Have You Heard of a Fried Dumpling Called Kichler?

by Elizabeth
(Washington, DC)

My mother is the Granddaughter of Alsatian immigrants (Staeblers from Strasbourg) and she claimed her grandmother made two types of "dumplings" one was dampfneudler (sp?) which was steamed...but not served as a dessert as in recipes I've seen.

The other was kichler...a dough that was fried in oil...it may have been first boiled in salt water then fried.

I have never found recipes of either as my mother described eating them as a child. The supposed dampfnuedler with cherry pie filling and cool whip is NOT what she ate...

Thanks!
Elizabeth

Comments for Have You Heard of a Fried Dumpling Called Kichler?

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Dumpfneudle
by: Anonymous

Thank You so much for posting this DUMPFNEUDLE recipe. I have tried to find one in English for eight years!

Not speaking the language, I was not able to translate a French recipe into English measurements and directions.

Thanks again.

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Converting French Recipes
by: Suzele

You are very welcome!

It's not always easy converting recipe measurements into English, so please feel free to adjust the recipe.

And I would love to know how it turned out!

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Alsatian Potato Cakes or Grumbeerekiechle or Hardaepfelkueche
by: Suzele

Here is one version of the Alsatian Potato Cake recipe for four people...

8 big potatoes
1/2 bouquet of parsley
2 onions
3 T of flour
3 eggs
1 pinch of salt
a few pinches of pepper

Wash the potatoes and shred them.
Wash the onions and chop them finely.
Wash the parsley and chop it finely.

Put all of it in a big bowl.

Add the eggs, the salt, the pepper and the flour.
Mix it well.

Heat up the oil in a frying pan.

Take a handful of the potato mixture and press it into a small pancake shape.

Put it into the oil and cook both sides gently.

Take it out when it is golden brown and repeat.

Put all the potato cakes on a plate with paper towels underneath to absorb the excess oil.

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Salty Dampfnuedle Recipe
by: Suzele

The measurements are approximated so you'll have to play with it a tiny bit.

1 cup milk
3 T yeast
2 T powdered sugar
4 T butter
2 cups flour
2 eggs
regular salt
coarse salt
oil

Mix the yeast, salt, sugar and butter into lukeward milk in a bowl.

Sift the flour in.

Work the dough by kneading it to aerate it until it doesn't stick to the bowl or your hands.

Let the dough rise for an hour.

Roll out the dough on a flat surface with some flour to a thickness of 3 cm.

Let the dough rise for 30 minutes.

Cut the dough into circles with a big glass.

Heat up the oil in a pressure cooker.

As soon as the oil is hot, throw in some coarse salt and put the circles of dough in.

Then quickly add 20 cl of lukewarm water and cover immediately.

The dampfnuedle are ready when the tops turn a golden brown.

You can keep them warm or reheat them tomorrow in aluminum foil in the oven.

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Alsatian Recipes and the Various Spellings of Alsatian Words
by: Suzele

Hi Elizabeth,

My husband knew exactly what you were talking about when I mentioned it to him!

Apparently there are two versions of Dampfnuedle...a sweet version and a salty version...

And with Alsatian words it's very difficult to get the spelling wrong because there are so many variations on the spelling...and so many differences in vocabulary from one part of Alsace to another.

I'll post the recipes at the bottom separately.

As far the Kichler...it's just another way to spell (or pronounce) kuecha as in Flammekuecha.

My husband thinks what you're refering to is either a hardaepfelkueche or a grumbeerekiechle (depending on what part of Alsace you're in).

Also known as a potato cake...but it's very different than what an American would expect a potato cake to taste like.

They are much more "doughy" than what most people think of as potato cakes.

Either way...here are some recipes you can try and if it's not right, let me know...

Enjoy,
Suzele

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