SWEDISH MEATBALL DUMPLINGS

(KROPPKAKOR)

“ One of my goals was to eat dumplings from every country. But I quickly failed this goal in Sweden when I took a train 40 minutes out of Stockholm to find the other Kroppkakor shop to find that it was closed for summer. This is how I felt about it:

Anyways, while making Swedish Meatballs I realized that I had all the fixings to turn it into Kroppkakor, so decided to do a variation on them with meatball filling instead of bacon. So this recipe is a combination of the three from the other dish as well as one from Martha Stewart for the actual assembly of the dumpling”

INGREDIENTS (per person):

POTATO DOUGH:

  • 4-5 russet potatoes peeled and chopped into large chunks

  • 1.5 cup flour

  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter

  • 3 egg yolks

MEATBALL FILLING:

These are the same ingredients as for the regular meatballs, I used as much filling as I could for the dumplings and then turned the rest into meatballs that way I got some of both!

  • 3 slices of bread, crust removed (I used Sourdough because it's my favorite)

  • 3/4 cup heavy cream

  • 1 lb ground pork

  • 1 lb ground beef

  • 1 small yellow onion

  • 1/2 tsp caraway seed

  • 1 tsp salt

  • 1 tsp white pepper

  • 1/2 tsp sugar

  • 1 egg

  • 2 tbsps butter(only for cooking)

GRAVY:

  • 2 tbsps unsalted butter

  • 3 tbsps flour

  • 2 cups beef broth

  • 1 cup whole milk

  • 1 tsp salt

  • 1/2 tsp thyme

  • 1 tsp black pepper

SIDES:

  • Lingonberry Jam (or strawberry or raspberry, but Lingonberry is best! Found it at Whole Foods)

  • Pickled Cucumber (I'm not sure if this is actually traditional since I didn't see it with any other recipe, but they served it at the restaurant and it helped to lighten the very heavy meal so I added it to my recipe)

ASSEMBLY:

You will want to do the potatoes at least a few hours(maybe the evening) before you prepare the kroppkakor so they have time to cool.

POTATO DOUGH:

  1. PLACE THEM IN A LARGE POT COVERED AT LEAST BY AN INCH OF WATER AND BRING TO A BOIL. COOK UNTIL THE POTATOES ARE TENDER.

  2. AFTER THEY ARE TENDER, PLACE INTO A FOOD PROCESSOR AND RUN ON LOW UNTIL YOUR POTATOES ARE VERY SMOOTH

  3. PLACE INTO THE FRIDGE SO THEY CAN COOL

  4. REMOVE POTATOES TO A LARGE BOWL AND MIX IN THE FLOUR, SALT AND EGG AND COMBINE WITH YOUR HANDS UNTIL YOU HAVE YOUR DOUGH

  5. ROLL INTO LOGS ABOUT 1.5 INCHES THICK

  6. SLICE INTO 2 INCH PIECES AND ROLL EACH PIECE INTO A BALL

FILLING:

  1. SHRED YOUR BREAD AND PLACE IN A BOWL WITH HEAVY CREAM TO SOAK

  2. PREHEAT OVEN TO 350 DEGREES FOR ANY LEFTOVER MEATBALLS

  3. DICE THE ONION INTO AS SMALL OF PIECES AS POSSIBLE, USING A TINY BIT OF BUTTER SAUTE THE ONIONS UNTIL GOLDEN

  4. IN A LARGE BOWL COMBINE ALL THE INGREDIENTS AND SOFTENED BREAD

  5. USING YOUR HANDS, MIX THOROUGHLY

ASSEMBLY:

  1. TAKE EACH BALL YOU HAVE CREATED AND FLATTEN OR CREATE A LARGE CRATER

  2. ADD ABOUT A TABLESPOON OF MEATBALL FILLING AND CLOSE THE DOUGH AROUND IT

  3. USING YOUR HANDS ROLL IT AROUND UNTIL COMPLETELY SMOOTH

  4. REPEAT UNTIL YOU HAVE USED ALL THE POTATO

  5. ONCE THIS IS DONE IF YOU HAVE LEFTOVER MEAT, YOU CAN FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS FOR BAKING THE MEATBALLS IN THE OTHER RECIPE

  6. BOIL A LARGE POT OF WATER AND PLACE ABOUT 5 INTO WATER AT TIME

  7. ONCE THEY HAVE RISEN TO THE TOP (ABOUT FIVE MINUTES) DRAIN THEM ON A PAPER TOWEL

  8. IN A LARGE FRYING PAN HEAT UP YOUR BUTTER AND ADD THE KROPPKAKOR TO THE PAN, TURNING TO BROWN BOTH SIDES

  9. REMOVE TO A PAPER TOWEL TO DRAIN EXCESS BUTTER

GRAVY:

  1. IN A LARGE SAUCE PAN ON MEDIUM HEAT WHISK FLOUR AND BUTTER UNTIL MIXED AND BROWNED

  2. SLOWLY MIX IN THE BROTH AND MILK

  3. ADD SALT, THYME AND PEPPER AND LET SIMMER FOR A FEW MINUTES TO THICKEN

  4. ONCE AT YOUR DESIRED THICKNESS, PLACE INTO A DISH FOR DIPPING

THIS IS A STEP UP FROM THE SWEDISH MEATBALLS BECAUSE THE MEAT IS ALREADY INSIDE OF THE POTATO SO YOU JUST NEED TO

DIP IT IN THE GRAVY AND LINGONBERRY JAM AND YOU'VE GOT A PARTY IN YOUR MOUTH!