Warm the milk and dissolve the yeast in it. Add 1 tablespoon of fat and egg yolk and mix. Mix flour, salt and poppy seeds. Add milk mixture and knead well. Cover and leave to rise in a warm place for 20-30 minutes.
Clean, wash and cut the rhubarb into pieces. Cut the vanilla pod lengthwise. Boil up the cherry nectar, cinnamon stick and vanilla pod. Add the rhubarb and cook for 10 minutes. Remove vanilla pod and cinnamon stick.
Add sugar. Stir starch in a little cold water until smooth and add to the rhubarb. Bring to the boil again and let it cool down. Cut toast into small cubes. Heat 1 tablespoon of fat. Fry the bread cubes in it until golden brown.
Knead the yeast dough. Form 8 small dumplings. Press the bread cubes in the middle and form them again. Place the dumplings on the sieve of a saucepan. Add 1/4 litre of water to the pot and bring to the boil.
Place the dumplings on top, cover and cook over a low heat for 10 minutes. Let the remaining fat foam up. Serve the poppy seed yeast dumplings with the rhubarb compote. Pour the fat over the dumplings.
Decorate with lemon balm and lemon peel.