razu.

Furry dumplings/Chlupate Knedliky

by Greg

Ingredients:

3/4 teaspoon yeast
1 cup warm milk
1 egg 1 teaspoon salt
4 cups flour
1 package bacon
1 package of spinach
1 onion (diced)
1 can sauekraut

Method:

Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm milk and let stand till bubbly. Mix together remaining milk, egg and salt and pour into flour. Add yeast and beat into a firm dough. Dust top with flour, cover with a clean napkin or towel and let rise in a warm, dry place until double in size. (about 1 hour). Meanwhile, cook bacon, onion in an oiled pan. Cook until lightly browned. Add spinach and cook until wilted down. Set aside. Punch down dough after hour of rising. Break into pieces and add bacon, onion and spinach mixture. Wrap around mixture and pinch shut so mixture does not leak out. Lay dumplings on floured board and cover for 15 minutes. Add dumplings into a pot of boiling water for about 5 minutes. Remove with skimmer. Add warmed sauerkraut to top of dumplings and serve. Add more bacon on top for extra flavor. Serves 4-6.

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Tanja’s note: the key to a DELICIOUS SAUERKRAUT is to simmer it until it softens, then you sprinkle it with some flour to thicken it up and ad about 1 Tbs of sugar. I also like to put in about 1 Tsp of caraway seeds. After you add all of those ingredients, simmer it for about 10 – 15 minutes longer. Yummy!!!!!

If you liked this post buy me a coffee! (Suggested:$3 a latte $8 for a pound) Thanks!

13 comments… add one

Crystal July 25, 2011, 5:20 am

Great recipe, i might make a few where i substitute the bacon for mushrooms..Thanks!!

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Martin July 25, 2011, 7:13 am

Thanks for the recipe, you all. I wonder if “Chlupate knedliky” is the same dish as “Bosaky”.
Tanja, great tips about zeli and spinach. Crystal, I have some dried Czech mushrooms. You think it would work if I soaked some and sauteed with the sauerkraut?

Ladies, remember the old Czech wives saying: “Love enters man’s body through his stomach…” Never fails.

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Sarka July 25, 2011, 7:47 am

Adding mushrooms to it is a great idea!

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Zdenek Hadascok July 25, 2011, 8:22 am

Ja bych to spise prelozil jako Furry Dumplings. Vlasate knedle trochu zavadi ale kdyz to vemete kolem a kolem, tak je to celkem fuk. 😉

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Martin July 25, 2011, 8:29 am

Translation “Furry Dumplings” is more accurate.

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Marika July 25, 2011, 10:27 am

Martin,
Bosaky are made out of potato dough and the bacon and sauekraut are served on top of the dumplings along with a hot lard. You should soak the dried mushrooms overnight in cold water.

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Marika July 25, 2011, 10:28 am

Tanja,
Great recipe as always:)

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Elisabeth (Czech Vegan) July 25, 2011, 10:38 am

I made a vegan version of Hairy Dumplings on my blog few months ago and the name got a lot of people to email me or contact me via my blog or other social media, either they thought it was funny, disturbing or gross 🙂 But either way, it got people’s attention 🙂 I like your addition of spinach. I have to try your recipe (I will just omit the bacon and replace the egg with something else).

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Greg July 25, 2011, 10:58 am

When I made this recipe, I did not have mushrooms on hand, but I was thinking too it would be great to have them in this. You really can be creative and add whatever you want to them. Tanja gave me the great idea of adding spinach and it really worked well. I’m thinking some red cabbage would be great on top of these also.

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Lucka July 25, 2011, 1:51 pm

Chlupate knedliky jsou krajove jidlo, protoze v podkrkonosi se opravdu delaji z brambor a uvarenych. Kdyz se pak uvari vypadaji “chlupate” oproti normalnim kynutym nebo houskovym knedlikum. Tento recept se mi ale moc libi, hlavne ta varianta s houbama. Moc diky!

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Tanja July 25, 2011, 1:53 pm

Yes, you are right, ‘furry’ is a little more accurate then ‘hairy’ so I changed it (sorry Greg!).

I am thinking next to the mushrooms and spinach, one could add some roasted pine nuts on the top of the dumplings as well! Now we are getting really fancy; all of a sudden a peasant dish is a peasant dish no more 🙂

Haha, Elizabeth, I am not surprised you got such strong response from your vegan readers! But hey, that’s what you want as a blogger, right? Sometimes you just spice it up a bit 🙂

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Marika July 25, 2011, 3:23 pm

Maybe a combination of mushrooms, spinach, little bit of sauteed onion, and cheese might be good. For a total vegan dish I would try portobella mushroom chopped and sauteed in olive oil along with chopped onions. Keep sauekraut as a topping:)

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Greg July 25, 2011, 5:12 pm

Oh sure Tanja, change the name all around on me now. =) One could add some poppy seeds on top too. I’m thinking some farm cheese with mushrooms, small slices of tender boiled beef, onions and peppers and we have our new Cheese steak dumpling. If we keep this up, one of us could be the new Food Network Star. They need a Czech/Slovak angle on their network. Anyone live in NY? =)

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