Dense, hearty potato dumplings made from a mix of grated raw and cooked potato bound with barley and wheat flour, then boiled in salted broth. A Thursday tradition on Norway's west coast, they are served with salted, smoked meats and mashed swede, all bathed in melted butter.
Raspeballer — known also as komle, klubb or kompe across its many valleys — is the potato dumpling of western Norway, traditionally eaten on Thursdays. Boiled dense and served with salted meat, it is hearty coast-and-fjord winter food.
Substantial and satisfyingly chewy, the dumplings are mild and earthy, soaking up the salty broth and pork. Drowned in melted butter and partnered with sweet mashed swede, they are pure rustic stick-to-your-ribs fuel.
Mixing raw grated potato with cooked mash combines free starch and structure, and the flour binds it so the dumplings hold together while poaching in gently simmering broth rather than disintegrating.
Variations
with bits of salted pork inside (kompe med flesk), Trøndelag klubb, served with brunost, fried leftover dumplings next day
On the Palate
Where Raspeballer (Komle) sits in the Norwegian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
7 steps · 30 min
- 120 min
Boil half the potatoes until soft, then mash and let cool slightly.
- 212 min
Peel and finely grate the remaining raw potatoes, then squeeze out some of the liquid.
Watch outGrate the raw potato and squeeze out a good part of the water — too wet and the dough turns slack, so the dumplings fall apart in the pot.
- 36 min
Combine the grated and mashed potato with salt, barley flour and wheat flour into a stiff, sticky dough.
Watch outAdd flour until the dough is stiff and tacky enough to hold a shape — too soft and it dissolves while poaching, too dry and it cracks.
- 45 min
With wet hands, shape the dough into firm, tennis-ball-sized dumplings.
- 545 min
Lower the dumplings into gently simmering salted broth and poach uncovered for about 45 minutes.
Watch outKeep the broth at a bare, lazy simmer — a hard boil knocks the dumplings around and breaks them; you want them poaching still and gentle.
- 615 min
Boil and mash the swede with butter while the dumplings cook.
- 73 min
Serve the dumplings hot with the smoked sausage, salted pork, mashed swede and plenty of melted butter.
