Pelmeni
Intro
Pelmeni are the heart of Russian cuisine. I have yet to meet someone who does not like these delicious meat dumplings. A few years ago a new Russian restaurant opened up in our town and of course the first thing we ordered from there was pelmeni. They were delicious, juicy and delicate with right balance of seasonings; handmade and prepared by the chef. We always wondered what it was that they added to their filling that made it so tender, but obviously this was their secret that they weren’t going to reveal.
I tried to make pelmeni with many different formulations hoping that my pelemeni would be as good as the ones I ate at that restaurant. I finally succeeded when I realized that the kind of meat that you choose to use for your pelemeni can make or break them. So here is the rule: use only tender cuts of meat with more fat and do not use tough cuts such as chuck roast in order to ensure that your filling will be soft and tender.
Pelmeni are often used with more than one type of meat. Traditionally, pork is mixed with either beef, veal or any other meat. My pelmeni recipe is made with beef filling, but you can use any combination of meats you like. Pelmeni are usually served with sour cream and butter, or with vinegar. You can even serve them right in the soup. The choice is yours!
Yes, pelemeni take some time to prepare but the end results are rewarding. You can freeze pelmeni and eat them on the days you don’t feel like cooking of ordering takeout. I always remember my childhood when my family members would get together and make pelmeni: one person would roll out the dough, another person would shape them, and of course I would eat everything. Good times!
I hope you enjoy the process of making pelmeni and of course I hope that you and your loved ones find them delicious.
Recipe
Ingredients
Meat filling
450 g of minced meat (tender cut)
150 g of minced onion
3/4 to 1 teaspoon of sea salt (if you are more conservative about salt, use 3/4 of teaspoons, otherwise you can use 1 teaspoon)
1 to 2 cloves of garlic
1./2 teaspoon of black pepper
1/3 cup of water
Dough
500g of all purpose flour, sifted
3/4 teaspoons of salt
1 egg
about 250 mL of water
Instructions
Start with making the dough. In a bowl, combine water, salt and egg together. Mix.
In a separate bowl sift flour and start adding liquid mixture to the dough slowly while working the dough with your hand. Keep adding the liquid and mixing the dough until uniform mixture is formed.
Transfer the mixture to the table and start kneading and working the dough for about 10 to 15 minutes until it becomes elastic. Cover the dough and let it rest for 45 minutes to an hour.
Mince together meat, onion and garlic in the meat grinder. Add salt and black pepper to the meat. Now slowly start adding water to the meat to make it more juicy. Use water little by little to ensure that the beef absorbs the liquid but doesn’t become too watery.
After your dough is ready, take a portion of the dough and roll it out with the rolling pin on the floured surface until the thickness of the dough becomes about 2 mm. Keep the rest of the dough covered. After you roll out the dough, take a cookie cutter or glass and start creating small circles for the pelemeni shells. My cookie cutter size was about 2.5 inches/6.75 cm. Take the remaining dough and add it to the rest of the dough you have left over. See photos below for details.
Take your dough circle and place it in the palm of your hand and then add about teaspoon of meat filling to it. Carefully start closing the dough, pinching it together while pressing firmly with your fingers. Make sure that there is no hole left in your dumpling to prevent meat from leaking out when cooking. Now pinch the corners together as well. See photos below for details.
Place your first dumpling on floured surface to prevent it from sticking and then continue making more pelemeni until the dough runs out. Take more dough out, roll it out and follow the instructions in step 6 again until you run out of ingredients.
To cook your pelmeni bring water to a boil. Add salt, some peppercorns and bay leaf to add more flavor to the water. Carefully drop your pelmeni into the boiling pot and immediately stir in order to prevent them from sticking to the bottom. As soon are your pelmeni start to float, let them boil for 5 minutes and then carefully remove them from the pot.
Serve pelmeni with sour cream, some butter and black pepper. As mentioned previously, you can serve them with vinegar as well or in the soup broth.
To freeze the pelmeni - place them on floured cutting board and place them in the freezer. As soon as your pelmeni freeze you can move them to zip lock bags and keep them frozen. To cook frozen pelmeni, follow same instructions noted in previous step. Enjoy!
