Вареники
- madisonunderwood93
- Jan 7, 2017
- 4 min read
My favorite traditional food I've had since arriving in Ukraine has certainly been вареники (varenyky). Basically like pierogi but better. If you're one of those weird people that don't know what pierogi are they are dumplings, before coming to Ukraine I had only had them filled with potatoes. But let me tell you, being here has opened the filling door so much for me (think fruit, meat, veggies, cheese). Now in America my exposure to вареники was limited to frozen Mrs. T Pierogies, which while I didn't think they were bad before, I'll never be able to go back to them. (And also Mrs. T, maybe next time you create a company research the name of the food because pierogi is already plural adding the es is redundant, but I'll save language complaints for another post.)
Now I think if I told Olya (my host mom) that in America people paid $5 (125UAH) for a box of 24 Mrs. T Pierogies made in a factory somewhere she'd be shocked. Here in Ukraine we don't buy вареники made in a factory, if we do buy it at all we buy it at the bazaar and it's still homemade. It's quite an art to perfecting вареники, but I promise it is worth it. Olya is an amazing cook and it's my goal to make вареники close to as good as she does by the time I leave. She also has agreed to share the recipe with you guys so I hope you enjoy making these at home!!
You're going to start with 1 3/4 cups hot water and mix it with 3 cups of flour. We mixed this by hand by stirring the flour and slowly adding the water, but I would imagine if you are using a stand mixer you would want to use a dough hook. Add about 2 tablespoons of butter and an egg. After it was mixed well we kneaded it on a heavily floured surface until it was smooth and easy to work with, about three minutes. We left it sit for about five minutes while we cleaned up and prepared to make the вареники.
To make it easier to work with split the dough into three or four equal size sections. Roll this out with a rolling pin until it is about 1/8 inch thick, flipping it over as necessary. Cut circles using the top of a drinking glass. I would recommend dipping the top of the glass into flour to make it easier. The size of the opening of the glass will determine the size of your вареники. My host mom said she prefers smaller ones, especially when you put fruit in so that you can eat it all in one bite and not lose any of the fruit juice.
Now the tricky part, making the dumplings. Olya makes them perfectly and can make about four in the time it takes me to make one. Take a dough circle in your palm and scoop a small amount of filling in the middle. Dip your fingers into either water or flour and fold the circle in half and press the edges together. You're going to want the edges to be closed very tight with no small holes in order to keep the stuffing inside, especially if it is fruit. You'll repeat this process until all the dough is used.
To cook you'll add up to 10 вареники to a pot of salted, boiling water for 3-5 minutes until they are cooked through and floating. If they are filled with a savory filling you could add to a pan and sauté with onions. Serve with sour cream.
I've had вареники filled with mashed potatoes, mashed potatoes and sautéed mushrooms, sautéed cabbage with carrots and onions, mashed potatoes and sautéed onions, cherries, some kind of sweet cheese (I think it would be like an equivalent to cream cheese), and bacon and peas. The only ones I have made (helped make) so far have been mashed potatoes with sautéed onions and cherries, but those have also been my favorites. I've also heard of them being filled with strawberries or cooked apples with cinnamon and walnuts,
If you try to make them or think of a different filling let me know!
Вареники
Serves: honestly a ton, you might want to cut the recipe in half
Ingredients
1 and 3/4 cups hot water
1 egg
2 tablespoons butter
5 cups of flour
Filling
Instructions
Slowly add hot water to 3 cups of flour. Add egg and butter and mix well.
Knead dough on floured surface for 3-5 minutes until it is smooth and pliable
Split into 3-4 even sections and roll out sections until 1/8 inch thick.
Use the top of a drinking glass to cut into circles. Dipping the top of the drinking glass into the flour to make it easier to cut into circles.
Place a dough circle in one hand and scoop a small amount of filling into the center of the dough circle.
Dip the fingers of your other hand into flour or water and fold the circle in half and pinch the edges together until they are closed the whole way around.
Repeat process until all dough circles are filled.
Boil up to ten at a time for 3-5 minutes until they float.
If filled with a savory filling you can sauté with onions until crispy.
Serve hot with sour cream.
Notes
You can fill with anything you would like, most common is mashed potatoes.
Some other filling ideas
Mashed potatoes with cheese
Mashed potatoes with sautéed onions
Mashed potatoes with sautéed mushrooms
Cherries
Strawberries
Cream cheese
Cream cheese with strawberries
Cooked apples with cinnamon and walnuts
Meat
Sautéed cabbage with carrots and onions
I also really want to try to make them filled with pulled chicken and buffalo sauce
Tip for fruit: if you cut into smaller pieces and freeze, it will be easier to add them to the dough. We also added about a teaspoon of sugar to each вареники when we made them with cherries to make them extra sweet and delicious.