Russian Cheese Dumplings - Varenyky

First we prepare the Pastry for the Cheese Dumplings:

In a bowl combine 450g of flour and 0.5 teaspoon of salt, mix.

Add 1 egg and 3 tablespoons of oil.

Mix in the flour and stir using a fork to make the dough look like fringes.

Gradually add 250ml of hot boiling water and mix quickly with the fork, until all the water is incorporated.

Then carefully start to mix the dough with your hands, initially it's a bit hot, but it gradually cools down and you can work it easily.

One more aspect - it may seem at first that the dough needs more water, but I recommend not adding more, it will soften quickly and will become perfect with just the above quantities.

Turn dough out onto the table, knead it as well as possible until it becomes uniform and smooth, not sticky at all.

It has a soft play-doh texture and it's easy to work.

Let the dough ball rest for 10 minutes in the bowl, you can cover it with a bag, so it won't make a skin at the surface.

After 10 minutes, cut into 2 roughly equal pieces.

Shape into 2 uniform balls, let rest on the table for 10 minutes.

In a bowl combine the cheese, 1 egg and 1-2 teaspoons of salt (I even recommend making it a little saltier than you like, it will adjust after the boiling and will have the perfect taste).

Mix well with your hands, note that the cheese filling should be dense, slightly sticky and hold its shape well.

So, be sure to look for well drained cheese if you plan on cooking dumplings. Otherwise, the shaping process will be a nightmare and, when boiling, the cheese will all run out into the water.

Now take each ball of dough one at a time and, with a rolling pin, roll out into a large circle, about 2-3mm thick.

Sprinkle with a little flour on the table, so that you can roll it more evenly and faster.

With a glass cut out circles of about 7-8cm in diameter, so pretty big ones.

Place about 1 tablespoon of cheese mixture on each round.

Notice that I gather it as much as possible in the middle, so as not to touch the area at the edges of the circle.

Bring the opposite edges up and press them together with your fingers.

Then keep pressing the edges together and go down along the left side.

Do the same along the right side.

At the end, press once more along the sides to seal the dumplings as well as possible, so that the filling doesn't run out when boiling.

Seal all the dumplings like this. When you finish with the first ball of dough, roll out, cut out and shape the second one.

Arrange the formed dumplings on a plate dusted with flour and keep a little distance between them, so that they don't stick to each other.

When you have finished shaping all the dumplings, fill 2/3 of a large 5 liter pot with water, add 1 tablespoon of salt and bring to the boil.

As soon as the water starts to boil, place the dumplings in the pot.

Stir carefully and simmer for 5 minutes.

Remove the dumplings from the water using a sieve with a handle or a skimmer.

Add a few pieces of butter, a little oil or some onion fried in oil.

Cover the bowl with a lid and shake the dumplings well, so that they are well coated in butter.

They can be mixed with a spoon, but they are very fragile now and you risk breaking them. Shaking to mix them is the most recommended here.

We like cheese dumplings when they are warm, not hot. So, after I toss  and shake them in butter, I let them on the table for about 30 minutes to cool. Meanwhile, it's not bad to shake them from time to time, not to stick to each other as they cool.

Serve them with sour cream and savour, they are fantastically good!

Enjoy!