Taste Ukraine!

Passport & Plate - Vareniky

Ukraine | Wednesday, February 5, 2014 | 5 photos

Ingredients
To make vareniky, you will need:
For dough:
-1 glass of flour
- a pinch of salt
- a pinch of yeast
- 1 glass of water
For filling:
-300 gr of cottage cheese
-1 table spoon of sugar
- 1 small egg
- 1 cherry
For serving:
-sour cream (as much as you like)

 

How to prepare this recipe
First, make a dough: mix flour, salt, yeast and water in a mixing bowl and knead it well. Once the dough is ready, cover it and put it aside. Now it's time to get to the filling: grate cottage cheese on a grater, then add to it sugar, a pinch of salt, an egg and stir it. When you are done with it, set it aside. Now it's neccesssary to roll the dough (don't make it too thin, because dough can tear while cooking). Then cut dough into round pieces with the help of glass. The most interesting part!) Take one piece of dough, put the filling in the center of it. Before closing varenyk, slur the piece of dough with a bit of water on the one side, so it sticks better. And after that "close" the varenyk. Use fork or your fingers to make vareniky look attractive (you can find it in pictures). In one of the varenyk put a cherry (read about it in a story behind the recipe). Heat the water untill it boils, add a bit of salt and put in it vareniky. When they start to float, they need to boil 5-7 minutes more. When the time is over, take them out of the water carefully and let them drain for a bit. Serve with sour cream and eat it while hot! Enjoy :)

 

The story behind this recipe
Buongiorno segnore e signori!
Who am I? A Ukrainian, young, active and smiling girl. My name is Yevheniia. And now get ready for an authentic Ukrainian recipe, which will open you traditions of my country.

National cuisine is also an important heritage as well as culture, literature and language. In Ukrainian traditional cuisine bread and products made of dough have always been the most important and the most respected. We even have a proverb: “Bread is a head of all”. The woman has been playing the role of a keeper of house warmth, taking care of kids and cooking. No wonder this recipe has even magical features (woman of all times love charming things). The recipe of “Vareniky” I also found out from my grandma. And she was taught by her grandma.

So this is the story my grandma told me while I was preparing this dish. Having a shape that resembles a half of moon, vareniky are considered to be a symbol of fertility (again, fertility is symbol of woman). When a woman kneads dough, her movements repeat creation of the universe, as well as any woman gives birth to a new life, in a kitchen woman produces new dish. It’s hard to believe but our ancestors could even tell fortune with the help of vareniky! Grandma told me that girls used to put papers with male names into vareniky and then watched: the name of the future husband is in the varenik that while boiling floats first! To have a richer life people used to put coins inside of varenily, in order to have an easier life people stuffed inside cotton. When I was cooking, I decided to put a cherry in one of varenikys. Whoever will eat this varenik will have good luck in all his or her beginnings! Cherry is an old symbol of richness and prosperity. And it’s very important to have a clear mind and good, optimistic thoughts while molding. Your future dish also takes your mood. So I strongly encourage you to cook and taste this course! The recipe and photos you may find in my presentation. Have an inspired day!!!