Kluski leniwe: soft Polish cheese dumplings with buttered breadcrumbs
Lazy dumplings from farmer's cheese pressed through a ricer, one egg, and just enough flour for the dough to barely hold. Too much flour makes hard, rubbery dumplings; here it is kept to a minimum, so they are soft and cheesy. With breadcrumbs browned in butter and cinnamon sugar. Thirty minutes from fridge to plate.
Your own work in that: 30 min.
- Dough 10 min
- Shaping 10 min
- Boiling and topping 10 min
Step by step
0 / 5 doneRice the cheese
Press the cheese through a potato ricer, or mash very thoroughly with a fork. Smooth cheese means smooth dumplings; lumps of cheese stay lumps.
Ingredients: 500 g farmer's cheese (twaróg), semi-fat · 1 pcs egg · 150 g plain flour · 1 tbsp sugar · 1 pinch salt
Cheese through the ricer, no lumpsMake the dough
Add the egg, sugar, salt and flour. Mix with a fork, then briefly by hand, only until combined. The dough is soft and slightly sticky: that is right. If it can't be shaped at all, add one spoon of flour, no more.
TipTub cheese is too wet and needs a lot of flour. A block, ideally a day in the fridge, is drier and the dumplings come out lighter.
Soft, barely holding togetherShape the diamonds
Divide the dough into 4. Roll each on a well-floured counter into a rope 2 cm thick, flatten slightly with your palm and cut diagonally into 3 cm diamonds. Keep dusting; it sticks to the knife.
Rope, flatten, cut on the diagonalBoil
Bring a wide pot of salted water to the boil, then lower to a gentle simmer. Add the dumplings in batches, stir once. Once they float, cook 1–2 minutes more. Lift out with a slotted spoon.
TipThe water should bubble gently. In a rolling boil soft dumplings fall apart.
Floating: a minute or two and doneBrown the crumbs and serve
Melt the butter in a pan, add the breadcrumbs and fry, stirring, until golden. Pour over the dumplings and sprinkle with sugar mixed with cinnamon. Eat at once; reheated, they toughen.
Ingredients: 50 g butter · 3 tbsp breadcrumbs · 2 tbsp sugar · ½ tsp ground cinnamon
Golden crumbs in butter, cinnamon sugar
Before you start
Savoury
No sugar in the dough, with fried onion and bacon bits, or just butter and pepper.
With potato
Swap half the cheese for boiled, riced potato: more filling and cheaper.
Freezing
Freeze raw diamonds on a board, then bag. Boil from frozen, a minute longer.
