Thick dumplings

Ingredients for 5 servings:

• 1 ½ kg beef, e.g. from the shoulder
• 2 stalk(s) leeks
• 2 bones (beef bones)
• some vegetable broth, instant
• 1,500 g dough for potato dumplings, or equivalent amount from dumpling powder
• n. B. water

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 2 hours; Total time approx. 2 hours 45 minutes

Potato dumplings with beef and soup

This is a recipe from my grandmother and is more suited to cold and unpleasant weather. It tastes delicious, is really easy to cook, and therefore leaves plenty of room for experimentation. Cover the beef with water in a large pot and boil it with the bones for a good 90 minutes, then remove from the pot and let it cool slightly. The water in the pot will then become the base for the soup. While the meat is cooking, wash the leek and slice it into rings. Once the meat has cooled, cut it into small cubes (1 cm long). Form about 12 large dumplings from the dumpling dough and press some of the diced beef into the center. There should be about a third left over for the soup at the end. The size of the dumplings can vary. However, since the recipe calls for thick dumplings, I make dumplings with a diameter of about 10 cm. Let them sit in a pot of water for about 20-25 minutes (depending on the dough used and the size of the dumplings). Add the leek and the remaining beef cubes to the beef cooking water and season the soup with broth. If that’s not enough soup for you, you can of course add more water. Then let the soup simmer for a while alongside the dumplings. Please do not add the dumplings to the soup while they cook, as otherwise the soup will become very cloudy and no longer look nice. When the dumplings are ready, simply pour the soup onto a plate, add a dumpling, and enjoy! You can certainly experiment with this recipe, but as a child I was always so enthusiastic about this dish that I always cook it the way my grandmother did. If you use more beef, you’ll end up with more in the soup. Tips: The beef doesn’t necessarily have to be shoulder beef. However, I don’t like the cheaper soup meat because I always have to cut away too much. I don’t make the dough for the potato dumplings myself. I either use a package of half & half and a package of raw beef with an egg, using a little less water, or I use ready-made wet dough. However, please do not order dumplings in a boil-in-the-bag, but the dough “in one piece”.