AI-generated image
Palt
Pitepalt: Piteå potato and barley dumplings filled with salt pork
Palt is the pride of Piteå on the Gulf of Bothnia in northern Sweden: large, dense dumplings of grated raw potato and barley flour wrapped around cubes of salted pork belly, simmered for an hour and served with melted butter and lingonberries, with cold milk to drink. This is a pork dish. Leftover palt is sliced and fried for breakfast the next day. A common mistake is using too little flour, which makes the dumplings fall apart in the pot. Chef's tip: squeeze the grated potato hard and test one dumpling before shaping the rest; it should hold together firmly when simmered.
- Total time
- 100 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
For the dumplings
- 2 ¼ lb potatoespeeled and finely grated
- 7 oz barley flour
- 3 ½ oz plain flour
- 1 tsp salt
For the filling
- 9 oz salted pork belly or bacon in one piecediced 1 cm
- 1 onionfinely chopped
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
For cooking and serving
- 16 ¾ cups water
- 1 tbsp salt
- 2 ⅛ oz buttermelted
- 6 tbsp lingonberry jam
Shop this recipe on Amazon
Spices & pantry
Fresh ingredients (4)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Fry 9 oz salted pork belly or bacon in one piece in a dry pan for 8 minutes, until lightly browned, add 1 onion and ¼ tsp ground allspice and fry 4 minutes. Cool.
12 minStep 2: Squeeze 2 ¼ lb potatoes in a cloth. Mix with 7 oz barley flour, 3 ½ oz plain flour and 1 tsp salt into a firm dough.
Step 3: Bring 16 ¾ cups water with 1 tbsp salt to a simmer. Test one small ball; if it breaks up, add more flour. Common mistake: too little flour.
Step 4: Shape into 8 balls, press a hollow in each, fill with pork and close up tightly.
Step 5: Simmer gently for 50–60 minutes, until firm and cooked through, turning once.
60 minStep 6: Serve with 2 ⅛ oz butter and 6 tbsp lingonberry jam.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 640 kcal
- Protein
- 22 g
- Carbs
- 80 g
- Fat
- 24 g
- Fibre
- 7 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does palt take?
- About 100 minutes in total: 40 minutes to prepare and 60 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- What can I use instead of potatoes?
- Sweet potato, same weight (sweeter, cooks a little faster).
- What can I use instead of plain flour?
- Self-raising flour, same amount (then leave out the baking powder).
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Pork souvlaki
This is a pork recipe. Walk through any Greek town after dark, from Athens to Thessaloniki, and the smell of souvlaki stands drifts down the street; cubes of pork shoulder grilled on thin skewers are the country's favourite cheap supper, eaten standing up or at a plastic-table taverna. At home you marinate the meat in lemon, olive oil, garlic and dried oregano, grill it hard and fast, and pile it on warm pitta with tzatziki, tomato and red onion. Chef's tip: cut the pork into even 2.5 cm cubes and leave a little fat on; lean loin dries out, shoulder stays juicy over high heat.
Greek
Tteokgalbi
Tteokgalbi is rib meat chopped finely, pressed back into neat slabs and grilled, so it's soft enough to eat without struggling with a bone. Two places in South Jeolla claim it: Damyang, the bamboo county, where all-beef patties come with rice steamed in bamboo tubes, and Gwangju's Songjeong district, whose restaurant street near the railway station mixes beef with pork. This home version uses minced beef and pork, seasoned with soy, garlic and pear, then brushed with a soy and honey glaze as it cooks. Serve with rice, lettuce and a few banchan; leftovers are good cold in a lunchbox. Chef's tip: slap the mince against the bowl for a few minutes; it turns sticky and the patties hold together on the grill without any breadcrumbs.
Korean
Char siu
Hanging in long glossy strips in the windows of Guangzhou's siu mei shops, char siu is the roast pork Cantonese families pick up on the way home to put on rice, noodles or into steamed buns. The outside is lacquered, sweet and a little charred at the edges; the inside stays juicy, savoury and faintly scented with five-spice. Shoulder (pork butt) is the cut to use, because its marbling keeps the strips moist through a hot oven. Marinate it overnight in the fridge, roast it the next day and eat it warm with steamed rice and blanched greens, or cold in fried rice and noodle soups. Chef's tip: save the honey for the last ten minutes; brushed on at the start it burns black long before the pork is cooked.
Chinese