Scandinavian Potato Balls - Kropkakor
Posted by Deb at 4/15/2008 5:17 AM 
Categories: gluten, Cooking, Gluten Free, History, Baking, Celiac Disease, gluten free grocery shopping guide, gluten intolerance, recipes
Categories: gluten, Cooking, Gluten Free, History, Baking, Celiac Disease, gluten free grocery shopping guide, gluten intolerance, recipes
My first attempt at making Scandinavian potato balls was a flop! I went to the church's Scandinavian Smorgasbord on Saturday and got this recipe book with all kinds of Scandinavian recipes in it. There was one in there for Scandinavian potato balls that I thought looked really good. I had some leftover lefse dough so I thought that I could use it instead of making a new dough since the lefse dough had worked so well for the lefse. I had some leftover pork roast in the refrigerator so I chopped it up into tiny pieces and also chopped up half an onion, I put a couple of tablespoons of butter in a frying pan and added the chopped pork and onions with a little garlic and sauted it until it was browned. The recipe said to roll out the dough about an inch thick and cut rounds with a cookie cutter or large glass. I put a spoonful of the meat, onion mixture in the middle of each potato round and rolled them into balls. I was excited, these looked great, I was hoping they tasted as good as they looked. I used about 4 cups of chicken broth and I added a little water so there was enough liquid to add all the potato balls so they would be submerged. After the liquid started to boil, I added the potato balls. They all dropped to the bottom and it said that they will not rise to the surface until they are done. It said to cook them for 45 minutes and serve with melted butter or white sauce. I lifted the lid after 45 minutes and there they were! The balls had risen to the top which meant they were done. I turned off the pan and told everyone it was time to try them. Well, when I opened the lid back up after about 5 minutes, the balls were gone! I couldn't believe my eyes, what happened? I stirred the liquid and I did find about four balls. The rest had dissolved into the liquid and were now potato soup. The balls were very doughy but not too bad. It definitely wasn't what I was expecting. The recipe was so easy, how could I have screwed it up? Transforming recipes to gluten free recipes is always a challenge. Here is what the recipe said: Use 4 cups of mashed potatoes, a little salt and pepper, 1 egg, and a cup of flour. When you exhange a cup of flour for a cup of gluten free flour, you have to add xanthan gum to it. I also add a teaspoon of Knox gelatin which seems to give it the elasticity that it needs. After careful examination of what I did wrong I came to the conclusion that I shouldn't have used the lefse dough to make the potato balls. It also needed an egg which was not in the lefse dough. I thought I would save some time by using the leftover dough, I should have saved it for lefse and made the potato balls like the recipe said. I am planning to make another attempt at these potato balls this week because I know that they are going to taste wonderful once I figure it out. Sometimes it takes a few attempts to get the gluten free combination right. I know I can do it and it will be great!
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