Pelmeni Filled with Potatoes and Porcini Mushrooms

Poor old Silvio. First he insults the Finnish food, then some Finns, as a revenge, go and win the America’s Plate Pizza Contest in 2008 with their Pizza Berlusconi (read the whole story here). And as if that wasn’t enough, it turns out that tortellini, yet another Italian national pride, were not invented by Italians, but somewhere far, far away in Russia by the Komi people - whose cuisine most likely wouldn’t please the delicate taste buds of dear old uncle Silvio either. It’s the finno-ugric Komi language that gave the name for these small dumplings - they call them pel’nyan, or "ear bread/dough".

Pelmeni are are traditionally filled with meat, but I’d say these veggie pelmeni would beat any meat version. They are filled with potatoes and porcini mushrooms - but a very low-budget amount. Only 15g are needed :)

Normally I have no idea how long exactly it takes to cook a specific dish. With pelmeni I do. To make this portion of about 60 pelmeni, it takes exactly one Total Balalaika Show. If you’re able to resist a primitive urge to grab the nearest vodka bottle and to start dancing hopak instead of making pelmeni, that is.

For about 60 pelmeni you need:

For the dough:

• 300g all-purpose flour


• 50g rye flour


• 125ml water


• 4g salt


• 1 egg

For the filling:

• 340g potatoes, peeled and cubed


• 1 medium-sized onion


• 2 Tbsp oil and 20g butter for frying


• 15g porcini mushrooms


• 250ml hot water


• salt and pepper to taste

 

For cooking:

• about 3 liters vegetable broth

To serve:

• smetana/sour cream


• parsley


• grated (parmesan) cheese


• black pepper


• Russian-style pickled cucumbers

First, make the dough. Measure the flour in a baking bowl, add salt, then water and egg. Work the dough until it feels elastic. Add a bit more water if needed. Then cover and let stand in room temperature until your filling is ready.

For the filling: first boil 250ml water. Place dried mushrooms in a small bowl or a cup and pour the hot water on the mushrooms. Let stand 15 minutes or so. Chop the mushrooms with scissors - and keep the water.

In the meantime, chop the onions and garlic. Heat oil and butter in a large pan, sauté the onions for a few minutes, then add potato cubes and continue frying over a low heat. Stir regularly so that the potatoes don’t stick to the pan. After 10 minutes or so, add garlic, mushrooms, mushroom water, salt (I used a heaped 1 tsp fleur de sel), and pepper. Cover and let boil until the water has been absorbed and the potatoes are tender.

Place the filling in a bowl and let cool until you roll and cut the dough.

Now, take half of the dough and roll it out on a floured working surface as thin as you can. I’m still a novice to pelmeni making and mine were not as thin as they should be - but the pelmenis tasted great even so.

Use a glass (mine had a diameter of 7 cm) to cut out circles out of the dough. Repeat until you’ve used all of the dough. Then place about 1 tsp of filling on each circle. Wet the edges and close the circles so that the result looks like half moons. Press the edges well together with your fingers.

Then it’s time to cook your pelmeni. Bring the vegetable broth to the boil and cook about 10 pelmeni at a time in it. They are ready when they come back to the surface - this takes about 2-4 minutes. Remove pelmeni with a skimmer and place on a plate. Repeat until all pelmeni are cooked.

Place the desired amount of pelmeni on each plate - I’d say about four if you serve them as an appetizer, about ten if it’s a main course. Serve with a dollop of smetana and decorate the whole with chopped parsley, black pepper, grated cheese, a pickle wedge or two, and rye bread. And, obviously, with sto gramm vodka to go with!