Kluski na Parze/Polish Steamed Dumplings with Berry Sauce and Sour Cream

Though my family regularly ate traditional Polish foods since I was young, we were typically limited to ready-made foods available in the GTA's numerous Central/Eastern European markets. That meant lots of pierogi, borscht from concentrate, potato dumplings with plums, and so on. But the first time that I had the steamed buns that were apparently quite common was at my aunt's home in Poland. She somehow had access to frozen ones, which made me wonder why I never saw them around Mississauga- maybe because I wasn't looking! But in any case, I wanted to try making them myself.

The sweet version I show here is not the only way that they can be served- a sauce made with meat or mushrooms is also an option, though according to my father nobody eats them savoury where he's from in the Southwest. It does bear some similarity to the Germknödel of Austria, so perhaps sweet main courses are typical of the more mountainous parts of Central Europe. 

The best way to serve these, in my opinion, is with a simple berry sauce made from pureed fruit only lightly sweetened, and some sour cream. There are many other ways to make steamed dumplings, such as by frying with butter and sugar and sprinkling with sweetened ground poppyseed or breadcrumbs, but this is ideal for the berry season. You can have them as a main course or dessert, and freeze the finished dumplings to steam again later on. 

Polish Steamed Buns
From Senses in the Kitchen

500 g. Flour
250 ml. Milk
3 TBSP Butter
2 Eggs
21 g. Fresh yeast, or 2 1/4 Tsp. Active dry yeast
2 Tsp. Vanilla sugar (or 1/2 Tsp. plain sugar for savoury buns)
1/2 Tsp. Salt

Berry Sauce
1 C. Raspberries
1 C. Chopped strawberries
1-2 TBSP Sugar
1 TBSP Rum

About 1/2 C. 18% Sour cream

Cook together the raspberries and strawberries. Add the rum and sugar to taste, depending on the sweetness of the berries. Let cook on low until slightly thickened and serve alongside buns, with vanilla sauce or sour cream.


Mix the flour, sugar and salt. Heat the milk until steaming and mix in the butter to dissolve. Let cool until lukewarm and dissolve the yeast. Add the milk mixture and eggs to the flour mixture and knead until smooth and elastic.

Let rise about 1 hour, or until doubled. Divide into 12 pieces on a floured surface and form smooth balls. Let rise covered for 20 minutes.

Heat a pot of water to boiling with a large colander or tearag secured on top. Alternatively, use a bamboo steamer. Place each bun on a square of baking parchment and steam about 3 at a time, covered with a a lid, or better, a lightly dampened tearag. Try and find a lid that minimized the chances of water dripping onto the buns, as this makes them sieze and become wrinkly- the tearag method works well for this reason.

Serve with sauce and sour cream while warm.