These dumplings are served in clear broths usually chicken and they might take a bit of practice to get right but worth the effort.

My grandmother used to be the master of making golden and airlight dumplings that were just perfect whilst running between her other household tasks. Remember how she was preparing the egg and wheat mixture as early as 9 in the morning and set aside to rest on a pantry shelf to make at lunch time.

The recipe is about the egg : semolina ratio, once you figure out what works you can make them with confidence ever after. There are a few variables here that would influence the end result therefore difficult to give exact measurements. The size of the semolina grains vary from brand to brand or country to country, the size of the eggs are different and there are personal taste differences.

I refer to the wheat grains as semolina but you may have these under a different name elsewhere, like  cream of wheat, grit, farina,.

To make these for a big family pot sized chicken broth:

Ingredients

• 2 free range eggs
• wheat grains, like semolina (amount depends – see in instructions)
• 1 teaspoon of oil (sunflower, vegetable)
• pinch of salt

How to make

1. Beat the two eggs, add the salt
2. Add the wheat grains bit by bit, combine well and check the consistency. It should resemble a well cooked but still runny porridge thickness. When pressed down with a fork it makes a slight indentation that holds shape for a short time.
3. Set aside to rest, ideally for 2-3 hours, some people make these after a shorter wait, so you could experiment if  pressured for time.
4. Boil a deep pan of water add a bit of salt, similar to when cooking pasta.
5. Turn the heat down to simmering point. Holding the plate with the semolina mixture in one hand tear and drop little pieces of dumplings into the hot water with a teaspoon.
6. Cook for 10 minutes occasionally dunking and turning them in the simmering water.
7. Take off the heat, cover with a lid and let the dumpling stand it the hot water for 20 minutes. They will raise in size considerably, so a small teaspoon size will grow to a good tablespoon size.
8. Take the dumplings out with a slotted spoon onto a plate, and serve in the hot chicken soup.

Those who prefer the scientific way could experiment with this method:

1. Weigh your beaten eggs on a kitchen scale.
2. Get the weight of the eggs and multiply with 0.9 and that is your wheat grain weight.
3. Combine the egg and semolina, add salt to taste, let it rest for 30 minutes or so and cook according to instructions above.