PEAS WITH DUMPLINGS - GRASAK S NOKLICAMA

Place of origin: Croatia

Very simple and quick-to-make soup-like dish. This is the first dish I’ve learned how to make. Mum used to make this a lot when she didn’t have enough time for cooking or was out of ideas. Many many people make this simple dish, it's very popular and everybody's favorite. I always eat the soup and peas first and then enjoy dumplings with some extra salt on top. :-D 

INGREDIENTS (serves 2 as a light meal)

300 g frozen peas (optional – substitute 100 g of peas with 100 g of carrot or use frozen peas and carrot mix)

2 tbsp oil (vegetable, sunflower or olive)

app 15 g tomato paste (tomato concentrate) – 1 full spoon

500-600 ml water

salt

DUMPLINGS:

1 large egg

50 ml water

app 100 g flour
a pinch or two of salt
optional: chopped parsley

1. heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pot and sauté peas (and carrots if using them)
2. add 500 ml water, tomato paste and salt to taste, let boil
3. in the meantime make dumplings: crack the egg into a bowl or soup plate. Add water, salt and flour. Mix well with a fork. The batter should not be too thick neither too thin. It should fall of the fork but not too easily. If necessary, add more water or flour (it depends on the size of the egg). You will know that your batter is too thin if the first dumpling you drop into the soup dissolves. You can also add some chopped parsley to dumplings.
4. using a teaspoon (put some water in a cup and dip the spoon in it every now and then when you see that the batter starts to stick to the spoon), drop small amounts of batter (1/3 of the spoon) into the boiling soup. Repeat till you use all of the batter. Small parts of dumpling will fall apart, but it doesn’t matter as it will help the soup to thicken a bit.
5. cover with a lid and simmer for app 20 minutes. Check the soup after 10-15 minutes and add app 100-150 ml water if necessary.
6. serve warm

HINTS:

• use whole wheat, rye or spelt flour for dumplings (or mix of different flours)
• add some cubed chicken, turkey or even pork for a more hearty meal - if doing so, first sauté the meat until the liquid from it evaporates, then add peas (and carrot) and follow the recipe from here
• you can only make dumplings: cook them in salted water and serve with any kind of sauce

GRAŠAK S NOKLICAMA

Vrlo jednostavno jelo u stilu guste juhe. Prva stvar koju sam naučila kuhati. Mama je često radila grašak s noklicama kad nije imala vremena za nešto drugo ili je bila bez ideje što kuhati. Vrlo popularno i mnogima omiljeno jelo. Ja uvijek prvo pojedem juhu i grašak i onda uživam u noklicama koje još dodatno posolim. :-D 

SASTOJCI (za 2 osobe kao lagani obrok)

300 g smrznutog graška (opcija - zamijenite 100 g graška s jednakom količinom mrkve ili upotrijebite smrznutu mješavinu graška i mrkve)

2 žlice ulja (biljno, suncokretovo ili maslinovo)

oko 15 g koncentrata rajčice - 1 puna žlica

500-600 ml vode

sol

NOKLICE:

1 veće jaje

50 ml vode

oko 100 g brašna
prstohvat-dva soli
opcija: sjeckani peršin

1. u loncu zagrijte ulje i prepržite grašak (i mrkvu ako ju koristite).
2. dodajte 500 ml vode, koncentrat rajčice i sol prema ukusu, pustite da zakipi.
3. u međuvremenu napravite noklice: razbijte jaje u zdjelicu ili tanjur za juhu, izmućkajte ga vilicom, dodajte 50 ml vode te brašno i malo soli. Dobro izmiješajte vilicom. Tijesto ne smije biti niti pregusto niti prerijetko. Treba kliziti s vilice, ali ne smije biti tekuće. Prema potrebi dodajte još vode ili brašna (ovisi o veličini jajeta). Znat ćete da je tijesto prerijetko ako se prva noklica koju stavite u juhu raspadne. U noklice možete dodati i malo sjeckanog peršina.
4. pomoću čajne žličice stavljajte malu količinu tijesta (oko 1/3 žličice) u juhu koja kipi dok ne potrošite svo tijesto (stavite vode u šalicu i umočite žličicu svaki puta kad se tijesto počne lijepiti za nju). Mali komadići pojedinih noklica će se raspasti, no to ne smeta jer će pridonijeti gustoći juhe.
5. poklopite i kuhajte oko 20-30 minuta. Provjerite nakon 10-15 minuta i po potrebi dodajte još oko 100-150 ml vode.
6. poslužite toplo.

SAVJETI:

• napravite noklice od integralnog, raženog ili pirovog brašna ili pak mješavine brašna po želji
• dodajte piletinu, puretinu ili svinjetinu narezanu na kockice za izdašniji obrok - ako dodajete meso, prvo ga prepržite na ulju i dinstajte dok ne ispari sva tekućina te tek onda dodajte grašak (i mrkvu) i dalje pratite recept
  
• možete napraviti samo noklice: skuhajte ih u posoljenoj vodi i poslužite uz bilo koji umak 

Recipe by Linda