Pierogi Recipe: Potato and Cheese Filling
The origins of pierogi are difficult to trace. While dumplings as such are found throughout Eurasia, the specific name pierogi, with its Proto-Slavic root “pir” (festivity) and its various cognates in the West and East Slavic languages, shows the name’s common Slavic origins, predating the modern nation states and their standardized languages, although in most of these languages the word means pie. In English, the word pierogi and its variants: perogi, pyrogy, perogie, perogy, pirohi, piroghi, pirogi, pirogen, pierogy, pirohy, and pyrohy, are pronounced with a stress on the letter “o”. The Turkish word börek for a kind of pie or stuffed pastry may be a borrowing.
Pierogi are popular among the peoples of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The West Slavic Poles, Czechs, and Slovaks, as well as the East Slavic Belarusians, Russians, Ukrainians and Ruthenians, and the Baltic Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians all consume this dish, although under different names (e.g., kalduny in Belarus, pirukad in Estonia, p?r?gi in Latvia, kold?nai in Lithuania, and veraniki in Ukraine). In some East European languages, variants of this dish are known by names derived from the root of the word “to boil” (Russian: varit’, Ukrainian: varyty).
There is a similarity to Italian ravioli, culurgiones, tortelli, tortelloni, and tortellini. Also there is a similarity to Ashkenazi kreplach. In Turkey, Transcaucasus, and Central Asia round pockets of dough with a meat filling are called manti, khinkali, or chuchvara. In East Asia, similar foods are served, such as Chinese wonton or Jiaozi, Korean mandu or Songpyeon at the Chuseok, Korean Thanksgiving Day, jiaozi, Japanese gyoza, Mongolian buuz, Nepalese/Tibetan momo, and Afghani mantu. In the Indian state of Gujarat, a similar item is called ‘Ghooghra’ (or Ghugra), which is of very similar shape, stuffed with grainy sweet flour and small pieces of dry fruit. It is usually eaten during India’s biggest (Hindu) festival of Diwali.
One of the most popular, if not the best, Polish dishes is the pierogi. Pierogi is a versatile food that can be enjoyed several different ways. It is basically a dumpling that can be stuffed with meat, sauerkraut, potato, or any other filling of your choice. My personal favourite is pierogi stuffed with cheese and potato. Here is the recipe:
Dough:
2 cups of flour
3/4 cup of warm water
1 egg
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon of salt
Filling:
2 large or 4 regular sized potatoes
3 slices of Velveeta Cheese
2 tablespoons of cream cheese
salt and pepper to your liking
Directions:
Peel the potatoes and cut them into small pieces. Put the potatoes in a pot of water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium/high and let the potatoes cook for 20 minutes or until soft.
While the potatoes are cooking, start making the dough. Spray and coat an empty bowl with cooking spray. Add the water, egg, and vegetable oil to the bowl and stir. Then mix in the flour and salt until you make a dough. Take the dough out of the bowl and kneed it on a table with flour until it is smooth and not too sticky. Roll the dough into a ball, put it under plastic wrap, and let it sit for 30 minutes.
When the potatoes are done cooking, drain the water out of the pot. Add the Velveeta and cream cheese along with some salt and pepper. You can also add a small bit of milk to make the potatoes easier to mash. Then mash the potatoes until they are smooth and fluffy. Let the potatoes cool.
After you let the potatoes cool for about 15 minutes, your dough should be ready. Take a large piece of dough and flatten it out, with a rolling pin, on a table coated with some flour. Use a circle cookie cutter and cut out pieces of dough. With a teaspoon, scoop a small amount of the potato filling and put it in the middle of a piece of dough. Close the dough around the potato and pinch shut with your fingers and a fork. Keep repeating this process until you run out of dough or filling.
This should make about 20 pierogi.
When you are done making the pierogi, boil them, five at a time, in a pot of water for two to three minutes, or until they float. Then fry them in pan with butter. Now they are ready to eat. You can top them with sour cream, onion, bacon, or your favorite gravy. Either way, this is a dish you are sure to enjoy.
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author:Michael A. Stazko
