Kumla The Norwegian Dumpling

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This Norwegian kumla recipe is made with potatoes stuffed with salt pork and ham, cooked in a flavorful broth and served with mounds of butter.

I totally believe the ole saying my Grandmother shared with me many years ago, “the way to a mans heart is through his stomach”. Well, this recipe actually came from my husbands ancestors. Meaning, he has a Norwegian background and his Grandmother always made kumla. So we traditionally make kumla at least once a year.

What Is Kumla?

Kumla, or as we know it pronounced as comla, is made from russet potatoes that are grated into a paste and held together with flour. Bits of pieces of salt pork or ham are placed in the center of the potato dough and formed into a ball or dumpling. The dumpling is then cooked in a flavorful broth for about 1-hour and viola! Kumla Norwegian Dumplings are served!

What Do You Serve With Kumla?

The traditional way of serving kumla is with butter and lots of it! As mentioned in The Dumpling Project, Kumla by The Norwegian American, kumla is often served with bacon, pork, or ham, and a rutabaga mash on the side.

Off the record but I found it interesting, since I knew nothing about kumla before my husband, the Norwegian American has a Nordic Book Club and they mention a book that shares some heritage history about migration, influenza, depression and World Wars I and II. If reading multicultural books is something that interests you maybe you’d like to read Skipping Stones, a novel by Gloria Koll. It is a novel with a common theme of finding home, which was described as “being with your own people”, and enjoying familiar sights, sounds, especially foods, and notably, kumla. This sounds like a good wholesome book to me that may just be well worth the read.

Supplies Needed To Make Kumla

The Traditional Way To Making Kumla; Time Consuming

• Hand potato peeler.
• 4 sided stainless steel hand grater to “course grate” 4 pounds of potatoes.
• You’ll need a buddy to help grate the potatoes. You know, trade off because for just one person to use a hand grater for that many potatoes may be a bit tiresome and take some time.
• Pot of cold water to put grated potatoes in so they don’t turn brown while grating the rest of the potatoes.
• Strainer to remove excess water prior to forming balls.
• Sharp knife to cut the salt pork and ham into small pieces.
• Large pot with lid to boil kumla.
• Slotted spoon to put kumla dumplings in and remove from the boiling water.

The New Way To Making Kumla; Time Saving

• Use a food processor like this. I literally peeled four pounds of russet potatoes, shredded and blended to make a paste all in less than 30 minutes. I kid you not! The food processor does has a timer on it that read that I did all that in less than 5 minutes. Sounds crazy I know but I am saying 30 minutes because it did not calculate the time I went to rinse the potatoes after being peeled, prepare to shred, prepare to process and then clean up.
• Hand peeler in case the entire potato did not get peeled by the food processor (this is normal).
• Pot of cold water to put grated potatoes in so they don’t turn brown while processing the potatoes. Note: I had to divide the shredded potatoes in half and process two batches.
• Fine strainer to remove excess water prior to processing shredded potatoes and before forming dumplings.
• Sharp knife to cut the salt pork and ham into small pieces.
• Large pot with lid to boil kumla.
• Slotted spoon to put kumla dumplings in and remove from the boiling water.
• Non-stick cooking spray to spray the slotted spoon so the kumla does not stick to the spoon when putting it into the boiling water.

Kumla The Norwegian Dumpling Recipe

This recipe will make about 12 dumplings and can serve at least 4 to 6 people. If desired, although I have never done it, leftover dumplings can be frozen so you can have some on hand when the mood strikes.

Ingredients

• Water – for a 6-quart Dutch oven and for potatoes
• 3 pound ham (I used this to flavor the water and diced some to add for dumpling filling)
• 1 pound of salt pork diced
• 4 pounds of russet potatoes
• 2 cup all-purpose flour
• butter (lots of butter for serving)
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• chopped green onions for garnish (not traditional so this ingredient is optional)

Instructions

Prepare Water

Place ham in Dutch oven and cover with water. Bring to a boil and then lower heat to simmer for approximately one-hour or while preparing the kumla.

Process Potatoes

Peel and grate potatoes to make a paste. Or to save time, peel and shred potatoes with this Breville food processor using the smaller shredder. Place shredded potatoes in a pan of cold water until all potatoes have been shredded. Then once all potatoes have been shredded place them in a strainer to remove excess water. Now, using the processing blade place half of the shredded potatoes back into the food processor and blend on high until semi smooth making a potato paste. Then pour blended potatoes in a large bowl and continue to process the rest of the potatoes. Gradually add flour to make a potato dough and stir until well combined.

Make Kumla Dumplings

With wet hands, take a handful of the potato dough and make a divot. Add diced salt pork and/or ham into divot and carefully fold the dough over to make a ball, the potato dumpling.

Boil Dumplings

Using a slotted wooden spoon, sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, and gently place the potato dumpling into the hot water with the ham. TIP: It’s best to keep the dumpling and the spoon in the water until you are ready to add the next dumpling. This actually keeps the dumplings from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Continue to make potato dumplings as noted above. Once all dumplings are made and in the pot of hot water turn heat to medium, slightly cover with a lid, and continue cooking for one-hour. If there is any remaining salt pork just throw it into the water too. If there is not enough room for all the kumla dumplings it’s okay to remove the ham and set aside. Go ahead and slice the ham to serve with the cooked kumla.

Serve Kumla

Carefully remove kumla with the slotted spoon. Initially serve 2 dumplings per person and leave the remainder in the hot pot until ready for seconds. Serve with cold butter, sliced ham and salt and pepper to taste. Some people serve with sour cream and garnish with chopped green onion if desired. I just added the green onion for garnish to add a little bit of color.

I AM EXCITED YOU ARE VIEWING JETT’S RECIPE FOR KUMLA NORWEGIAN DUMPLINGS AND WOULD LOVE TO HEAR HOW YOURS TURNS OUT SHOULD YOU DECIDE TO MAKE IT!

***Please come back and share your comments and tell my readers how you like this recipe.***

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