Pierogi/Pedeha

Christmas Kielbasa (Dec 24th 2012)

Merry Ukrainian Christmas!

I come from Polish and Ukrainian families but neither are religious so I celebrate this occasion pretty casually.

Still, I kept the meal pretty traditional in the sense that it was meat-free (I made Kielbasa on Dec 24th instead) and just threw together some of the things I remember the most about growing up with Polish and Ukrainian grandparents.





Here it is: Seared Arctic Char (white fish - sort of), pierogi, pickled herring (which I converted Rhi on btw), pickles and of course sour cream.

Growing up, I always knew what everyone calls perogies as pierogi (already plural without the "s"), even from my Ukrainian Baba. After a quick google search, I discovered they are also referred to as Varenyky and Pirohy in Ukrainian. After a brief conversation with my mom (Ukrainian side of my family), I added what she remembers them as: Pedeha


I've been working on a decent pierogi dough recipe for years and while I've had some previous success, I think I finally got it perfect. Or at least good enough of a recipe to pass on down the family tree. The best part is its gluten free!

Gluten Free Pierogi Dough

Ingredients - makes around 15-20 pierogi

Tapioca flour x 1 cup
Potato starch x 1/2 cup
Xanthum gum x 1/2 tbsp
salt x 1/2 tsp
Milk x 1/4 cup
Sourcream x 1/4 cup (my Baba's suggestion to use it in the dough, thanks Baba!)
Egg x 1 big one

Directions

1) Whisk all dry ingredients in a large bowl
2) Add wet ingredients and mix well. Might as well get your hands in there.
3) Knead it once it starts to come together. It should have a similar feel to pasta dough but use your instincts; if its sticks to your fingers add more tapioca flour, if crevasses form while kneading, add a bit of water.



Filling

Doesn't get much simpler than this. 1 large rustic potato boiled in its skin, smashed, mixed with butter, some extra old cheddar cheese and some salt and pepper. Add whatever you want but keep in mind that if the filling is too hard and has sharp edges (crispy bacon), you might have issues folding the dough over without piercing the shell resulting in some spillage into the pot once you boil them.



Folding

This is the hardest part. The irony is it gets easier at the end once you figure it out, and run out of dough and filling. Guess the lesson here is make pierogi more often so I don't reinvent the wheel each time.

1) Roll the dough out with a rolling pin or wine bottle, or flatten it with your hands as thin as you can without breaking the dough.
2) Use a pint glass (or cup/bowl with similar circumference) to cut circular holes in the dough.
3) Take a heaping tbsp portion of your filling for each circle. Lightly brush the inside edges with water or egg yolk.
4) Tricky part Carefully pick up one side (see to the right) and gently fold it over the filling so it looks like a taco shell on its side.
5) Pick up the "taco" resting the bottom against the palm of your hand and gently touch the sides together using your thumb on one side, and fingers on the other. Pinch together and use additional water/yolk and flour to cement the sides together if necessary.

At this point they are ready to be cooked. Everyone seems to have their own method. I have a bud who used to take frozen pierogi right out of the bag and fry them on the stove top without any oil, butter or fat of any sort. Any pierogi that didn't fuse with the pan were then eaten with ketchup. I prefer boiling them for 2-3 minutes in salted water, transferring to a dutch oven with butter and toped with sautee'd mushrooms and onions (or on a bed of sauerkraut and kielbassa if its a meat night), then finishing them in the oven until the butter melts into the pierogi. To each their own.

I have to admit that these are the best pierogi I have made yet. The Xantham gum gave the dough some strength so I could get it really thin without any rips, the tapioca and potato flour kept the dough light and the sourcream gave it that flavour that sets pierogi aside from other dough dumplings

Merry Christmas Ukrainians!