Bryndzové Halušky specifically refers to a Slovakian national dish comprising of Halušky and bryndza. Halušky is a dish consisting of boiled lumps potato dough resembling gnocchi, and bryndza is a cheese made from sheep milk. The dish is often garnished with smoked bacon or pork fat before serving. In brief, the dish can be referred to as potato dumplings with bacon and bryndza sheep cheese.
Ingredients Used and Preparation Overview of Bryndzové Halušky
The ingredients required for preparing Slovakia’s Bryndzové Halušky consist of potatoes, whole wheat flour, smoked bacon, water, salt, and bryndza.
The preparation of this dish suggests making use of raw potatoes. The potatoes are peeled, grated and mixed with flour, some water, and salt. The dumplings are created from the potato-flour dough thus prepared, with the latter being neither too moist nor too firm. These dumplings are now put into boiling salt water, and taken out when they start floating. They are then mixed with cheese, and served with already cooked bacon.
Bryndzové Halušky Recipe Variations
There are a few variations of Bryndzové Halušky, with the difference lying in terms of ingredients used for topping the dish. However, potato dumplings are prepared in the same way in almost all the variations. A few recipe variations of this Slovakian dish are discussed hereunder:
- At times, milk is used in place of water to prepare the potato-flour dough.
- Any other cheese, like cottage cheese prepared from cow’s milk, can also be used to prepare the dish. However, in this case the dish is not termed as Bryndzové Halušky, as this term only refers to dumplings made from sheep’s cheese.
- This Slovak dish can also be served after topping it with eggs or cabbage, instead of using bacon as the only topping ingredient.
Slovakia’s Potato Dumplings Trivia
A few things which should be kept in mind while preparing this Slovakian dish are given here:
- Tea spoon or knife is used for preparing dumplings from the dough.
- The dumplings are created on a wooden plate which is properly washed with cold water.
- The cheese is, at times, mixed with butter, before using it to prepare Bryndzové Halušky.
Trivia
It is traditional to serve this dish with Žinčica, which refers to a drink prepared with whey or sheep’s milk. In Turecká, Slovakia, every year Bryndzové Halušky festival is celebrated on a large scale, primarily featuring an eating competition.
