Born throughout the Stalinist period within the Black Sea port of Odessa, Larisa Frumkin grew up consuming her mom’s varenyky, a staple dumpling of Ukrainian and Russian cooking. Nevertheless, as an outspoken critic of the repressive Soviet regime, she was exiled along with her younger daughter Anya von Bremzen in 1974. The 2 arrived in the US with two suitcases and no probability of return. (Von Bremzen would finally doc their story in her cookbooks Please to the Table and Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking.) Frumkin at the moment lives in Jackson Heights, New York and teaches the best way to put together dishes like these dumplings at multinational cooking faculty The League of Kitchens. She recommends a standard filling of contemporary farmer’s cheese, a tangy pressed cottage cheese referred to as tvorog or syr in most Slavic nations. Frumkin teaches that the simplest approach to roll out the dough is utilizing a pasta sheeter, however a rolling pin additionally works effective. You can also make candy or savory varenykys by both including sugar to the cheese or salt. This candy model is historically served with preserved bitter cherries and bitter cream.
Featured in “Upstate New York’s Ukrainian Community Rallies for Ukraine—One Pierogi At A Time.”
Larisa Frumkin’s Varenyky
These candy dumplings, referred to as pierogi in Poland and varenyky in Ukraine, are a staple of many Slavic cuisines.
Yield: serves 4
Time:
1 hour, half-hour
For the dough:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- 2 giant eggs, separated
- 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
For filling and serving:
- 2 cups (1 lb.) farmer’s cheese
- 1 giant egg yolk
- 3 tbsp. sugar (or substitute salt to style for a savory model)
- 4 tbsp. softened unsalted butter
- Bitter cherry preserves, bitter cream, or crème fraîche, to serve
Directions
- Make the dough: To a meals processor, add the flour and the salt. With the motor working, add the two egg yolks, one-by-one, then drizzle within the oil by means of the feeder tube. With the motor nonetheless working, drizzle in 8–10 tablespoons of cool water, simply till the dough begins to kind a ball across the blade. Frivolously flour a clear work floor, then switch the dough out onto it and knead simply till easy, about 2 minutes. Cowl with a clear kitchen towel and put aside to relaxation for half-hour.
- In the meantime, make the filling: In a medium bowl, combine collectively the farmer’s cheese, egg yolk, and sugar. Put aside.
- Frivolously flour a big rimmed baking sheet and set it by your work floor.
- Start shaping the varenyky. Mud your work floor calmly with flour; divide the dough in half and form into 2 balls. Hold one ball coated with the kitchen towel and, utilizing a calmly floured rolling pin or a hand-crank pasta curler, roll the opposite ball into a skinny sheet, about 1⁄16 -inch thick. Utilizing a 3-inch spherical cookie cutter, punch out circles of the dough. Place a heaping teaspoon of filling within the heart of every circle. Brush the perimeters of the circles calmly with egg white, then fold right into a half moons, urgent the perimeters firmly along with both your fingers or with the tines of a fork to seal. Place the varenyky on the baking sheet about ½-inch aside and canopy with a humid material. Roll out the second ball of dough, and repeat, then mix the entire leftover dough scraps to make a 3rd batch.
- Fill a big pot two thirds of the best way with water and salt generously. Set over medium excessive warmth and produce to a boil. Fastidiously decrease half the varenyky into the pot. Boil, stirring sometimes to stop sticking, till the dumplings rise to the floor and the dough is cooked by means of, 6–7 minutes. Utilizing a slotted spoon, switch the varenyky to a deep bowl and add the butter, tossing gently with the spoon to soften. Hold heat when you prepare dinner the remaining dumplings. Divide the varenyky amongst 4 deep plates, prime with bitter cherry preserves and bitter cream, and serve heat.
