There’s nothing better than a homemade clear beef broth with semolina dumplings which warms you up, fills you with energy and improves your mood. Simple ingredients combined with a bunch of spices, such as cardamom, black peppercorns, cloves and coriander seeds transform a traditional dish in an incredibly tasteful broth.
The recipe is pretty simple. In other words, you need a few basic ingredients and let them cook really slow. However, I twisted the recipe a bit. Wink. As you can see, I included cloves, cardamom pods and coriander seeds, too. The reason is, I love those and I think they give even more depth and warmth to the dish.
Moreover, when adding those to the soup, you can simply throw them in or first put them in a tea bag so that you don’t have to “catch” them later on. Wink.
Now, regarding semolina dumplings, here I didn’t change a thing. I simply added a lot of nutmeg, but you can add some parmesan cheese or some fresh herbs, too.
More important, there are a couple of things to know about how to cook them: Firstly, the water or broth should simmer, not boil. Secondly, depending on the size of the dumplings, do not overcrowd them (better to cook them in separate batches). And thirdly, cooking them in the broth will give them more taste but the broth itself won’t be so clear anymore.
A perfect Sunday: homemade beef broth, semolina dumplings and Slovenian folk music
Also, this is another dish which brings my childhood memories back. My mom and my grandmother had a beef broth with dumplings (or how we say it: goveja juha z zdrobovimi žličniki) every Sunday on the menu. Wink. And they both served it as a starter of a three-course meal. And to make it even more authentic and Slovenian, there was always Slovenian folk music playing on the radio in the background. Wink. In a sense, the moment stopped on Sundays. The whole family was sitting at one table, talking, laughing and enjoying the food.
Some other Slovenian dishes that I loved back then and that I still love are these here: a delicious one-pot turnip soup Jota, a thick soup called Ječmenka, a world-famous Bled cream cake in a glass, a simple radicchio salad or an omelette called frtalja.
Going back to the soup, the beef shank can be served in the soup, but it can be served as the main course, too. In fact, the two most typical combinations are either with mashed potatoes and spinach or with half-way mashed and sauteed potatoes with caramelized onions and sauteed turnip. Lovely.
In addition, when making this clear beef broth with semolina dumplings, make sure to make a big quantity. Why? It is always a great idea to freeze some and to keep it for days when you don’t have 3 hours time for cooking it, yet you still want a bowl of it.
Ingredients for about 6 portions of clear beef broth with semolina dumplings:
- 2 medium red onions
- 8 Brussels sprouts
- 3 carrots (whole or cut into larger chunks)
- 1/2 Tbsp of tomato paste
- 500-700 g of beef shank (with or without the bone, with the bone it gets richer)
- 3 bay leaves (I used dried)
- 10-15 black peppercorns
- 4 cardamom pods (slightly crushed)
- 6-8 cloves
- about 4 stems of fresh coriander (roughly chopped)
- a teaspoon of coriander seeds (slightly crushed)
- 6-7 litre of cold water (depends on the size of your pot)
- salt
Ingredients for 15-18 semolina dumplings:
- 70 g butter
- 2 eggs
- salt
- one nutmeg (grated)
- 180 g semolina
To begin, peel and cut the onion into quarters, wash the Brussels sprouts and wash and cut the carrots into larger chunks. Put the onions into a larger deep pot and brown them (without any oil or any other fat) for a couple of minutes.
Then, remove the pot from the heat, add the Brussels sprouts, carrots, tomato paste and place the beef on top. Last but not least, add the bay leaves, peppercorns, cardamom pods (slightly crushed), cloves, chopped coriander and coriander seeds (also slightly crushed). As mentioned earlier on, you might put all of the spices in a tea bag.
Cover everything with cold water, about 10 cm above the meat, season with salt and bring to a boil. Then, lower the heat to medium-low, cover and let it simmer for 2-3 hours or until the beef gets so tender it’s falling easily apart.
In the meantime, about 30 minutes before you are ready to serve, prepare the semolina dumplings. In a small bowl, add the butter, let it soften and then, using a fork, mix it until fluffy. At this point, stir in the eggs, salt, nutmeg and semolina. Once you have all well combined, cover with a food foil and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or until you’re ready to cook them.
Forming and cooking semolina dumplings
Moreover, when forming the dumplings, you can either make the “almond” shape, using two spoons or a normal round ball shape. Also, try not to compress too hard, when making dumplings, or they will turn out too hard. I also suggest making them small, since they double or sometimes triple in size after cooking.
You can either cook the dumplings in some salted water and then transfer them to the soup or directly in the strained beef broth. Most importantly, allow the water to simmer and not to boil (this would break the dumplings apart). Also, try not to overcrowd them by putting them all at once in a pot. When the semolina dumplings come up to the surface (after about 7-8 minutes), they are cooked.
Finally, divide the semolina dumplings between plates, add some carrots and a lovely piece of tender beef. Now pour over the strained beef broth. This clear beef broth with semolina dumplings will bring your family together on Sundays during the cold season. The combination of spices will warm you and your soul.
Enjoy!
