Americanized Slovak Haluski is a layered potato dumpling dish combining crispy pan-fried dumplings with caramelized onions, crumbled bacon, and melted provolone cheese. This Slovak-American comfort meal transforms a traditional dish using accessible American cheeses.
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For potato dumplings (Haluski):.
In a medium bowl, mix flour, eggs, potato puree, baking powder, and salt together throughly, mixing it into a sticky dough. Set aside.
Take a large pot, fill it a little over half full with water.
Add a dash of salt to the water. Boil water on high heat.
On medium heat in a skillet, fry up the bacon until crisp; remove bacon from the pan and allow it to drain on paper towels.
Cool bacon and crumble.
Keep bacon fat in the skillet for caramelizing onions and frying up dumplings.
In the same skillet, caramelize chopped onions on low heat. This should take about 30 to 45 minutes, occasionally stirring. When they are done, drain onions in a strainer over a small glass bowl reserving bacon fat and the set aside. Keep the same skillet to fry the dumplings.
In the meantime, on a small cutting board, ladle Haluski dough and with a knife, cut about 1 teaspoon sized pieces while holding the board over the boiling water; drop the dough pieces into the water. You might want to do this in batches; a ladle sized amount of dough pieces at a time.
Let each small batch boil until dumplings are throughly cooked and floating to the top of the boiling water. (They sink when first dropped in). Repeat with another batch of dough until you’ve used it all.
Strain dumplings out of the water and add them to a medium bowl to drain for a moment.
Take each batch and add them to the skillet. Add a little bacon fat over the dumplings and fry on both sides on medium heat until brown.
Repeat with the remaining batches of dough as they finish boiling.
Place dumplings into a large serving bowl.
Sprinkle bacon crumbles, two slices of cheese, a Tablespoon of caramelized onions at a time for each layer.
Repeat the layering process as you finish cooking additional batches of dumplings – frying in the pan, layering into the large serving dish with bacon, onions and cheese until full batch is done (approximately four layers).
When complete, take a large spoon and throughly mix Haluski with all of the other layers to incorporate all the ingredients thoroughly.
Serve as is or add Kielbasa on the side, or slice up Kielbasa and mix it in with Haluski!
Garnish with sprinkles of freshly chopped chives on top, add a dollop of sour cream to each serving and serve with a nice warm crusty bread!
Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days; reheat gently in a skillet with a little bacon fat over medium heat until warmed through.
large pot (for boiling dumplings) · skillet (for bacon, caramelizing onions, and frying dumplings) · ladle · small cutting board (for cutting dough pieces) · strainer
The sticky dough is best used fresh, but you can prepare it up to 2 hours ahead and cover it. Keep it at room temperature until ready to cut and boil.
Caramelizing onions on low heat takes 30 to 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. This slow process is essential for deep flavor.
Brick cheese or feta work as closer replacements to traditional Czechoslovak cheese. Cheddar or mozzarella are milder alternatives.
Yes, you can assemble the dish up to a day ahead. Store covered in the refrigerator and reheat gently in a skillet with a little bacon fat over medium heat until warmed through.
Yes, dumplings sink initially when dropped into boiling water. They are fully cooked when they float to the top; this typically takes 5–8 minutes per batch.
