Nokedli - spaetzle (egg pasta dumpling)

spaetzle with champignon in paprika sauce

This lovely, little, fresh pasta dumplings are our absolute favourites inherited from the Hungarian part of the family. The dough is basically like that of the pasta with a softer, stickier texture.

Wikipedia says: Spätzle are a kind of soft egg noodle or dumpling found in the cuisines of southern Germany and of Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Alsace and South Tyrol.

While it is lovely with any sort of meat or veggies in sauce, we often eat it just with a touch of sour cream and some crispy bacon crumbs and cheese sprinkled on it.

Our mothers and grandmothers just used a small spoon to cut tiny pieces of the dough into the boiling hot water (you need to keep submerging the spoon, as it facilitates the cutting part), nowadays you can find some simple equipment (as on the photo underneath) to speed up this process (only hubby is not too keen on this gadget as it is not the easiest to clean from the sticky dough...) Alternatively, I heard that the flat cheese grater with big holes can also be used with a wooden spoon to slide on top to press and cut the dumplings.

Ingredients

500g of flour 5 eggs pinch of salt 1-2 cups of water

Method

You can do it all by hand - or with a machine - mixing everything except the water together. You add water little by little until you get a soft, shiny, smooth and sticky but not completely runny pasta dough. More flour or water can be added to correct the texture. Either by a small spoon or by a spaetzle gadget, cut little dumplings into a big pot of boiling water that has been salted. Cook a few minutes until it is al dente. Sieve and add a bit of oil or butter and mix it in so that they do not stick together until you serve them.

Back to Recipes