Passport & Plate - Dumplings (Varenyki)
Ukraine | Friday, March 14, 2014 | 5 photos
Ingredients
Filling
• 5 large potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Dough
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (plus a few more tablespoons as needed)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup water (plus a few more tablespoons as needed)
• NO eggs (if you prepare it during the Lent)
How to prepare this recipe1. For the filling cut the potatoes or use the machine to do this.
2. Cut the onions. Do not shed a tear! Smile! :))
3. Mix the filling and call a boyfriend to help
4. You would probably need a strong man to make dough. We use no eggs for it’s the time of Lent in Russia and we want to make something vegan yet tasty. So no eggs this time. Thus it’s much harder to knead. Your strong man should mix water and flour and keep kneading! Watch him! He should keep kneading until the dough no longer sticks to hands and is smooth and elastic.
5. Thank your man, promise to treat him to vareniki.
6.Then divide the dough into several portions and roll one out with a rolling pin on a very lightly floured surface. Use the rolling pin and knife to make circles
7. Put about a tablespoon of filling at the center of each circle, fold the dough over to make a half-circle, and pinch the edges closed. Some people use ½ tablespoon but we like our dumplings to be big! That would be approved by Gogol!
8. Put the water to boil. Add some salt. Add your vareniki and stir gently so they don’t stick to the bottom.
9. Cook for about 10 minutes after they float to the surface. Have a try of one to make sure the filling is ready. Serve with sour cream and greens.
The story behind this recipeI thought a great deal on choosing the recipe. I love various cuisines but Georgian, Italian and Ukrainian are in my TOP-3 for they are mouth-watering. I think these nations have a lot in common and it starts somewhere in the kitchen – the way they cook and celebrate all together at the table joined by the feast.
I thought of the Georgian dish – satzivi, it’s extremely tasty. Besides my native city Samara has recently set a world record in preparing the largest satzivi in the world and I made coverage of this event.
And then happened the coup d'etat in the Ukraine. I do not want to mix politics with cuisine but still want to explain the position of all thinking Russian people. We are very close with the Ukraine. In Russia the media tries to make us think there are nationalists there – those who hate the Russian people. While the Ukraine and western allies say Russia must pull its troops out of Crimea. I am writing it 2 days before the referendum and I pray that our nations will still live in peace and love as they used to do for ages.
So my choice is inspired by the Ukrainian people. There are also some traces of dumplings (or «varenyki» as we call this dish) in literature. The Ukranian-born Russian novelist Nikolay Gogol wrote in his mystery story “Evenings on the Farm near Dikanka” about varenyki. One of the Cossacks in the story eats magical varenyky – they fly down into a basin of cream and then into his mouth. That remarkable Christmas story is known to all people of the Ukraine and Russia.
My Grandmom then taught me to cook this dish. I also tried a lot of varenyki when I visited Kiev several years ago. That was before the revolution and the city was peaceful, quiet, beautiful and hospitable. I hope these days will come back. And our nations will still be friends. We have a lot in common. Set aside literature, history – a lot of Russian recipes came from the Ukraine. That means - we can sit at one table and finally understand each other!
