Here's the recipe of Ukrainian delicious varenyki also known as "pierogi" and loved worldwide.
Discover about Varenyki's origins and spread HERE.
DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM
LENGTH: 6-8 HOURS
Despite the duration, you will not regret it!
You can modify the filling in a hundred different ways.
In the end, butter all the varenyki up (or use sunflower oil instead), add some salt and pepper and serve them with a generous heap of sour cream (smetana).
Don’t forget to coat them with “zazharka” (fried up bacon and onions).
Ingredients for Dough of 140 varenyki*:
1 large egg 2 Tbsp sour cream (or real smetana, easy to find if you're in Italy, Ukraine, Romania, or Russia) 3/4 cup water + 1/4 cup of milk (or 1 cup water + 1 cup whole milk) 5 cups all-purpose flour, plus about 1 cup more for dusting
For the Filling:
potatoes, cheese and onion
Toppings:
bacon and onion in butter and drizzle (=Zazharka)
PREPARATION OF THE DOUGH:
Whisk together the eggs and sour cream until they're well combined.
Then whisk 1/4 cup of milk and ¾ cup of water.
Using a spatula, mix the four of them, 1 cup at a time.
Place the dough onto a floured surface. Using a food scraper, knead the dough by turning and folding it with the food scraper.
Dust the dough with flour as you need it until it is soft and doesn't stick to your hands (you'll need around 1 cup more flour). Knead for 6 to 8 minutes. Don't add too much flour or the dough will become hard to work with.
Place the dough under a bowl and let it "rest" at room temperature (24-25 c°) for about 1 hour.
Then cut the dough into 4 to 6 pieces.
Work with one piece at a time and keep the rest covered with plastic wrap.
Form your chunk of dough into a log and cut off small pieces, one at a time. Pieces should be a little larger than a gumball.
Dust your rolling pin and cutting board with flour and roll out a piece of dough until it is ⅛" thick and 3" in diameter.
Fill these circles with the desired filling (potatoes, cherries, blueberries or meat).
Fold the dough over the filling to form a crescent and seal its edges with your fingers.
Place the finished varenyki on a cutting board dusted with flour.
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.
As you finish filling the first batch of varenyki, place them in boiling water!
When they float up to the top, keep them there still 2/3 minutes more, then remove them with a spoon to a bowl.
Drizzle the varenyki with melted butter.
Fill the rest of the dough and boil the varenyki like the previous ones.
PREPARATION OF THE FILLING:
Starting with this amount of ingredients:
( 10 medium potatoes, 3/4 Tbsp salt to cook them, 4 cups of finely grated cottage cheese and 3 Tbsp of melted butter)
Peel and chop potatoes into ½-inch slices. Place potatoes in a medium pot and fill with enough water to almost cover the potatoes and add ¾ Tbsp salt.
Bring potatoes to a boil and cook for about 15 minutes, or until potatoes are easily pierced with a fork.
Drain potatoes and remove them from the heat.
Let potatoes get cooler for 5 minutes, then mash and stir in 3 tbsp of the melted butter.
Mix in the cottage cheese (and small onion pieces if you want). Then add the finely chopped potatoes and mash with a potato masher or with a paddle attachment in an electric mixer.
Once your varenyki dough is ready, divide it into 4 equal portions and roll each portion out until it is 1/8″ thick over a lightly floured non-stick surface.
Cut out circles of the dough.
so, once you have the homogeneus filling...
fill the dough to make varenyki!
Bring a large pot of water to boil with 1 Tbsp salt and boil varenyki there.
From the full recipe around 4 batches come out, so, cook each batch separately in the same water!
Finally, to make "zazharka" fry ½ a package of chopped bacon until it releases its fat, then add half of an onion and saute until it gets "golden".
Add butter and stir until it's melted.
Put it on the varenyki.
source and inspiration: iryna hryhorchuk and natashaskitchen.com
REMEMBER: *To freeze the varenyki, place them on a cutting board and stick them in the freezer uncovered. Once they are frozen, transfer them to a large freezer-safe ziplock bag and dust them generously with flour. They last there for months.
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