Dinner 28: North Dakota

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Fleischkuekle
Knoephla Soup
Carrot-Apple Side Dish
Lefse with sugar

Review

I chose North Dakota next, because it's next to Canada. When we looked up recipes a lot of them had names that were really hard for me to say, but that's because they're from other languages that I don't speak. I decided to have a food that's like meatballs in a kind of dough, a soup that had dumplings in it, an apple and carrot salad, and a dessert that was like thin pancakes, but I forget all the names.

I loved the food from North Dakota! The meatball things were delicious and I had leftovers at school lunch the next day and the soup was so good I had two cups of it at dinner and more of it at school, too. I asked Mommy to make the soup again, because it's my favorite soup ever. The dessert was really good, too. Like rolled up pancakes with sugar and margarine on them. The margarine was all melted, though, so it did make a bit of a mess.

Recipes

Fleischkuekle

(original recipe from allrecipes.com)

Filling:
1/4 pound ground beef
1/2 small onion, diced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Dough:
2 1/4 teaspoons Ener-G egg replacer powder
3 tablespoons warm water
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup soy milk

2 cups oil for frying

In a small mixing bowl, mix together the ground beef, onion, salt and pepper until well blended. Set aside.

Combine egg replacer and water until thoroughly mixed.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour and salt. Add egg replacer mixture and soy milk. Stir until well blended. Form the dough into 2-inch balls and, on a floured surface, roll out into circles 1/4-inch thick.

Form the beef into small balls, as many as you have dough circles. Place one on each dough circle and fold the dough around it. Seal the edges completely.

Heat the oil to 365F and fry the balls until golden brown and cooked through. Drain on paper towels.

Knoephla Soup

(original recipe from Food.com)

Knoephla Dumplings:

3 cups flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Water, as needed

Soup:

4 cups water

2 cups chicken broth

1 large onion, diced

1 stalk celery, diced

2 cups potatoes, diced

2 chicken bouillon cubes

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

2 bay leaves

1 cup soy milk

Mix flour, salt and baking powder together to make a stiff dough. Add just enough water to make a stiff dough.

Roll the dough into 1/2-inch ropes and cup into 1/2-inch long pieces. Set aside.

In a large soup pot, add water, broth, onion, celery, potatoes, bouillon cubes, salt, pepper, garlic and bay leaves. Boil until potatoes are done, about 15 minutes. Add soy milk and knoephla. Simmer 30-40 minutes.

Carrot-Apple Side Dish

(original recipe from Taste of Home)

3 medium carrots

1 cup water

1/2 tablespoon dairy-free margarine

1/8 cup brown sugar

1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

1 dash cinnamon

2 apples, peeled, cored and diced

1/2 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon cold water

In a saucepan, cook carrots in water until crisp-tender. Drain the water and add margarine, sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon. Mix well, then stir in the apple. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Combine cornstarch and cold water into a slurry. Stir into the carrot mixture. Bring to a boil and cook until thickened. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook, uncovered, another 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

Lefse with Sugar

(original recipe from Cooking Channel)

1 pound russet potatoes, peeled and diced

1/4 cup soy milk

2 tablespoons dairy-free margarine

1 teaspoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup flour

Boil the potatoes until tender. Drain.

Combine potatoes with soy milk, margarine, sugar and salt and mash until smooth. Place mashed potatoes in the refrigerator to cool down, about 30 minutes.

Once cooled down, add the flour to the potatoes and work gently into a dough. Allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes.

Take 2 tablespoons of the dough and form it into a ball. On a floured sheet of parchment paper, roll out the dough into a very thin circle, adding flour as necessary to avoid sticking.

Heat a large, non-stick skillet over medium heat. Turn the parchment paper upside down and gently peel off the circle of dough. Place the dough on the heated skillet and cook until brown speckles begin to form, about 1 minute. Flip the lefse and cook another 30 seconds. Transfer lefse to a place and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Repeat with remaining dough.

To serve, spread with margarine and sprinkle with sugar, then roll up. If the lefse are cold, they can be warmed up in a heated skillet.