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PIEROGI RUSKIE / RUTHENIAN PIEROGI

This style of pierogi (dumplings) is the most popular one, despite their name. It is a recipe shared with people who live in the Western part of Ukraine, where many Poles come from, having arrived in the current territory of Poland after World War II. In many cities and towns, you can have the best pierogi ruskie at a Pierogarnia, a small shop with limited seating and a no-frills style in which you can eat good and inexpensive pierogi. This filling is with potatoes, onion, and farmer’s cheese (which is white, cottage-like), so it’s vegetarian friendly. You can have it either boiled or fried. Also, you might eat them with sour cream (śmietana), some chives or the leftover fried onions. You will get 75 pieces of pierogi. (translated from KwestiaSmaku.com)

Notes

For the Dough:
300g of wheat flour
a dash of salt
125ml of warm water
1 egg
20g of butter
For the Filling:
500g of farmer’s white cheese (if you cannot found it in your local shop, there are recipes online to do it)
500g of potatoes
1 small onion
2 teaspoons of oil
½ teaspoon of ground black pepper.
Instructions for the dough:
Sift the flour into a bowl and add the salt. On a separate bowl, put the butter and warm water, and after the butter has melted, add it to the flour, and mix it with a spoon. Add the egg later and combine them until you get a smooth dough. Knead the dough for about 7-8 minutes and then wrap it in foil and let the dough rest for 30 minutes. After that, divide the dough in 4 parts and try to get a thin dough that makes you able to work with without breaking the pierogi. Use a small glass to create the circles, and then you add the filling.
Instructions for the filling:
Peel the potatoes, rinse them, add them to a pot with water and boil them until they are tender. Drain them, and when it’s still hot, smash them, until they have no lumps. When they have cooled down, crumble the cheese and mash it with a fork. Stir the mix with the potatoes, add salt and pepper. Cut the onions in cubes, and put them to fry in a pan with either butter or oil. Add them later to the mix.
Cooking pierogi:
Add one tablespoon of the mix to the dough and then fold the pieróg in half and seal them carefully. You can do that in a countertop with flour below and when they are ready, cover them with a tablecloth so they don’t dry.
In a large pot, boil salted water with a tablespoon of oil or butter and put the first batch of pierogi (about 15 will do) after the water boils. After they reboil, reduced the heat to medium-low until they rise to the surface and leave them for 1,5 minutes. The pierogi ruskie will be ready by that time.