Russian Dumpling with Meat - Pelmeni
Pelmeni or meat dumplings are a traditional Russian dish, very popular and tasty, consumed in huge quantities. Although there are variations of this food in other countries (Chinese dumplings, Italian tortelini etc), I'm sure you will appreciate them too.
In a bowl, combine flour, eggs and 1 teaspoon of salt.
Prepare a cup of water.
Add a little water to this mixture of eggs + flour + salt until you have a dough that doesn't stick to your hands.
Shape 2 balls and let rest for 10-15 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Grind the meat together with an onion (if you buy the meat already ground, chop the onion very finely). Add 1 teaspoon of salt, ground black pepper, 2 eggs and mix well.
Knead the dough balls once more, so that they are smooth and without lumps - leave for another 10-15 minutes.
Roll out each ball of dough into a thin, 1-1.5mm sheet. Use a glass with a round and small mouth to cut out into rounds.
Place the meat mixture in the middle of each round of dough - so that we can glue the edges together.
Fold over the sides into a half-moon shape (like the dumplings), pinching the edges together to secure the filling inside.
Then connect the two corners together - this is how pelmeni are shaped.
Repeat until you have no dough left. Sprinkle flour over a cutting board or plate and arrange with space between them, so that they don't stick to each other.
When all the pelmeni are shaped, chop the 2 onions. Fry in oil until well browned. When the onion is browned, add the butter and turn off the heat - it will melt slowly while the dumplings are boiling.
Fill a large saucepan more than half with water, add 1 tablespoon of salt - bring to a boil.
When the water comes to the boil, carefully drop the dumplings there, with enough space - don't drop them all at once if they are too many (the same principle as when cooking the pasta).
When they start to boil, turn the heat to low and cook for 10 minutes - stirring periodically with a spoon.
Using a sieve or a strainer, remove from the water, drain well.
After removing the first batch of pelmeni, repeat with the next one (if they didn't fit all in the first round) - bring the water to the boil and drop the dumplings into water.
All over the cooked dumplings spread an abundant mixture of oil with fried onion and butter, shake well - so that they don't stick together.
Serve hot/warm with sour cream, pepper and salt to taste.
Enjoy!
