Ask any Romanian what they would like to eat for dessert and the answer will likely be papanasi.
The Transylvanian ones are different from those in the rest of the country. Made with curd cheese (see the homemade recipe here) and boiled, they are then rolled in buttery roasted breadcrumbs, powdered with icing sugar and served with a dollop of sour cream. In the rest of the country papanasi are fried, look more like doughnuts, and are served with sour cream and blueberry jam.
In my cellar I found the last jar of homemade wild blueberry jam and I used it for the Transylvanian papanasi I made today.
The curd cheese I used wasn’t dry enough and, being in a rush to make the dumplings, I forgot to strain it. I couldn’t give them a nice round form, and I had to use a spoon. But they were very good, so whether you make a mistake or not, the important thing is that food tastes good in the end. Don’t you agree?
Enjoy!
transylvanian cheese dumplings
Ingredients
Dough:
500g dry curd cheese (strain it if it’s not dry enough)
2 eggs
60g semolina
60g all purpose flour
zest of a half lemon
1 tsp vanilla essence
a pinch of salt
Breadcrumbs:
100g unsalted butter
100g breadcrumbs
To serve:
Sour cream
Icing sugar
Blueberry jam
Method
Dough:
Mix all the ingredients very well and leave the dough in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to chill.
In the meantime, make the buttery breadcrumbs.
Cut a large piece of plastic wrap and flour it. Cover the dough with it, and roll it into a 4cm thick log form.
Slice the log into 1cm wide slices using a large knife.
Roll each slice into the shape of a ball, moistening your hands regularly with water to avoid the dough sticking.
Place all dumplings on a floured tray and have them ready once the water starts boiling.
Breadcrumbs:
Heat a pan on a medium heat, until the butter has melted. Add breadcrumbs and stir from time to time until they are browned.
Turn off the heat and leave them to cool. You will roll the dumplings in them, once they are cooked.
Making the cheese dumplings:
Place a big pot of water on the hob and bring to boil. While cooking the dumplings, keep the lid on.
Carefully put the dumplings in the boiling water and lower the heat to minimum. When they start floating, turn them on the other side and leave to simmer for 5 more minutes.
Turn off the heat and, with the lid still on, leave the dumplings for 5 minutes to rest and get fluffy.
Remove them from the water using a slotted spoon and put them on a kitchen towel to dry for a second, then roll them in the breadcrumbs and powder them with icing sugar. Be generous, as we didn’t use any sugar in the dough!
While warm, serve them with a dollop of sour cream and, if you have, blueberry jam.
Enjoy!
Tips & cheats
When I cannot find curd cheese, I use cream cheese. It is not the same, it’s too creamy and, after straining, I might need a spoon to drop the dough in the water, but it’s the closest substitute for the curd cheese I found until now.
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