Hungarian rolled potato pasta (Nudli)

is a dish of potato-based small dumplings, they are formed from a soft dough of cooked mashed potatoes, flour, salt, butter and egg; the dumplings are boiled and rolled in crispy toasted breadcrumbs.

It is one of my favorite sweet dishes. My Mom always made it as a main course after a light soup for lunch, we have never had it as a dessert. We usually used the leftover dough from making plum dumplings.

Recipe

Ingredients for 4 people:

• 500 grams (17.6 ounces) of potatoes, cooked in their skins, peeled, mashed
• Plain flour
• 200 grams (7 ounces) of breadcrumbs
• 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
• 15 grams (1 tablespoon, 1/2 ounce) of butter
• 1 egg
• salt
• powdered sugar, cinnamon or apricot jam to serve

Directions:

In a pot cook the potatoes in their skins in salted water until tender (it takes about 30-40 minutes). Peel and mash the potatoes while still warm, mash really well with no chunks left. Add the butter and let it cool completely.

Meanwhile, toast the bread crumbs in about 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil over low heat, stirring constantly, until crunchy and golden brown. Put aside.

Mix the potato mass with one egg, a pinch of salt, the flour and knead the dough until smooth. Add that much flour which makes the dough light and pliable, but not sticky.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.

On a lightly-floured surface, take small portions of your dough at a time and roll them out into 1 cm (1/2 inch) thick ropes, then cut into 3-4 cm (1,5 inch) long pieces, called nudli. Roll the individual pieces gently (or vigorously, depending on their firmness) for even firmer and better shaped nudli.

Add the nudli pieces to the boiling water in batches – not to over-crowd them – and gently simmer until they float on the top.

Remove the dumplings from the water using a slotted spoon, drain and lightly roll them in breadcrumbs browned in oil.

Sprinkle with sugary ground cinnamon or serve it with apricot jam.

Enjoy!