Derelye is a classic noodle dish, which appeared in the Hungarian cuisine during the 17th century. It resembles the Italian ravioli and the Polish pierogi, though it’s filled with plum butter or sweetened cottage cheese instead of meat, veggies or cheese and coated in toasted breadcrumbs.

The word derelye popped up first in a cookbook in 1786, six years later in 1792 a similar recipe was published that bore the name barátfüle. According to ethnographic researches barátfüle is the synonym of derelye, but if you ask the folk, many of them will say that derelye and barátfüle are not the same, because their dough and shape differ. I think justice can’t be done in this case, everyone is right.

If you search for a derelye recipe, you won’t find one that stands above all because every Hungarian family has its own version. Dough and shape – these are the two components that generally alter in the recipes. Derelye can be made from two kinds of dough: some people make derelye using a potato dough (like in case of plum jam dumplings and nudli), others swear by pasta dough.

Besides dough derelye’s shape is the other thing, which can generate a debate. It can be square, triangle or half-circle. You can roll out your dough with a rolling pin or by putting it through a pasta machine. You can decide to cut out and fill the dumplings one by one, or you can prepare them with the fast and simple technique I show you below. No matter how you make it, if your dumplings are flat and filled with jam or cottage cheese, they can be called derelye.

As I have written above, derelye can be made from potato dough and from plain pasta dough too. It’s up to you which one you choose. Here you can find the recipe of both doughs.