Hafalaab

Easy·30 min active + 20 min resting

Liechtenstein's dumpling broth — small dumplings of wheat flour and cornmeal simmered in a smoked-bacon-and-vegetable broth, a frugal, warming peasant soup of the principality.

Egg

Hafalaab is a traditional Liechtenstein specialty: dumplings of flour and cornmeal in a ham- or bacon-flavored broth, historically a poor-man's dish using the valley's maize.

Spoon up hafalaab — a smoky, savory broth full of little tender dumplings and soft vegetables. Bite: the bacon gives the broth a deep smoked-pork backbone, the dumplings are soft with a slight maize chew from the cornmeal, the carrot and leek sweet. Plain, warming, and frugal — the everyday Alpine soup made from a handful of pantry staples.

Rendering the bacon first flavors the fat and broth with smoke; the flour-and-cornmeal dough, dropped in rough pieces, cooks into soft dumplings that thicken the soup slightly as their starch releases. The cornmeal gives a faint sweetness and chew distinct from a pure wheat dumpling.

Variations

With ham hock instead of bacon. With diced potato. Richer with a cream finish. With cabbage added. Vegetarian (vegetable broth). With more cornmeal for chewier dumplings.

On the Palate

Where Hafalaab sits in the Liechtensteiner flavor cloud

Ingredients

Serves 4

How it's made

8 steps · 30 min active + 20 min waiting

1
6 min
Dice 150 g smoked bacon and render in a pot until the fat runs.
Watch out
Render the bacon slowly until the fat runs clear and the dice turn crisp — this smoky fat is the backbone of the broth, so don't leave it soft and raw.
2
6 min
Add 1 chopped onion, 1 chopped carrot, and 1 chopped leek; soften 5 min.
3
4 min
Pour in 1.5 L water (or stock) and bring to a simmer.
4
6 min
Whisk 150 g flour and 80 g cornmeal with 1 egg and a little water into a thick, sticky dough.
Watch out
Beat the flour and cornmeal with egg and just enough water into a thick, sticky dough — too runny and it dissolves into the broth instead of forming dumplings.
5
6 min
Drop small pieces of dough off a spoon into the simmering broth.
6
13 min
Simmer 12 min until the dumplings float and are cooked through.
Watch out
The dumplings are done once they bob to the surface and hold together — fish one out and break it to check there's no raw dough in the middle.
7
2 min
Season with salt and pepper.
8
2 min
Serve hot, scattered with parsley.