German Dumplings (Knödel) – Bread dumplings – Soup

These dumplings are very popular in Germany and they taste very good. So here we share a recipe that actually can be a very good idea if you have dried/hard/stale bread. We will share the recipe that we followed and then give you ideas of additions you could be doing.

So we had pretzels (in german Brezeln) that were very dry after a dinner and we do not like to waste food. This is a wonderful recipe for leftover bread in general.

Ingredients:

about 2 pretzels

1 onion

1 shallot (it is not a must. You can put a bigger onion or 2 normal small onions)

1 chive (it is not a must. I had one and I used it)

a bit of olive oil to fry the onions

hot water

milk

1 egg (beaten)

salt

red hot chilli pepper

normal black pepper

fresh dill

Preparation

1. cut the pretzel in pieces with your hands. Even if the pieces are big this is not a problem cause when the pretzel pieces will absorb water, it is easier to cut them with a fork in smaller pieces.
2. Start adding boiling water a bit at a time, till 70% of the pieces are “wet”. It will take you roundabout 20 minutes this procedure but in the meantime you can do step 3.
3. Cut the onions (and the chive if you are using one) in small cubes and fry them in low temperature till they become transparent.
4. Add a bit of milk in your pretzel mix when they are 70% wet.
5. Add to the pretzel the fried onions, the dill, the egg and the spices.
6. Form the balls with wet hands. The dough should have a consistency that you are able to create the balls.
7. Boil broth (use cubes or your own broth or soup powder. I used 1/4 of a vegetable cube and 1 teaspoon of vegetable soup powder)
8. Turn off the fire, add the dumplings and let them in the broth for at least 20 minutes
9. Ready to eat!

Tips

1. If the dough is too runny, just add a bit more bread. I had to add a bit of white bread. Do not add rice or something that needs boiling, cause the dumplings are not going to boil
2. If the dough is too stiff, add a bit of water or milk.
3. I had dill from Greece and that is why I used dill, but you can use what you have. Parsley, peppermint, mint, thyme, oregano and so on…
4. You can use the herbs fresh like I did (so for example with dill, it was a bit crunchy) or you can add them to the onion first and cook them.
5. You could add in your soup cheese that melts easily before serving it.
6. You could also fry them instead of making a soup with them: https://guenstig-kochen.at/rezept/frittierte-semmelknoedel/

Sources:

Wiki Pretzel and Wiki Dumpling

This is where I inspired the recipe:

https://www.chefkoch.de/rezepte/660001167822602/Brezelknoedel.html