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. 
Last few weeks it seems abit difficult to find Green Carrot around my area. So when I managed to get hold of one yesterday, I decided to use it for this Green Carrot & Cordyceps Soup. With the Green Carrot and Cordyceps stem, this soup give up a very fragrant, refreshing and sweet taste which make you wanted to have a second refill in the soup bowl. You might want to give this a try during hot weather as it's a very good soup to clear the heats in the body.
This is the picture of Green Carrot/Green Radish. You can find it in most vegetable stalls in the wet market. It will give out a very refreshing and sweet taste when used to make soup.
