Ingredients:

* 1 1/2 – 2 dozen damson plums (this will vary with the size of the plums)

* 4 or 5 medium sized potatoes, peeled and quartered

* 1 egg, beaten

* 4 cups of flour, sifted

* 1 teaspoon salt

* bread crumbs

* butter or oil

* sugar cubes or 1/2 tsp. granulated sugar for each plum

* cinnamon, or rum or orange liquor (optional)

Method:

1. Cook the potatoes in salted water until soft. Drain them well and allow them to give off a lot of steam. Mash potatoes while they are still warm and add the flour and salt. Make a well and add the egg. Mix or knead the dough gently until everything is blended into elastic dough.

2. Wash the plums and pit them. F rom a rolled dough form a circle of dough about 8 cm in diameter, or enough to cover your size of plum. Place a sugar cube (or the spoon of sugar and some cinnamon or liquor, if desired) into the center of a plum and fold the dough around the plum to form dumpling. Make sure to pinch the edges tight to seal. You may think that the dough is sticky enough that it doesn’t need to be pinched but those will be the leaky ones. Roll the sealed ball gently in your floured palms to form a nice sphere.

3. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water and cook a few dumplings at a time for about 10 minutes. Remove the dumplings with a slotted spoon and drain well but before the surface of the dumplings dries off. put on a platter.

4. Melt some butter  or oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add bread crumbs, brown all over and pour over dumplings.

5. Serve warm, sprinkled with cinnamon, sugar and cream according to taste.

Note: Instead of plums other stone fruits can be used, in particular apricots, but cherries (2-3 together) or peaches (quarter for one dumpling) are good as well.