Hungarian nokedli dumplings with egg

The long way to the perfect Hungarian nokedli dumplings with eggs

Date
máj, 26, 2016

Hungarian nokedli dumplings with egg from the Taste of Memories countryside kitchenA real Hungarian classic. It is fast, easy but has its own tricks. Do you want to guess?
This post will be about “tojásos nokedli”, Hungarian dumplings with eggs accompanied by cucumber salad with sour cream.
When I was a child my mother often cooked it. She always cooked the dumplings first then mixed with eggs when we were already sitting at the table. “Tojásos nokedli is the best when prepared just before serving!” – she used to say.It was always my favorite so it is not a surprise that it was among the first dishes I tried to cook when I was going to college. Unfortunately the first trials were complete disastrous defeats. It was not like the ONE. It can be a matter of taste, but for me dumplings with eggs means a creamy, soft dish with some little pieces of cooked eggs. But I didn’t give it up. I cooked it again and again, I was angry, frustrated but finally I got it. The mistake was again the hurry-scurry that my grandmother always criticized in me.
I set the table in the garden and prepare the cucumber salad then start cooking the nokedli. “Don’t hurry so much, I cannot stand this hurry-scurry!’- I am hardly hearing my grandmother’s voice while I am heating up some oil in a pan, wait until it is warm but not too hot, pour the eggs and add the dumplings. Then slowly, in a low heat stirring continiously I cook the dumplings until it is creamy and soft, the egg is like a sauce, with some pieces of it which are cooked but not dry. In this moment I speed up to my usual rhythm and bring it to the table I prepared before. Because as my mother used to say, tojásos nokedli is the best when cooked á la minute!

“Tojásos nokedli” Hungarian dumplings with eggs
Ingredients (2 person)
200 g flour
150 ml water
4 eggs
salt
sunflower- or olive oil
Fill up a large pot with water, add salt and bring it to boil. Mix the flour with one egg and the water: it should be a sticky, soft dough. Don’t stir it too much anyway your dumplings will be too hard. You will need a spaetzle maker or you can use a wooden board and a wet knife to cut small pieces of the dough into the boiling water. Place the spaetzle maker upside down on the top of the pot so it will be a bit wet so the dough won’t stick to it. Prepare another pot next to the other one and pour a few drops of oil into it. When the water is boiling pour a part of the dough on the spaetzle maker and work quickly. Stir it and wait until all the dumplings come up to the surface. Use a small sieve to remove them, and pour cold water on it to stop cooking process. Moving the sieve to remove any excess water and put the dumplings into the other pot and mix with the oil so they don’t stick to each other. Continue with the rest of the dough. Before serving beat the 3 eggs with 3 pinches of salt and heat a bit of oil in a pan. When a drop of egg already slowly starts to cook (the oil shouldn’t be too hot, be careful!) pour the egg into the pan and add the dumplings as well. Reduce the heat and stirring continuously slowly cook it until the egg is still creamy and sticky or according to your taste. Serve it immediately.

Hungarian nokedli dumplings with egg from the Taste of Memories countryside kitchen

Cucumber salad with sour cream
Ingredients:
1 cucumber
175 ml sour cream
1 tsp. salt
1 clove of garlic
two pinches of paprika

Wash the cucumber and slice it very thinly with a mandolin. Add salt and crushed garlic, mix it well and let it rest for 30 minutes or even an hour. If it has too much extra liquid, remove a bit of it but keep it on the side in case the sour cream is to thick so you can add some extra liquid if needed. Add a pinch of paprika, mix it again then sprinkle some paprika on the top when serving it.Hungarian nokedli dumplings with egg from the Taste of Memories countryside kitchenHungarian nokedli dumplings with egg from the Taste of Memories countryside kitchenHungarian nokedli dumplings with egg from the Taste of Memories countryside kitchenHungarian nokedli dumplings with egg from the Taste of Memories countryside kitchen

Judit Neubauer

Judit Neubauer is a food photographer, chef and writer living in a small village in Northwestern Hungary. Her bilingual blog, Taste of Memories is about life in the Hungarian countryside. While she is bringing new life into the 90 year-old house and orchard of 18 fruit trees she cooks and bakes her family’s old recipes and tries to preserve traditions and old knowledge about how to live in rhythm and harmony with nature.

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