Potatoes, cream, fragrant spices, and a sweet and sour finish make up the honest Old Bohemian zablafuňky. This affordable and filling dish is reminiscent of kulajda, dill sauce, or sour potatoes, but its unique character comes mainly from thyme and whole cloves.
Preparation is not complicated, but it’s important to cook the potatoes in just enough water and to simmer the spices separately. The resulting base is enriched with cream and eggs added directly into the sauce, or served hard-boiled. For extra flavor, you can also add fresh dill at the end.
What You’ll Need
For the potato base:
- 1 kg potatoes, peeled and diced,
- 1/2 onion, finely chopped,
- salt,
- whole caraway seeds,
- water, just enough to cover the potatoes.
For the spiced broth:
- 1/2 onion,
- 6 allspice berries,
- 10 whole black peppercorns,
- 3 bay leaves,
- 2 whole cloves,
- 1–2 teaspoons dried thyme,
- water for simmering the spices.
For finishing and thickening:
- 200 ml heavy cream (33%),
- plain flour for thickening,
- cold water to mix the flour,
- eggs, beaten directly into the pot or hard-boiled,
- vinegar to taste,
- granulated sugar to taste,
- fresh dill, optional.
The original recipe does not specify exact amounts of salt, caraway, water, flour, eggs, vinegar, sugar, or dill, so adjust these according to the number of servings and your preferred consistency and taste.
Step-by-Step Preparation:
1. Preparing the potatoes: Peel the potatoes, cut them into cubes, and place them in a large pot. Add half of the finely chopped onion, salt, and whole caraway seeds.
2. Cooking the potatoes: Pour in just enough water to barely cover the potatoes. Avoid adding too much water, as you want to preserve both the flavor and the starch, which will help thicken the dish later. Cook the potatoes until tender.
3. Preparing the spiced broth: While the potatoes are cooking, put the other half of the onion, allspice, whole black pepper, bay leaves, cloves, and dried thyme into a small saucepan. Add a little water and simmer everything together so the aroma of the spices infuses the liquid.
4. Combining the bases: Once the potatoes are soft, strain the spiced broth through a fine sieve directly into the main pot. Do not add the whole spices or onion from the broth. Mix the potato base thoroughly.
5. Thickening: Carefully mix the plain flour with a little cold water to make a smooth slurry without lumps. Gradually pour it into the potatoes while stirring constantly, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for at least 15 minutes. Stir occasionally during this time so the flour loses its raw taste.
6. Enriching with cream: Pour 200 ml of heavy cream into the cooked base and mix well. The cream brings all the flavors together and gives the zablafuňky a smooth, creamy texture.
7. Adding eggs: You can beat the eggs directly into the hot base, where they will form delicate, thicker strands. Alternatively, boil them hard, cut them in half, and add them to each serving on the plate.
8. Final seasoning: Remove the pot from the heat and adjust the zablafuňky to taste with vinegar and granulated sugar. Add both ingredients gradually to keep the final flavor pleasantly balanced. If you wish, stir in some chopped fresh dill at the end.
9. Serving: Serve the finished zablafuňky hot, ideally with fresh bread. If you didn’t mix the eggs directly into the pot, add a halved hard-boiled egg to each portion.
Why Simmer the Spices Separately
Allspice, pepper, bay leaf, clove, and thyme create a strong, aromatic broth without leaving whole pieces of spice among the potatoes. Straining through a fine sieve preserves their flavor, but makes the final dish easy to eat.
Clove plays an important role in this recipe, so keep the two pieces as stated. Together with thyme, it gives zablafuňky their distinctive, deeper aroma.
How to Properly Thicken Zablafuňky
Always mix the flour thoroughly in cold water first. Pour the slurry in while stirring constantly to prevent lumps in the sauce. Don’t skip at least fifteen minutes of simmering on low heat, during which the raw flour taste disappears.
How to Balance the Sweet and Sour Flavor
Add vinegar and sugar only after removing the pot from the heat, and always in small amounts. After each addition, stir and taste the base. The goal is not to make the sauce distinctly sweet or too sour, but to achieve a balanced flavor, which the cream pleasantly smooths out.
