Potato, bread and napkin dumplings are all delicious side dishes that can easily be sautéed and turned into a main course with other ingredients. For us, however, roasted pretzel dumplings taste best.
So you need pretzels or pretzel rolls, preferably from the day before, as the bread should already be a little dry for the best result. You can reduce the moisture from fresh bread in the oven at 50 degrees. We also remove coarse salt from the crust.
Then the bread is cut into cubes about 1 cm long. This is best done with a bread knife.
We warm milk to the point where you can just dip a finger in and season it well with salt, ground black pepper and freshly grated nutmeg. This allows to taste the desired amount. Then we break eggs into the milk and mix everything thoroughly with a whisk.
Onion is peeled and finely chopped. We sauté the pieces in a little butter or alternatively in neutral vegetable oil until translucent. They should never be used raw as they would not cook through.
We chop parsley leaves not too finely and add them to the pieces of bread with the sautéed onions.
Now the egg and milk mixture is poured over the bread as evenly as possible and everything is immediately mixed well with two tablespoons. All the pieces of bread should come into contact with the egg-milk.
For the technique described here, it is important not to press the bread together too hard and to compact the mixture at this stage. In contrast to spherical dumplings, we prefer discs of dumplings that can be fried until crispy after boiling.
We cover the mixture and leave it to rest for about 30 minutes so that the bread pieces can soak up the liquid. After about half the time, we mix everything again in the same way as before.
Then we cut off a piece of kitchen foil about 40 cm long and place it horizontally in front of us. Next, half of the dumpling mixture is also placed crosswise on the foil. However, it is not spread over the whole foil, but only over the centre 20 cm.
By lifting the foil alternately from above and below, the mixture is shaped into a strip. Then the foil is folded over this strip, first from above and then from below, and sealed by twisting the ends in tightly. This creates a roll about 5 – 6 cm in diameter. We hold the foil at these ends and roll the dumpling mixture back and forth a little until no more air pockets are visible. If necessary, we twist the ends a little tighter to make the enclosed mass more compact.
The roll is now sealed with a layer of aluminium foil, the ends of which are twisted in again so that it can no longer open.
Water is brought to the boil in a large pot, a large high-sided pan or an oven dish. The rolls are placed in the water and the temperature is reduced so that bubbles just form in the water. The dumplings now have to simmer for a good 30 minutes, during which time we turn them once so that they are heated evenly.
Then we open the rolls by cutting off the ends. While still warm, we cut the dumpling cylinders into discs about 2.5 – 3 cm thick.
In plenty of butter (or alternatively neutral oil), the dumplings are fried on both cut surfaces over a medium-high heat until golden and crispy.
Not only a delicious, but also a very pretty side dish!
Enjoy.
And may the taste be with you.
Ingredients (for 6 people as a side dish):
250 g dry pretzels or pretzel rolls
250 ml milk
Salt, pepper and nutmeg
2 medium sized eggs
1 medium-sized onion
1 tbsp butter (alternatively: neutral vegetable oil)
2 tbsp fresh parsley leaves
Plenty of butter for frying (alternatively: neutral vegetable oil)
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