Knoephla, also spelled knephla (icon), is a type of dumpling

Dumpling

Dumplings are cooked balls of dough. They are based on flour, potatoes or bread, and may include meat, fish, vegetables, or sweets. They may be cooked by boiling, steaming, simmering, frying, or baking. They may have a filling, or there may be other ingredients mixed into the dough. Dumplings may...

, commonly used in soups. The word is related to the modern German

Standard German

Standard German is the standard variety of the German language used as a written language, in formal contexts, and for communication between different dialect areas...

 dialect word Knöpfle

Spätzle

Spätzle are a type of egg noodle of soft texture found in the cuisine of Germany and of Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Alsace and South Tyrol.-History:The geographic origin of spätzle is not precisely...

, meaning little knob/button. Traditional knoephla soup is a thick chicken and potato soup

Soup

Soup is a generally warm food that is made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables with stock, juice, water, or another liquid. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingredients in liquids in a pot until the flavors are extracted, forming a broth.Traditionally,...

, almost to the point of being a stew

Stew

A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables , meat, especially tougher meats suitable for slow-cooking, such as beef. Poultry, sausages, and seafood are also used...

. It is particularly common in the U.S. states of Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

, South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

, and North Dakota

North Dakota

North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....

, where there was significant settlement of German emigrants from the Russian Empire

History of Germans in Russia and the Soviet Union

The German minority in Russia and the Soviet Union was created from several sources and in several waves. The 1914 census puts the number of Germans living in Russian Empire at 2,416,290. In 1989, the German population of the Soviet Union was roughly 2 million. In the 2002 Russian census, 597,212...

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External links

• Knoephla Soup Recipe By Mike Tifft
• The Taste of Home online recipe: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Knoephla-Soup
• The Dakota Memories Heritage Tour listing knoephla as one of the ethnic foods to be served: http://library.ndsu.edu/grhc/dakotamemories/heritage/files/tour_brochure.pdf