Croatian Plum Dumplings

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I never met my ex husbands grandmother, from what once was Yugoslavia, but he spoke of her often and fondly. Her and his grandfather Celestine immigrated from the old country to America probably sometime in the early 1900s but I cant be sure when. I know they were able to accumulate land in Chino. They were hard working, simple farmers that came looking for the American dream. Their son was John, his son was Nick and my sons came after them.

There are 2 things I know about grandma. She liked to drink her home made wine ( which eventually killed her) and she like to cook. She must have been a brave soul to come all the way from Europe in those days and under the harsh conditions of the times. I would have liked to know her. She would be happy to know that her beloved recipe was passed down through 4 generations of her sons and grandsons.

My ex taught me this recipe and it has been a favorite for me and my family for many years.

There are no measurements...nothing was ever written down. It is not difficult, but will require a fair commitment of your time. It will be worth it.

You will need:

prune plums, the smaller ones are better. Any small plum can be substituted if not prune plums in your store.

potatoes, peeled

flour

butter, 1/2 to 1 stick depending

sugar, I estimate I used 1.5 cups for my dish

walnuts, ground in a moley grater or minced like I did.

Start with fresh prune plums. They are a summer fruit and our Sprouts starts to carry them in late August. Pick the small firm ones. Rinse them good and set aside to air dry.

Next, boil potatoes until they are soft. For 24 plums we used 10 large potatoes. Let the potatoes cool down enough to touch.

Next, mix in flour until you have a dough that sticks together. Mix with your hands and a little rinse of the hands now and again during the mixing is all the liquid you will need. Roll out the dough on a floured surface, It will be slightly sticky so use a bit of flour on your hands and rolling pin. Cut a square of the dough and wrap it around the plum. Roll it around until the plum is completely covered with approx 1/4" of dough all the way around.

Start a big pot of water and when it is at a rolling boil, add the dumplings to the water using a slotted spoon. Boil several dumplings at a time. When they rise to the top of the water, put them in a large rectangle pan with melted butter in the bottom. Sprinkle the top of finished dumplings with sugar( I use lots) and ground or minced walnuts. Put more butter slices on the top and cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

BAM. Old world goodness that you cannot find in any restaurant in any town at any time.

It is amazing all by itself, but I was thinking ice cream or cool whip would be amazing too.