Dzień dobry! I'm writing this recipe from my home town of Kutno, located in central Poland. Pierogi (perogies) are a staple in the Polish diet, and believe it or not, but they are one of the few traditional dishes that are totally vegan! Although this is an incredibly labour intensive process, it is worth all the work. Allow for at least 2-3 hours of prep for these bad boys. This recipe will make about 60-80 small pierogi.
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Rehydrating some forest fresh
wild mushrooms! |
Step 1: Farsz (Filling)
- approximately 2 cups very finely diced button mushrooms (In the photos, I rehydrated wild mushrooms that my aunt and uncle picked themselves from the forest and dehydrated earlier this season. Talk about authentic, eh?)
- approximately 4 cups of sauerkraut from the jar
- 1 small yellow onion finely diced
- 1/2 cup water
- a splash of cooking oil to sauté
- salt and pepper to taste
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| Slimy to the touch, but oddly satisfying to chop! |
On a low heat, lightly sauté the chopped up onions. After about 10 minutes add in the chopped mushrooms and sauté together.
Take the sauerkraut and place into a sieve. Let the majority of the vinegar water drain out. Give it a few solid squeezes to really wring it out.
Place the remaining sauerkraut into a large pot and add approximately 1/2 cup of water. Cook on a low heat until the sauerkraut is very tender. Add more water if it all boils out. Don't let the sauerkraut burn.
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Note that we used sauerkraut with
grated carrots, but regular
sauerkraut is the best! |
When the sauerkraut is done (this can take anywhere from 30-60 minutes) drain any excess water, and set aside to cool. Once it has cooled, manually wring ALL of the excess water out of the sauerkraut and cut it up very finely.
Add the mushrooms and onions to your sauerkraut filled pot and stir it all together. Add salt and pepper to taste and set aside to let it cool.
Step 2: Ciasto (Dough)
- 3 cups regular flour
- 1 cup very warm water
- 1/4 cup oil
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| Your mound might be taller. That's ok! |
Make sure you have a large, clean surface to work on and a rolling pin.
Make a small mound in the middle of your table using the flour. Create a small hole in the middle of the mound using your hands.
Very carefully pour some of the water into this hole. Start kneading it right away so as not to make a mess. Alternate between adding the water and the oil as you squish everything together until you have a blob of dough.
Time to use your muscle power. Knead the crap out of it! If you find that it's sticking to your table, sprinkle some flour on the table as you go. It should feel fairly smooth yet a little sticky when you're done. Usually about 5-10 minutes of kneading is all it takes.
I find this amount of dough too much to work with, so I recommend cutting it in two, putting 1/2 aside in a container, or in a plastic bag (somewhere where it won't dry out) and working with one chunk at a time.
Sprinkle flour all over your table and start rolling the dough out. Make sure you keep it consistent! You don't want any bumps in it. Keep rolling it out until the thickness is about 3-5 mm.
Grab a glass, or mug (but not a martini glass!) and start cutting circles out of it (alternatively you can chop it up into approximately 10 cm squares, this way you don't have to re-roll the left over pieces because there won't be any!). Remember, you don't want the dough drying out, so only cut like 5 to 8 at a time.
Step 3: Lepienie pierogów (forming the pierogi)
This is the best step! Take one of the circles of dough and place a heaping teaspoon size of the farsz (filling) in the center of it.
Gently fold it in half and firmly press the edges together. Make sure it's seeled together otherwise you're going to have a mess on your hands when it comes to cooking them. If you decided to cut squares, make sure to fold it on the diagonal.
You can leave it at that. If you want to make them more fancy, try folding the edge over repeatedly to create a decorative pattern. As you can see in the photos, there are different ways of doing it.
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| This is, in my opinion, the prettiest way to fold pierogi. All you do is slightly fold the edge, pinch gently, and fold again about a centimeter further down. |
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| This is the simplest way to fold pierogi. Pinch down the edges and then use a fork to add some decorative folds. |
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| On the left we have just a basic perpendicular pinch. In the middle is the fork method. On the right is the fold over and pinch method. The pierogi folding possibilities are endless! |
Step 4: Gotowanie (cooking)
Bring a pot of water with a touch of salt to a boil.
Gently, one by one, drop the pierogi in the boiling water.
They are ready to eat once they surface to the top.
A lot of people love eating fried pierogi, so if you are up for it, grab a skillet and fry them up so that they are a little crispy on the outside (remember to boil them first!). Obviously, this is the least healthy way of eating them, but while you're at it, you may as well sauté some onions and go all out with the indulgence. ;)
SMACZNEGO!
