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#UCMLockdownLearning - Creative Cookery - Get Creative With Dumplings

get Creative with Dumplings: Ukrainian Va’renyky

By Yuliya Sasina-Yates

  1. Meat and Potato Ukrainian Va’renyky

Dough:

Water – 80ml

Milk – 80ml

Olive/Sunflower oil – 2 tbsp.

Plain flour – 280gr

Salt – ½ tsp

Filling:

White onion – 1 ½  – peeled and chopped into small chunks

Meat mince – 50gr

Potato – 1 medium peeled, boiled and mashed

  1. Mix water and milk in a boiling pan. Put on the medium heat until boiling.
  2. Sift the flour into a heatproof bowl, add the salt, mix together. Make a small well in the flour.
  3. Pour the oil into the well.
  4. Tip the hot milk + water into the flour and start mixing with the fork vigorously until the mixture cools down. Then work the remaining flour into the mixture making a dough ball.
  5. Leave to rest under a clean towel for 15-20min.
  6. Cook onion with ½ tsp oil in the frying pan on medium heat until the onion pieces turn transparent and golden in colour. Add 1/3 to the potato mixture, 1/3 to the mincemeat and leave the remaining 1/3 on the side.
  7. Salt and pepper the potato mix and the mincemeat mix. Leave by the side.
  8. Take out the dough ball and cut into 2 halves.
  9. Roll one half into a “sausage”, approx. 4cm in diameter. Cut this “sausage” into equal chunks 2.5-3cm wide. Cover the rest of the dough with a clean damp towel so it doesn’t dry out. Use the other half of the dough as per the below instructions once you have used up the dough first half and if there is still some filling left to use up.
  10. Slightly flatten each chunk and roll into an even 2mm circle with a rolling pin (you don’t need a ruler, just make sure that the circle is thick enough not to be see-through J)
  11. Take a tea/dessert spoon and measure ½ of this spoon-full of filling, flatten into a little mound on each circle of dough. Fold the circle over the filling and pinch the sides together between your thumb and the index finger. (if the dough gets dry on the edges and won’t stick together, brush some clean water on the inner edge of the folded dough and “glue” them together)
  12. Lay all the ready Va’renyky on a clean chopping board and cover with clean towel.
  13. Boil 1.5l water in a boiling pan, make sure the water is 3 fingers below the rim of the pan.
  14. Add 2 pinches of salt into the water, wait for it to come to a rolling boil. Carefully stir the water in the pan with a slotted spoon to create a whirlpool in the pan.
  15. One by one, drop 6-7 va’renyky into the “whirlpool” and watch them, mixing the water with the spoon from time to time to prevent sticking to the bottom of the pan.
  16. The va’renyky will float up as they cook. Give them 5-7min floating time to make sure the dough and the filling (esp. meat) cook through.
  17. Dish them out onto a clean surface and brush some oil or butter over them or simply leave them be whilst you cook the rest.
  18. Once all the dumplings have been cooked, you have a choice of either tossing them onto a pan with a tiny bit of oil and the saved fried onions and crust them over high heat or pour some tomato & chili sauce over them and stew them in or tuck in right away!

Bon appetit!

NB: the un-boiled Va’renyky can be frozen and enjoyed at a later time, too.

  1. Sweet cheese dumplings for lazy mornings with the family

Quark or cottage cheese – 100gr

Flour – 150gr + extra for dusting

Egg – 1

Butter (softened) – 2 tsp

Sugar –  2 tbsp.

Cinnamon/honey/jam/ yoghurt/ fruit to serve with (optional but yummy!)

  1. Beat the egg with sugar with a fork to incorporate them.
  2. If using cottage cheese, push it through a sieve into the eggy mixture. Mix well
  3. Add the softened butter and mix into the rest of the ingredients
  4. Sift the flour into the mixture and start incorporating it with the fork and then by hand, eventually tipping the mixture onto a clean floured surface. The dough should be soft and only slightly sticky.
  5. Work the dough into a “sausage” and cut into chunks 2.5cm thick and either leave them as they are or shape them into hearts, triskelions or smiley faces.
  6. Boil 1.5l water in a boiling pan. Add 2 pinches of salt and get it to a rolling boil.
  7. Stirring the water carefully with a slotted spoon, create a “whirlpool” and one by one drop the cheese dumplings into the water.
  8. Let them float up to the surface and allow 5-7min until they cook through.
  9. Dish them out onto a plate and brush with a small knob of butter, drizzle with a sweet condiment of choice and add a generous dollop of Greek yoghurt or sour cream – enjoy with the family or eat it quick whilst nobody’s watching! Bon appetit!