Pierogi are Polish dumplings that are filled with either savoury  or sweet fillings. This recipe is for pierogi filled with sauerkraut and mushrooms. The dough recipe is the same no matter what filling you put in them. These dumplings make a great dish all year round. In winter they are a tasty and hearty meal and in summer they are a quick dinner ready in no time if prepared in advance and frozen. For a long time, I was afraid of making pierogi and would get my husband to make them as I thought they were too much work. I would make the filling but leave the dough up to him.  As he was the one making the dough I never paid much attention what the ingredients were, all I knew was that the pierogi tasted fantastic. The dough was soft and light and would never fall apart in the water when the dumplings were cooking. One day though I decided that I would try making everything myself and discovered that it really was not that difficult.  I asked my husband for the dough ingredients and realised that he actually had a secret ingredient to make the dough come out perfect every time. Now I can whip up some pierogi for dinner in no time and they taste fantastic every time. 

Ingredients

Dough

1 kg plain flour

1/2 litre very hot water

4 Tbsp oil

1/4 cup fresh cream

1 tsp salt

Method

• Boil the water in the jug and measure out 1/2 litre. Combine flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a small well in the centre of the flour. Slowly a little bit at a time, pour in the very hot water, being careful not to burn yourself, fold some of the flour over the water. Keep repeating the process until all the water has been added. Add the oil and cream and mix together to form a soft dough. Knead the dough slightly either in the bowl or on a floured surface. If not ready to use dough straight away, cover with plastic wrap so it doesn’t dry out. Note: Once you have prepared this recipe once you will realise the affact adding the cream to the dough makes. This in fact is the secret ingredient that I mentioned earlier. It makes the dough feel like play-dough, is very easy to work with and will stick together perfectly, but will never fall apart when being cooked. Try making the dough without the cream to see the difference.

Filling

1.6 kg sauerkraut  (approx.) ( 2 x 860gr jars can be used)

1 cup dried mushrooms or 2 cups fresh mushrooms

1 large onion

S & P to taste

oil for frying onion

Method

• In a medium size pot combine sauerkraut and enough water to cover the cabbage. In another pot combine dried mushrooms and enough water to cover. Bring everything to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for around 1 hour until the sauerkraut is soft. Drain and rinse under cold water. When rinsing the mushrooms, rinse until the water runs clear. Note: if using fresh mushrooms, slice and then saute until soft in a little oil or butter.
• The sauerkraut that you are using should be already shredded, if not shred finely. Mushrooms however need to be either finely chopped or pulsed a few times in a food processor.
• Chop the onion finely and saute in a little oil until soft.
• In a large bowl, combine sauerkraut, mushrooms and sauteed onion and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Making the pierogi(dumplings)

• On a lightly floured surface, I usually use my kitchen bench which has been thoroughly cleaned, roll out some of the dough with a rolling pin until around 3mm thick.
• Using a round cookie cutter or cup, cut out circles in the dough. Keep rolling out the dough and cutting out the circles, until all the dough is used up. Note: I usually spread a little flour on the side of the bench and put the cut out circles on it. The size of the circles doesn’t really matter. Play around with different sizes and see what works for you.
• Assembling the pierogi is simple. Grab a dough circle, holding it in the palm of your hand put about a dessert spoon of the filling on to it. The amount of filling will depend though on the size of your circle, if you made the circles small then you will have to use less filling or if large then more filling.  Fold the dough in half, making sure that you enclose all of the filling leaving a small gap all around the dough, with your fingers squeeze the dough to close, making sure that there are no gaps, as when cooking the dumpling will take in water and fall apart. To make the edges pretty, pinch small amounts of dough between your index and middle fingers. 
• I like to arrange the assembled pierogi on baking trays that have been lined with baking paper. The pierogi won’t stick and when ready to cook, it is easy to hold a tray when dropping the dumplings in to the water.
• If you are not cooking the pierogi and eating them right away, this is the time to freeze them for later. The prelined trays are great for freezing the pierogi. When arranging the dumplings on the trays, make sure that they are not touching. Simply put in the freezer with the trays until the pierogi are frozen, then remove from trays and put in suitable freezer bags, making sure to lable what filling is inside them.
• If cooking the pierogi, bring a very large pot of water to the boil. Once the water is boiling, drop the pierogi in to the pot. Try not to overcrowd the pot. If using a 5 litre pot, 20 pierogi at a time is plenty. Stir the pierogi gently with a slotted spoon. Make sure that the heat is on high and the water is boiling as the dumplings are cooking. Once the pierogi come up to the surface continue cooking for 5-6 minutes for fresh dough or 10 minutes if cooking frozen pierogi. Note: If cooking frozen pierogi, do not thaw before cooking. Once water is boiling, drop frozen pierogi in.
• Once cooked, remove pierogi on to a plate with a slotted spoon, shaking any excess water off. Arrange pierogi on a plate and serve. Pierogi can be spread with some melted butter, extra sauted onion or a breadcrumb mixture.
• To make the breadcrumb mixture, simply melt some margarine or butter in a fry pan and once melted add some dried breadcrumbs. Cook in the pan for a few minutes, until lighly browned and pour over the pierogi.
• If cooking the pierogi all at once, I like to arrange them on a platter and so that they don’t stick to together, I lightly spray them with either vegetable or olive oil before taking out the next batch.