Normally after we complete a cooking adventure and are in the middle of enjoying the fruits of our labor we decide which recipe to schedule our next adventure. Our video dinner date was cut short from an important phone call I had to take, so we did not get a chance to discuss our next adventure. I few days after the Spanish Delight, I received a text asking "Can we cook "Granny M's and Bapka's Sour Soup" next time?" A stewed on the question a little bit later and finally emailed my aunt and said the following "I saw your message about wanting to cook Granny M's and Bapka's Sour Soup... to be honest this recipe terrifies me because I don't think I have tasted anything like it before and am really nervous about it... I noticed that [the recipe] also said to "serve with potato dumplings" but I have never made these before, either. Should we make those once before making the soup with them?" - That one sentence saved me my encounter with Sour Soup... for now. Which means, let's get into today's adventure - "Great-Grandma KZ's Recipe Potato Dumplings" - for me, this recipe is my 2x great grandma's recipe!
When reading the recipe for the potato dumplings, again, with most recipes, lots of questions ensued. Scaling back - how much, there is only two measurements listed in this entire recipe. First it called for three large potatoes. I am scaling back the recipe because three potatoes seemed as though it would make a substantial amount of dumplings. I'm only adding one! My aunts ended up using two but agreed that it made a significantly large number of dumplings so they were glad they didn't use three whole potatoes. The second measurement was for 1 tsp of salt - so I ended up using 1/3 tsp of salt (I probably will end up using closer to 1 tsp in the future for the mixture, or at least to taste).
"Start adding flour until right consistency to cut with a spoon" - I can honestly say this ingredient will most likely vary each time this dish is made, because there are too many factors that will change the amount you need. I can't even tell you how much flour I ended up using except that I believe it was less than a full cup?
Before we made the dish, I guessed it was going to be close to the texture of play-doh; I find play-doh really fun, so I was looking forward to playing with my food!
The recipe said to serve with fried cabbage, but instead my aunt sent me a recipe for Kopytka that fried the dumplings with bacon, onion, and garlic instead. I was planning on also including some Brussels sprouts because it sounded amazing, but they were $8.00 a bag of fresh Brussels at the store - so this time I didn't add them!
It has been a challenging year with Covid-19 and all the personal things but these cooking adventures are a nice outlet. I also was worried about making these; at first I thought they get rolled out like gnocchi. I have a smaller kitchen so that was going to be a little bit of a challenge. The recipe actually reads as though all the mixing happens in the bowl, so I was excited!Now onto the recipe! I was greeted with big smiles and excitement for the adventure and a little unexpected twist - my aunt actually filmed clips of the cooking process into a short video! I was a little skeptical (believe it or not I'm a little self-conscious in front of a camera) but it turned out great! ( I will see if I can link it somehow). Now onto the cooking adventure!
First step, peel and grate three large potatoes - okay already discussed only one potato was used in the making of this dish for me.
We weren't convinced the dumplings would stay together without an egg so we were faced with - an egg or no egg, that is the ultimate question. I made a couple small "testers" to see if it would hold. We were surprised the excess water and starch from the potatoes actually did bind together the dumplings just fine! 
Once we knew they would hold together, it was time to start forming the rest of the dumplings.
The next step was to add salt and begin adding flour until the "dough" has the right consistency to cut with a spoon and to put "small spoonfuls" of the dough into the boiling water.
Apparently they meant a kiddie spoon or sugar spoon because even when I attempted a "small teaspoon" they still seemed to come out super large dumplings. Aunt P. says the dumplings that go into Sour Soup (dang! She didn't forget) are much smaller.
We cooked each batch of dumplings for about 12 minutes, some still seemed a little doughy in the center but it could be we should have cooked longer since they were larger "chunkers". Be sure to stir occasionally as they could potentially stick. Another lesson learned, the dumplings hold together much better if you squeeze them, pack, them, roll them tightly with lots of love - the test batch I simply balled the dough cut with the spoon and when it was time to rinse them, they fell apart! Apparently these "porcupines of the sea" have extremely interesting characteristic, spiny and loose, if you don't pack the dough together.
Because of the unfortunate casualty we decided not to rinse the dumplings when we pulled them from the boiling water. I ended up putting mine in a collander over a bowl to let the excess water drain off.
While those were boiling away we chopped up the onion, garlic, and bacon - started cooking those in the skillet.
Once heated through it was time to serve. We fixed our plates and enjoyed delicious dumplings with great excitement. This recipe was definitely a win (but really, how can you go wrong with bacon and garlic!??)
We agreed the dumplings were much larger than they should be, mental note taken for the next time we make them. Humorous musings throughout dinner - we noticed there is a repetitive theme for monochromatic dishes - I think the jalapeno poppers, cabbage rolls, and maybe a small argument for the sandwich spread have actually been the only "colorful" dishes to date!) We finished dinner while discussing current events, books, and music.
As our adventure drew to a close, I said July is our next adventure and "it will be much too hot for soup" we should postpone Sour Soup once again and instead make a dish that resembled something one would find at a picnic or barbecue - Custard Macaroni anyone!? (Gidget & Auntie M. = 2, Auntie P. and Sour Soup - 0 ) Although, I promise to one day succumb to the Sour Soup siren, I am just not ready for that commitment quite yet!
The following morning... Epilogue:
Epilogue: Even with one potato I ended up with leftover dumplings. Therefore for breakfast the next morning I cut the dumplings into slices like breakfast potatoes and heated them in a skillet, browning both sides, making sort of a dumpling breakfast hash.
Served with two eggs cooked over medium, I enjoyed this delicious meal a second time!
NEXT EPISODE: CUSTARD MACARONI
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ORIGINAL RECIPE
GREAT-GRANDMA KZ'S RECIPE POTATO DUMPLINGS
You will need: 3 large potatoes
1 tsp salt
Boiling water
Flour
Serve with: Fried Cabbage or Sour Cream ** read recipe below**
Peel and grate three large potatoes.
Add 1 tsp of salt. Begin adding flour, mixing well after each addition until the dough has the right consistency to cut with a spoon and hold its shape.
Drop a small spoon full into a pot of boiling water. Keep the water boiling as long as you are adding the dumplings. Lower the heat and cook slowly, 12 to 15 minutes, until the dumplings are done. Stir the dumplings once in a while while they are cooking. Drain and rinse in cold water and drain again. The dumplings are ready to eat. Watch the pot carefully while the dumplings are cooking. They will cook over in a second.
These potato dumplings are good served with fried cabbage. If you have left over dumplings, they are good fried up like potatoes and served with sour cream.
Polish for cabbage: (Kapusta)
Polish for Noodles: (Kluskie)
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Recipe that includes the onion, bacon, mushroom mixture:https://www.crunchycreamysweet.com/polish-potato-dumplings/
Note - this recipe we only used the bacon part, but made the dumplings from our family recipe.
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