Homemade Pierogi!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010


We have always been big fans of pierogi. We actually usually have them for breakfast. Yeah, kind of weird, I know. Our mom cooked them for breakfast for us ever since we were little and we've always had them as a breakfast meal. Not like everday for breakfast but once in a while. And they were always frozen pierogi. And frozen pierogi are good, don't get me wrong. However, we wanted to try making pierogi ourselves... and have them for dinner. Earth shattering business here. Anyway, we made pierogi for the first time, had them for dinner with a nice tomato soup and we were quite content. Riley and I have yet to master the art of pastry making so the dough was a little on the heavy side but we're working on our technique. I think it's improving, slowly but surely. Enough rambling, here's the recipe and the pierogi.

P.S. Riley won't eat cheese therefore these are cheese-less pierogi.
The pierogi before boiling/frying.
Cheeseless Pierogi

Ingredients:
5-6 medium sized potatoes (we used yukon gold)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 onion, diced
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper


Method:
1. Peel and chop the potatoes into small chunks.

2. Place them in a pot and fill the pot until the potatoes are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and continue to boil for about 10 minutes or until the potatoes are soft.

3. In the meantime, fry the onions and grate the cheese.

4. When the potatoes are done, drain them and mash them in a bowl with the onion and cheese. Mix in the salt and pepper.

5. Place in the fridge to cool while you're making the dough.


Now, the dough...


Ingredients:
• 5 cups of all purpose flour

• 2 tsp of salt

• 4 eggs

• 1/3 cup canola oil

• 1 cup warm water

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, mix flour and salt together.

2. In another bowl, beat the eggs well and then add the canola oil and warm water and mix again.

3. Add the liquid mixture to the flour mixture about 1/2 a cup at a time, mixing constantly, until all of the liquid mixture is combined. The dough should feel soft and slightly elastic. It shouldn't be gloopy at all. If it is, add more flour.


 Assembly...

1. On a floured surface, roll out the dough until it's slightly thinner than corrugated cardboard. It's best if there isn't TOO much flour, since you'll need to roll it out again (see 2nd step), and adding flour makes the dough tougher each time.

2. Using a drinking glass as a guide, cut the dough into circles. When you have no space to cut more circles, bunch the dough up and roll it out again. Keep doing this until you've got no dough left.

3. Take the first circle and roll it out so that its diameter is increased by about an inch. You don't want it to be paper thin because it may rip while you're boiling it, but if it's too thick it will feel chewy.

4. Place about 1 1/2 tbsp of the filling inside, then fold the circle in half and pinch the sides closed. After you've done this a few times you'll get an idea of just how much filling you can stuff into your pierogi and you might want to try putting a bit more than 1 1/2 tbsp.

5. Boil a pot of water and when it has come to a rolling boil, drop your pierogi into the water. They're ready to be taken out when they start to float.

(Optional [but we included this step] 6. Fry in oil in frying pan.)


P.S. Totally worth all the hard work - it was fun!!

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