Fruit in Root Dumpling

In my various trips to Eastern Europe, I had noted the fruit dumpling where a whole fruit forms the kernel of a tennis ball sized dumpling. Latvia to Croatia, each has its own unique take– sometimes served as a side dish and sometimes as a dessert.

Here is my take. You can slap this together without sweating- yet the taste is surprisingly decadent. Enjoy!

SPECIAL TOOLS:

Potato masher, steamer.

INGREDIENTS

Makes 4

• 2 medium sized sweet potatoes, nuked in their jackets (4-5 mins) till soft
• 3/4 cup almond flour + 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder + a dash of salt
• 1 pluot, pitted and quartered and dusted with sugar to taste
• To top: cinnamon sugar

METHOD

Mash the sweet potatoes with a potato masher and mix in the flavored flour and knead till very soft (1-2 mins). Let rest for 10 mins. Make four equal sized balls. Flatten the ball, place a quarter of fruit in the center and encase it in the flour mix and smoothen the ball. Steam for 7-8 minutes. Dust with cinnamon sugar.

NOTES, HINTS, TIPS:

1. In fact, the balls can also be simply microwaved for 1-2 mins, instead of even steaming.
2. You can use plums or any other fruit of your liking.
3. Sweet potato sizes may vary– as a rule of thumb, use the same volume of flour as the mashed sweet potato.
4. The traditional method is to poach the dumplings– but the casing usually has white flour, eggs etc which I am not using. Hence steaming or microwaving is a very effective, easy, and foolproof alternative.