Nifla Aka German Dumplings Recipes

Steps:

• Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper together in a bowl. Whisk together the egg and milk in a separate bowl; stir in the flour mixture until a smooth dough is formed.
• Fill a large pot with lightly salted water and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Once the water is boiling, cut the dough into bite sized pieces with scissors into the boiling water. Boil for 20 minutes; drain well.
• Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat; add the knefla and potatoes. Stirring occasionally, cook until the potatoes are tender and the knefla are golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Steps:

• 1. Grate the potatoes fine, or put them through a ricer.
• 2. Add the eggs, flour, and salt, and mix well together.
• 3. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls, and drop them into boiling water.
• 4. Gently boil them for 10 minutes.
• 5. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and put them into a warmed serving bowl; keep them warm while making crumb topping or gravy.

Steps:

• To make the dumplings, heat the milk to lukewarm. Be careful not to go any hotter or you risk destroying the yeast. Stir in 1 teaspoon of the sugar and the dried yeast and leave in a warm place for 10 minutes until bubbles begin to appear on the surface.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, the remaining sugar, egg, melted butter and the yeast mixture. Stir together with a wooden spoon at first, then using your hands once the dough starts to come together in a ball. Tip out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and springy.
• Put the dough in a greased bowl, cover with cling film, and leave to rise somewhere warm for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
• While the dough is proving, make the vanilla sauce. Put the milk and vanilla seeds in a saucepan and warm gently. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar. Pour the warm milk onto the egg yolk mixture, whisk everything together, then return the mixture to the pan and heat very gently, stirring all the time, until the mixture thickens. This might take up to 20 minutes over a low heat, so to speed things up, you could slake 2 teaspoons of cornflour with a splash of water, stir together, then add it to the sauce. Keep cooking until it has thickened to your liking.
• When the dough has almost finished proving, prepare the poaching liquid. Put the milk, sugar and butter in a large saucepan or deep sided frying pan, with a tight-fitting lid and heat until the butter has melted and the sugar is dissolved.
• Divide the dough into 8 equal portions and shape each portion into a ball, being careful to tuck the seams in underneath so you have a smooth top to each ball. Pop the dumplings into the poaching liquid, making sure they are all sitting on the base of the pan with a little space in between each dumpling, and put the lid on and don't remove it for the first 25 minutes of cooking time. Keep the heat low under the pan so the dumplings are poaching. After 25 minutes, check the tops of the dumplings feel firm to the touch, cook for a little longer if you need to, then remove the lid and cook for a further 5 minutes or until any remaining liquid has evaporated so that the dumplings develop their characteristic golden bases. Pour the vanilla sauce over the dumplings to serve.

Steps:

• Mix these together until sticky.
• Drop into bubbling soup or stew, broth or water. (see below for ideas).
• Dumplings will rise to the surface as they cook; remove from liquid with a slotted spoon (if sautéing in another pan); set aside in a bowl (keep warm).
• MAKE THE DUMPLINGS #1: This method results in very small, stringy-ish dumplings and is great for soups or stews. Spoon several tablespoons of batter into a colander, then with the back of the spoon--press the batter through the holes into the bubbling liquid.
• METHOD #2: This method forms larger dumpling pieces (dime & quarter size) and is great for soups or stews, too -- but especially good if you want to saute the dumplings afterwards (more on that in a minute). Using a teaspoon and butter knife, scoop up a spoonful of batter, then use the knife to cut off little dibs and dabs, using the knife to also push the dibs into the hot liquid. If the knife or spoon gets messy, just dip into the hot liquid.
• SERVING IDEAS: We love these in chicken-dumpling soup (use your regular chicken soup recipe -- skip the egg noodles and make these dumplings instead). OR scoop out the larger dumplings (Method #2), and saute in butter or olive oil along with kielbasa or other sausage and LOTS of onion ring slices. OR saute some fresh veggies, then add the dumplings -- heaven!
• VARIATIONS: Add several pinches of your favorite herbs along with the flour to enhance the soup, stew or saute dish.
• Chef's Note: Altho' this is kind of putzy, it is well worth the effort and SO different from regular pasta-noodles.

Steps:

• Put the broth, onion, bay leaf, salt,and meat in the pot to cook. Simmer until meat is done. Add remaining ingredients and cook until the potatoes are tender. (You can also cook on low in the crock all day and then add these remaining ingredients about an hour before serving to cook).
• Mix the knoephle ingredients together to form a stiff dough. Take ropes of the dough and cut with clean kitchen shears in pieces about the length of the end joint of your little finger and drop into the boiling soup. Boil about 5 minutes or until the dumplings rise to the top. You can cook it longer for a thicker "stew" if you like.