A huge dumpling

Serviettenknödel - Giant Napkin Dumpling
 
When was the last time I did this? 
That was the question when I thought about cooking this huge kind of dumpling. I only have some foggy memories about eating it, but preparing it - never ever. And checking different websites didn`t help either, because nobody is doing it the way I was thinking.
All modern with Glad Wrap and Foil and in smaller proportions. Doesn`t anyone have huge cotton napkins anymore? Or dishtowels?
Will my method work??

But after cooking it, I know now why other people prepare the smaller versions, you need help in the kitchen. 4 hands is a must, otherwise keep to the smaller kind of dumplings.

                                                              giant napkin dumpling


recipe:
6 dried rolls
260 ml hot milk
3 eggs
1 large onion in small dices
4 cloves of garlic
4 tbsp chopped parsley
3 tbsp flour
250 g bacon or black forest ham
nutmeg, pepper, salt, paprika, marjoram, chili, thyme  and lots of it!
5 tbsp butter

Use a big bowl and cut the rolls into small cubes,
in a small pot with 1 tbsp of butter saute the onions and the garlic and add the ham. When everything is soft pour it over the bread, use the same pot to heat up the milk and add it to the mixture.

Stir it well and let it sit covered for 20 minutes, add the eggs, the parsley and the seasoning and as much flour to get a soft but solid dough.

Take  the biggest pot you have- minimum 6 l and a clean and not with softener washed napkin or dishtowel.

Put some butter on the inside of the napkin and form a dough ball and place it onto the middle. Fold the 4 sides over and make two knots, one for each 2 sides.

Bring the water with salt to the boil and use a big spoon to close the knots around and let the dough hang down from the spoon without sitting on the bottom of the pot. The cooking time is much longer than regular dumplings, but with slow simmering water it will take about 60 minutes. Use a wooden skewer and check if the dumpling is cooked.

When the dumpling is ready, get it out of the water and peel off the napkin. Half it and cut slices about 2,5 cm thick . You can eat the dumpling slices with any kind of rich sauce- meat or otherwise, just make sure, there is enough sauce to go around.

But to take it to a higher level, you can fry the slices in butter before serving them.

I had a tray of mixed veggies in the oven for 20 minutes, then added wine and baked it 10 more minutes and with a 500 ml jug of passata and veg stock cube I had a great sauce. Blended it roughly.  To enrich it, I used 250 g Mozzarella and melted it in the sauce.