Szilvás Gombóc

Soft potato dough wrapped around a whole stoned plum hiding a sugar cube, boiled until they bob to the surface, then rolled in butter-toasted breadcrumbs and dusted with cinnamon sugar, the fruit melting to a warm pool inside

Origin: Hungary

From the journey of Plum.

Szilvás gombóc, the Hungarian plum dumpling, is one of the great sweet main courses of Central Europe, eaten not as a footnote to a meal but as the meal itself. It belongs to the dumpling tradition shared across the old Habsburg lands, kin to the Bohemian and Austrian Knödel, but the Hungarian version is built on a tender potato dough that distinguishes it from its neighbours. The making is a small ceremony of late summer, when the blue Besztercei plum, Hungary's prized Italian-prune variety, comes into the markets: each plum is slit and stoned, a cube of sugar pressed into the cavity where the stone was, and the whole fruit enclosed in a patch of warm potato dough rolled smooth between the palms. The dumplings are boiled until they rise to the surface of the pot, lifted out, and rolled in breadcrumbs toasted golden in butter, then showered with sugar and cinnamon. Cut one open and the plum has half-collapsed into a warm, scented pool, its juices mingling with the dissolved sugar. The dish carries the frugal genius of peasant cooking (potato, flour, and orchard fruit, transformed into something that fills the table at harvest time), and it remains a fixture of the Hungarian home kitchen and the étkezde lunch counter alike, served warm and generously dusted, a single fruit hidden inside each soft white globe.

Ingredients

Potato dough

  • 500 g floury potatoes, boiled in their skins
  • 200 g plain flour, plus extra for the work surface
  • 1 egg
  • 30 g semolina (helps the dough hold together)
  • 1 pinch salt

Filling

  • 12 small ripe plums (Besztercei or Italian prune plums), slit and stoned
  • 12 cubes sugar (one per plum)

Crumb coating

  • 100 g dried breadcrumbs
  • 80 g butter

To serve

  • 3 tbsp caster sugar, for dusting
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon, for dusting

Method

  1. Boil the potatoes in their skins until tender, then drain, peel whilst still warm, and pass them through a ricer or mash them very smoothly. Spread them out to cool to lukewarm, as a hot mash will make a sticky dough.
  2. Add the flour, semolina, egg, and a pinch of salt to the cooled potato and bring together into a soft, smooth dough. Work it just enough to combine; over-kneading toughens it.
  3. Slit each plum down one side and remove the stone, keeping the fruit whole and hinged. Press a cube of sugar into the cavity left by the stone, and close the plum around it.
  4. On a floured surface, divide the dough into twelve pieces. Flatten each into a round, set a sugar-filled plum in the centre, and draw the dough up and over to enclose the fruit completely, sealing the seam well and rolling the dumpling smooth between floured palms.
  5. Bring a wide pot of lightly salted water to a gentle boil. Lower in the dumplings in batches, give the water a careful stir to stop them sticking to the base, and simmer gently for 12 to 15 minutes. They are done a few minutes after they float to the surface.
  6. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a wide frying pan and toast the breadcrumbs over a medium heat, stirring, until golden and fragrant. Lift the cooked dumplings from the water with a slotted spoon, drain well, and roll them in the buttery crumbs to coat.
  7. Arrange the dumplings on a warm dish, scatter with any remaining crumbs, and dust generously with the caster sugar mixed with cinnamon. Serve warm, as a main course, while the plums inside are still hot.

Notes

Szilvás gombóc is traditionally eaten as a sweet main course rather than a dessert, often as the whole of a light evening meal or a summer lunch. The dough must be made from floury potatoes and handled lightly, as overworking turns the dumplings rubbery. The small, firm Besztercei plum (the Hungarian Italian-prune variety) is the classic fruit because it stones cleanly and holds its shape; ordinary Italian prune plums make a fine substitute. The dumplings are best served the moment they are coated, while the buttered crumbs are crisp and the plum within is hot and beginning to collapse into syrup.

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