Plum Dumplings Recipe
This is a great dish for Autumn that originated in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It is made with potato gnocchi dough in which you stuff the plums, simmer them in water, and then coat them with breadcrumbs, sugar and cinnamon mixture.
These rustic plum dumplings will become a real treat in the family since they are super delicious and easy to make! This dish is traditionally offered as a dessert, however, it is very common as a main course for lunch or dinner.
Plum dumplings are very well known and common throughout the countries that were once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This dish is therefore very popular in Eastern and Central Europe as well as in Trieste and the province of Trieste in Italy.
This historical influence made plum dumplings a very appreciated meal in Slovenia, and is referred to in Slovenian as češpljevi cmoki or slivovi cmoki (češplje and slive meaning plums and cmoki meaning dumplings). They are widely available to buy frozen in bags in the supermarkets, but nothing is comparable to making them at home with this simple recipe.
This dish is very familiar to me, I grew up with it, and it was prepared frequently in the late summer and early autumn when plums are in peak season, in abundance, and with the right level of sugar and sweetness in them.
In Slovenia, where I come from, plum trees are very common to have in the back garden or in a near by orchard and the sight of these beautiful, humble, bluish purple colour fruits, almost like jewels hanging from the branches, is simply heart warming. Plums are popular to use not only for plum dumplings but also for other desserts like bake trays, tarts, jams, and compotes.
Damsons plums, being oval and small, therefore easy to handle, are the preferred and most frequently used type of plums for this recipe. Other types of plums work very well too and fresh apricots are also used frequently to make the dumplings.
If you decide to offer plum dumplings as a dessert, I would suggest to serve 2, if you decide to prepare them as a main meal then 3 or 4 depending on the size.
Ingredients
Serves 6- 8 (you will get about 16 dumplings)
Ingredients for the plum dumplings
16 fresh plums, Damsons plums and prune plums most commonly used, you can use other variety (plums should be sweet, ripe and fairly firm to the touch, avoid overripe with soft pulp as it gets quite difficult and messy to pit them). You can use fresh apricots instead.
1kg floury, yellow-fleshed potatoes, e.g. King Edward, Maris Piper, (avoid new potatoes). I use red skin potatoes.
300g all purpose flour (plus extra for flouring the board and working surface)
1 egg, slightly beaten
sea salt, a pinch
Ingredients for the breadcrumb coating
The ingredients stated here are to coat all the dumplings, if you wish to half the quantity of dumplings half the ingredients for the breadcrumb coating
100g unsalted butter
5 Tbsp natural dry breadcrumbs
5 Tbsp caster sugar
1 Tsp cinnamon
Method
Start this recipe by making a basic potato gnocchi dough. (For more details refer to my full step by step recipe for Potato gnocchi dough)
Wash the potatoes, with the skin on, under cold running water.
Place the potatoes in a saucepan or a pot, cover with cold water and bring to boil. After the water has come to a boil, cook for about 20 minutes or until tender. Cooking time will obviously vary depending on the size of the potatoes you are using.
Don't pierce them during cooking and don't overcook them allowing the skin to burst as they will absorb too much water, alternatively you can steam them.
Remove from the pot, drain them in a colander and let them cool enough to handle, then remove the skin. If the potatoes are still quite warm to handle, the best way to remove the skin is to stick the fork though the potato and peel it using a knife.
Put the flour on a working surface, add salt and mix with the fork.
Make a well in the middle and pass the potatoes through a potato ricer while still warm as they become stickier when cooler. Allow riced potatoes to cool for few minutes and then add the egg.
With your fingers work the flour into the potato and egg, bringing the dough together, until it becomes a soft, pliable dough and do not overwork it. If the dough is too sticky, wet and soft add a bit more flour. Make sure your working surface is always well floured.
When the dough is the right consistency it should not stick to your fingers.
Shape the potato dough into a log.
Prepare your plums by washing them and pat dry them. Then cut each plum lengthwise all the way round in order to get two halves and remove the pits.
Flour well your working surface and divide and cut the potato dough log roughly into 16 portions.
With your hands slightly floured, flatten and shape each portion into a round circle.
Place one half of the plum in the centre and fill it with half Tsp of sugar, then place the other half of the plum on top of it.
If your plums are quite big in size, you might want to use only one half, as you will end up with very big dumplings which are more difficult to handle and not looking particularly elegant on a serving plate.
Wrap the dough tightly around the plums.
Seal the edges properly and tightly and shape it into a ball, roughly the size of a peach.
If the edges do not stick properly, dampen the edges with your fingers previously dipped in a bit of water, this will act a bit like a glue.
This step is quite important to prevent the dumplings from bursting and losing the juices during cooking.
Make sure you place each dumpling on a well floured surface to avoid sticking.
It is quite crucial, when making dumplings, that you start and finish the process without interrupting for too long, as the sauce from inside the dumplings (the sugar inside the plum starts dissolving) will start leaking from the dumplings making it quite a mission to rescue them, and this is from the first hand experience!
Repeat the process until you use all the dough.
Fill a large pot with water, add a generous pinch of salt and bring to boil.
Place gently each plum dumpling in a pot making sure they do not stick to the bottom.
Cook the plum dumplings in simmering water for about 12 minutes (not strong boiling as that can damage the dumplings).
They are fully cooked when they float on the surface.
While the plum dumplings are simmering, make the breadcrumbs sauce.
In a large pan, ideally non stick, melt gently the butter, add the breadcrumbs and toast for few minutes on a medium-low heat until slightly darker in colour.
Add sugar and cinnamon and mix until all the ingredients are well combined. Remove the pan from the heat to avoid burning the breadcrumbs mixture.
With a slotted spoon, remove plum dumplings from the simmering water.
Transfer them and place them in a pan with breadcrumbs mixture.
Shake the pan gently so the dumplings can roll around and get fully coated in the breadcrumbs mixture.
Place on the serving plate, dust them with a bit of extra icing sugar and serve immediately. They are best eaten hot but equally delicious at room temperature.
Just a thought
If you decide to only make half a batch of plum dumplings, you can use half of the potato dough for the plum dumplings and the other half for potato gnocchi. (see my full recipe step by step for potato gnocchi).
You can store cooked plum dumplings for up to three days in a airtight container.
If you need and desire to warm them up, putting them in a microwave is a good option as they retain the moisture.
The great thing about plum dumplings is also that they freeze very well. It is very important that you spread the uncooked dumplings in a single layer, leaving a bit of space between each dumpling, so they don't stick together, on a well floured wooden board, baking sheet, serving tray laid with baking parchment or with well floured kitchen cloth or similar.
Put the tray with the freshly made dumplings into a freezer, for at least 20- 30 minutes, and once frozen, put them into a freezing bag.
When you want to cook them just drop them frozen directly into a boiling salted water without defrosting them first, bearing in mind that the cooking time will be slightly longer, around 15 minutes. They are ready when they are floating on the surface.