Monday 26 June 2006

Vareniki Dumplings

Made this as dinner for my friend who visited us yesterday. Wow..... You must be wondering what is "Vareniki Dumplings". You might have heard of Pork Dumplings, Shrimp Dumpling, Vegetable Dumplings or etc.... But what is Vareniki Dumplings?

Vareniki are square or crescent shaped dumplings of unleavened dough, stuffed with cheese, mashed potatoes, cabbage, meat or hard-boiled eggs or sometime with fruit filling. It's very popular in Russia as a quick-fix dish. During preparation, the filling is wrapped with dough, boiled for several minutes, and then covered with oil. So in another word, it is a Russian Dumpling just similar to our Asian Pork Dumpling but stuff with different filling and cooking method.


I come across this interesting recipe from one of blog that my friend Tracy introduce to me. It consists of alot of interesting recipes which Suyin records all her cooking adventure during her study in Australia. You can find the original recipe from her link which also include with a cooking video. For my version, I add in some extra vegetables, fruits and Parmesan cheese for extra colour and favour.

Ingredients For Dough: (make about 20 wrappers)
1 Cup Plain Flour, sifted
1 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Egg Yolk
100ml Of Drinking Water

Methods:
1. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl, then stir in the salt.
2. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the egg yolk and oil.
3. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the egg, gradually drawing in the flour. After a few minutes the dough will be too stiff to use a spoon and you will need to use your fingers.
4. Once all the flour has been incorporated, turn the dough out on to a floured surface and knead for about 3-5 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
5. If you find the dough is too wet, add a little more flour and continue kneading. But if the dough is too dry, then sprinkle some water and knead till smooth.
6. Cover with cling wrap and set aside for at least 15-20 minutes.
7. The dough is now ready, roll the dough out into thin sheet then use a round cutter(8cm) to cut into round wrappers.
8. Wrap each wrapper with 1 Tablespoon Of Potato mixture and repeat it with the rest of the wrappers.
9. Bring a big pot of water with 1 teaspoon of salt and olive oil to boil, then add in the wrapped dumplings.
10. Continue to simmer until all the dumplings floats up, remove, rinse with tap water and drain well. (put around 6 dumpling at a time, don't over crowded the pot)
11. Set aside for later use.

Potato Filling: (can make 50 dumplings)
3 Medium Size Potatoes
30g Soft Butter
1/2 Onion, finely diced
1/2 Cup Grated Mozzarella/Cheddar
2 Tablespoons Sour Cream
Some Black Pepper & Salt

Methods:
1. Wash the potatoes, cut into half then steam it for about 15 - 20 minutes until tender.
2. Scoop out the potato flesh into a mixing bowl then mash it with a fork until smooth.
3. Preheat a pan with butter then saute the diced onion till soft and fragrant.
4. Remove from heat, add in the mashed potato, and stir till combine, then add in cheese, sour cream, pepper and salt.
5. Continue to stir till all mixture is well combined then set aside for the wrapping.

Assemble:
50g Of Bacon, cut into slices
1/2 Packet Of Sweet Bean
6 Cherry Tomato
100g Blueberry, optional
Parmesan Cheese Powder
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Methods:
1. Preheat the pan with 1 Tablespoons of Olive Oil, then saute the bacon until fragrant then add in the cooked dumpling in two batches.
2. Pan-fry until both sides are golden brown then remove and place on serving plate. Continua with the rest.
3. Add in some extra olive oil, then stir-fry the sweet bean and cherry tomato till fragrant then add in the blueberry and stir for another minute.
4. Remove and divide it evenly onto the top of serving dumpling then sprinkle with some extra virgin olive oil and Parmesan cheese powder and serve.

Notes:
The original Vareniki Dumpling is served with drizzle oil on top but for my version, I add in extra bacon, vegetables and cheese to give it more favour.

As for the left over potato fillings, you can either kept in the fridge for making a 2nd batche or you can make half of the recipe instead. Sometime it depend on the size of the potatoes or the amount of fillings you wanted to wrap. Posted by Picasa

4 comments:

  1. looks great ellena! :)glad you liked it

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  2. hey ellena, the dumplings look good. reminds me of the italian kind called gnocchi. but can i juz clarify, u stated the dough can make 20 wrappers, but the potato fillings can make 50 dumplings. then do u double the ingredients when u make the wrappers. otherwise what happen to the rest of the 30 portions of the potato fillings, isnt there gonna be some leftovers?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Looks yummy, I prefer shaved parmesan cheese if I can get hold of instead of the powdered ones!- Lydia

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Suyin for sharing this wonderful and easy recipe.

    Yup.. Evan, it's sort of like gnocchi but the different is it came with a wrapper....lolz which make it more like dumpling. Actually i think it all depend on the size of the potato that you bought and the amount of filling you wanted to put in the wrapper. I kept the left over filling in the fridge and make a 2nd batch next day.

    Yo... lydia, ya....Shaved Parmesan cheese will be great too...u must try hor.. i think your bf will like it....

    ReplyDelete

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Ellena (Cuisine Paradise)

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