- Peel and grate the raw potatoes. Press-dry the grated potatoes. Grate or mash the boiled potatoes. Mix the boiled and raw potatoes into a dough with flour and salt.
- Divide the dough into 12 to 14 (120 to 140 g) parts and roll the parts into medium-large balls. Insert a dice of cheese inside each of the balls. Try to make the balls as smooth as possible.
- Carefully lift the potato balls into vegetable stock or salt water close to its boiling point.
- Cook the potato balls for 30 to 40 minutes depending on their size. Cut a ball open to see if it is well done.
- Prepare the sauce. Melt the butter on a pan. When it foams up and starts to look brown, add the peas and spinach onto the pan. Cook for a minute and season with salt and pepper.
- Serve the potato ball with sauce, grated cheese, turnip wedges and smoked shank or other cooked meat.
Potato dumplings are often associated with Western Norway but the dish occurs under different names in other regions as well. In Western Norway, it is traditionally consumed on Thursdays, which is why the day is called Komle-torsdag.
The dish is most widely consumed in Norway’s southern regions, where it is called kompe. In Western Norway, it is called raspeball, komle and potetball. On Thursdays, potato dumplings are listed on restaurant menus as the special dish of the day. In Central Norway, potato dumplings are almost always called klubb.
The history of the dish goes hand in hand with the history of potatoes in Norway, where potatoes became more common at the turn of the 1800s. Since potatoes were easy to cultivate and produced larger crops than grain, they were used to replace expensive flour when cooking.
Raspeballer are often consumed on Norway’s Independence Day, 17 May, especially among Norwegian expatriates.
| Raspeballer with a cheese filling 6 servings |
|
|---|---|
| 1 l | vegetable stock or lightly salted water |
| Dough | |
|---|---|
| 750 g | raw potatoes, grated |
| 300 g | boiled potatoes, grated |
| 3 dl | barley flour |
| 2 tbsp | wheat flour |
| 1 tsp | salt |
| Filling | |
|---|---|
| 50 g | Le Gruyére AOP cheese |
| Sauce | |
|---|---|
| 25 g | butter |
| 100 g | frozen peas, defrosted |
| handful of spinach | |
| pinch of salt | |
| pinch of black pepper | |
| In addition | |
|---|---|
| Le Gruyére AOP cheese, grated | |
| smoked shank or other cooked meat, shredded |
| Turnip wedges 4 to 6 servings |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | medium-sized turnip |
| 2 tbsp | white wine vinegar |
| salt | |
- Peel and cut the turnip into four wedges. Boil in salt water until well done.
- Place the wedges in a bowl with vinegar. Allow to cool in the fridge.
- After cooling, dice the turnip into cubes of any size you choose.
