Back when the guy was working in Frankfurt and when I flew over to visit him, I don’t really recall eating a lot of Semmelknödel there because they always serve this dish as a side along a main dish such as roast meat, schnitzel etc, which is a lot for my small appetite (it’s their version of carbs after all). For me, I’ll always give this a miss and then order something else, like, erm, some cold Brezeln (pretzels) or sausage or Weisswürste (veal sausages) if there are.
I am honestly not sure what makes a German dumpling authentic, but these are usually made of flour, potato or leftover bread, together with some bacon and herbs to spice the recipe up a bit. It’s Bavarian in origin, hence a very common dish that can be found in Frankfurt. The challenge with making these dumplings is to make sure the balls are not too wet such that the shape cannot form; nor can they be too dry as they will break up easily when boiled in water. So you’ve got to make sure the proportion of wet to dry ingredients is perfect and measured out well.
I’ve got here a recipe that works, one that tastes great as well. At home, I can eat just these dumpling without feeling any pressure to finish off the rest of the mains from my plate too, so that works out well for me and my family 🙂 If preferred, you can serve them over a plate of roast meat too, topped with some gravy to serve both the mains and sides with.
I miss Frankfurt and Germany so much, wishing I can be back to visit again soon.
Ingredients:
- Oil: 2 tsp
- Streaky bacon: 50g, cubed
- White onion: 1, finely chopped
- Milk: 300ml
- Butter: 30g
- Dry roll: 350g, cubed
- Egg: 2 medium
- Parsley: 1 stalk, finely chopped
- Salt: to taste
- Breadcrumbs: 100g
- Water: 4 cups
- Chicken stock cube: 1/2
Method:
- Heat oil in shallow pan. Fry bacon till crispy.
- Add onions. Fry over low heat till softened.
- Separately heat milk with butter. Pour over dry roll. Stir well to combine.
- Stir bacon mixture into bread. Leave to cool.
- Beat egg with parsley. Stir into bread mixture, season with salt.
- Add in additional breadcrumbs if mixture is too wet.
- Use hands to knead 12 balls of dumpling.
- Fill saucepan with water. Add chicken stock cube and leave to boil.
- Boil dumplings for 15min till cooked.
- Scoop dumpling and stock into bowls to serve.
Serving:
12 dumplings
