Pelmeni (Dumplings) with Meat
Like borscht, blini or pirozhki, pelmeni is a classic Slavic dish. They are usually prepared from beef, pork, lamb or any other kind of meat and even sometimes fish or mushrooms. Usually the family gathers at one large table and makes them together by hand. Some eaten then but they can be frozen for storage and cooked later on when there isn’t time to prepare a large meal, just remove from the freezer and put them in salted boiling water for about 8- 10 minutes.
I remember doing these by hand with my mom and grandma as a child but a pelmeni mold will make your life a little easier. I brought my mold from Ukraine, but you can find the pelmeni maker on Amazon, just don’t buy the plastic one.
Here is a simple recipe for pelmeni which I cook all the time using beef and pork. Another good variation is to add smoked bacon to the meat. And don’t forget, you can prepare a lot of pelmeni and freeze them for later on.
There is nothing like homemade pelmeni, they are totally worth every second you put into making them!
Pelmeni (Dumplings) with Meat Recipe
By Published: November 15, 2013
- Prep: 1 hr 30 mins
- Cook: 10 mins
- Ready In: 2 hrs 10 mins
Like borscht, blini or pirozhki, pelmeni is a classic Slavic dish. They are usually prepared from beef, pork, lamb or any other kind …
Ingredients
- 250 g (0.55lb) pork ground for the filling
- 250 g (0.55lb) beef ground for the filling
- 1-2 onions for the filling
- salt, pepper to taste for the filling
- 1 cup warm milk or water for the dough
- 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour for the dough, plus ~5 tbsp.
- 1 tsp salt for the dough
Instructions
- Grind the meat and onion together then add salt and pepper. Mix well.
- Mix the warm milk or water with 2 cups of flour and salt. Knead the dough and gradually add the remaining flour (1cup). Knead the dough until it's no longer sticking to your hands. Your dough should be soft and elastic.
- Another option: sift the flour into a table. Make a dimple on top and crack the egg into that. Add 1 teaspoon salt. Adding the water gradually, knead the dough vigorously 10 minutes. The dough should be stiff, elastic, but should not stick to the hand.
- Cut a piece of dough the size of a tennis ball and roll it on a cutting board sprinkled with flour. The dough should be very thin, approximately 1/32 of an inch. Cut it into squares or use a glass to cut out circles and put the meat stuffing to inside. Press the edge very well with fingers, giving to dumpling an oval shape than pinch 2 sides of pelmeni to get the final shape. While one person is making the circles, the others can be putting the filling by teaspoon onto the middle of each circle and sealing the meat tightly.
- Put pelmeni on a floured baking sheet or large plates and move them in the freezer before cooking, at least for half an hour. Cook pelmeni in salty boiling water and remove when they float to the top, about 5 minutes total. Serve with butter, a little bit of vinegar and sour cream.
- If using a pelmeni maker, cut a piece of dough the size of a tennis ball and roll it on a cutting board sprinkled with flour into a round shape the size of your pelmeni mold. Lightly flour the mold and place rolled dough over the mold. Fill every hole with meat stuffing, trying to keep the meat in the holes, then roll out another chunk of dough and place over the mold. Use a rolling pin to roll over the top of the second layer of dough on the mold, remove the excess dough around the edges, flip the mold over and push the pelmeni with your fingers from each hole.
- Move the pelmeni to a floured baking sheet or large plates. If you feel you have made too many pelmeni, feel free to freeze them before they are cooked: once they are fully frozen, transfer to large proof bags and freeze them, they keep in a freezer for a very long time.
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