Ping: Parb Pierogi question 1653

Right-o!

Right here.

That goes without saying, ain't it?

The thing to remember about pierogi, pirohy, pelmeni, vareniki, koldunai, etc. is that all of 'em are supposed to be half-moon shaped *and* boiled, never fried, unless they are leftovers (is there such a thing as pierogi leftovers, anyway?). The Lithuanian koldunai are an exception, since they are sometimes fried and *then* boiled. If you want fried dumplings, consider the Armenian boraki, Georgian chebureki, Azerbaijani dushbara or kurze, Tajik kushan, Chinese kao-tse, Korean gun-mandu, or Japanese age-gyoza.

To answer the OP's question, all of the above are to be frozen raw - interestingly enough, the taste even improves as a result. Preparing - no matter how - frozen cooked pierogi or some such is too gruesome an idea to contemplate.

For recipes, both savoury and sweet, traditional and non-traditional, here is yet another repost. Note that pierogi are the same thing as the Russian and Ukranian pelmeni and vareniki. Ignore Barb's heretical attempts to defile the noble recipe by using such an evil contraption as a food processor. Ignore also her apostate triangular ushki corruption of the glorious half-moon shape of the true pierogi-pirohy-pelmeni-vareniki-koldunai. Keep in mind that, whenever mushrooms are called for, they are *real* wild mushrooms, such as ceps-porcini, not the bland, blah button mushrooms, portobella, etc.

For the dough:

1 1-2 lb flour 2 1-2 cups water (some or all of the water can be replaced with milk if desired) 3 eggs salt

For meat filling:

3-4 lb beef, finely minced 3-4 lb pork, finely minced (Lamb or mutton can either be subsbreastuted for either beef or pork, or added to both. Other meats, such as game, can be used, too. The best pelmeni invariably contain at least two different kinds of meat. Also, it is ideally preferable to mince meat by hand - it will be juicier that way.) 1 egg 4-5 cloves of garlic a bit of minced fresh cabbage (this doesn't add anything to the taste, but makes pelmeni incredibly juicy; if it's too juicy for you, reduce the amount of cabbage or leave it out altogether) salt pepper (I've also seen non-traditional recipes adding a bit of freshly grated ginger) 7-8 cups salted water (or, better still, chicken or beef broth) for cooking.

Mix together the ingredients for the filling and season with salt and pepper. To make the dough, mix flour, eggs, and salt together in a mixing bowl, then add water gradually. Knead until springy. Let the flour rest in the refrigerator for a half hour or so. Roll out the dough very thinly (ideally, it should be almost transparent) and cut into circles with a thin glbutt of about 2.5 inch in diameter (but the size is up to you). Put about a teaspoon of the meat mixture in the centre of each circle, fold in half and seal the edges firmly together to form a half moon. (If you want a fancier form, fold again, bringing together the ends of the semi-circle, pinching them to hold them in place). Repeat until the filling and the dough are used up. Pelmeni are ready to be cooked at this point, unless you want to freeze them. In the latter case, they should be put on the floured board, not touching each other, and placed in the freezer. Once frozen, they can be put into plastic bags and kept for months.

To cook pelmeni, whether fresh or frozen, bring the water or broth to the boil in a large pot and drop in the pelmeni. Bring to the boil again and boil until they rise to the top. Take them out quickly with a perforated spoon and put in a colander for a few moments to drain the excess water.

(Pelmeni can also be fried or baked, but this is not traditional. To prepare fried ones, first boil them for two or three minutes, as described above, then take out and drain. Fry them in hot butter in a pan until golden brown. To prepare baked pelmeni, first boil them until not quite ready, then take out and drain them and arrange them in a pan. Pour over sour cream, or tomato- or cheese sauce and bake in the oven until ready).

Serve pelmeni with butter, or sour cream, or sour cream laced with garlic, or with diluted vinegar, or mustard, or mustard sauce - or, indeed, with any sauce, whether spicy or not, you deem suitable. They can be sprinkled with fresh dill or parsley and with grated cheese. They can also be served in a beef or chicken broth or soup.

Pelmeni filled with feta cheese and baked in an omelette:

400 g (14 ounces) feta cheese 100 g (3.5 ounces) butter 2 garlic cloves 5 eggs 1-2 cup milk 2 tablespoons flour salt

Put feta in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let stand until the water is cool. Put the feta through the grinder together with garlic and mix well with softened butter. Form and fill pelmeni and boil them. Heat some fat in a in a large high-sided frying pan. Arrange the boiled hot pelmeni in the pan and fry on all sides. Beat a mixture of eggs, milk and flour and pour over the pelmeni. Bake until the omelette is ready.

Chicken filling:

1 boned medium-sized chicken 1 cup milk (or cream) salt, spices to taste

Put the chicken through the grinder twice, salt, and add milk or cream. Mix everything well together. The filling shouldn't be too thin.

Radish filling (white radish or daikon):

600 g (1.3 pounds) radish 1 onion, finely minced 1.5 cup sour cream salt, spices to taste

Coarsely grate the radish (it would perhaps be a good idea to soak the radish before grating in salted water for some time and then add a bit of vinegar to the soaking liquid), add onions, sour cream and spices. Mix everything well together. Serve these pelmeni with some vegetable oil.

Sauerkraut or fresh cabbage filling:

4 cups sauerkraut or 1 kg (2.2 pounds) fresh cabbage 2-3 onions 1 carrot 1 parsley root 1.5 tablespoon tomato purZe 2 tablespoons sunflower oil 1-2 teaspoons sugar 6-7 black peppercorns

Mince sauerkraut or cabbage finely and cook it a bit in 1 tablespoon oil. Separately fry minced carrot, onions and parsley root. Add them to the sauerkraut-cabbage together with tomato purZe, salt, pepper and sugar. Cook a bit more to let some of the liquid evaporate. These pelmeni are served with onions fried in oil, with the oil poured over pelmeni.

Mushroom filling:

500 g (1.1 pounds) fresh mushrooms 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 tablespoon butter 1 onion, finely minced 2 eggs salt, pepper

Clean, wash, dry and finely mince the mushrooms. Fry the onions in a mix of oil and butter until translucent. Add the mushrooms and fry over high heat for a few minutes. Reduce heat and continue cooking for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Salt and pepper. Meanwhile, boil the eggs, peel and chop finely and add them to the mushrooms. Mix well. Serve these pelmeni with sour cream or melted butter.

Beans and mushroom filling:

1 cup beans (e.g. white, broad, or Boston beans) 2-3 tablespoons lard 2-3 onions, finely minced 100 g (3.5 ounces) dried mushrooms red pepper, salt to taste

Cook the beans and, when ready, purZe them. Fry onions fried in lard. Boil the mushrooms. Mix all of the above well together with red pepper and salt.

Vareniki with farmer's cheese filling:

20 oz Farmer's cheese 1-2 tablespoon sour cream 1-2 eggs 1 tablespoon sugar a pinch of salt

Mix everything very well until it combines into a uniform elastic mbutt.

Vareniki with sour cherry filling (roll out thicker dough for this filling):

2 1-2 lb sour cherries 1 1-2 cup sugar

Pit the cherries, reserving the stones, put in a non-reactive dish. Sprinkle with sugar and leave in a sunny place for 2-3 hours or longer. Pour off the juice, reserving it. Fill vareniki with the cherries, i.e. put about a teaspoon of cherries in the centre of each dough circle, fold in half and seal the edges firmly together to form a half moon.

Crush 5-7 cherry stones roughly and put them together with the rest of the stones in a non-reactive dish. Add about 3-4 cup water and boil for a couple of minutes. Strain the liquid, add sugar and let it boil again. Take from the heat, let cool and mix with the cherry juice. Serve with vareniki.

Vareniki with apple filling:

1 kg (2.2 pounds) very ripe, soft apples, peeled and cored 3-4 cup sugar

Julienne the apples, sprinkle with sugar, mix well and let stand for 15 minutes. These vareniki are served with honey.

Vareniki with poppy seed filling:

1.5 cup poppy seeds 1-2 cup sugar 1 teaspoon honey

Cover the poppy seeds with boiling water and let stand 15 minutes. Drain and dry the seeds on kitchen towels until they are quite dry. Pound them in a mortar. Add sugar and honey and continue to pound until everything combines into a uniform mbutt. Important: as soon as each of these vareniki is formed, it should be boiled at once, otherwise they tend to fall apart.

Bubba Vic