Varenyky

Ukraine's boiled dumplings of soft wheat dough, filled with potato, curd cheese or sour cherries and dressed with fried onion and soured cream

Origin: Kyiv, Poltava & Ukraine

From the journey of Wheat.

Varenyky are boiled dumplings of soft wheat dough, and the name comes straight from varyty, to boil, which is the whole of their definition: whatever is inside, a varenyk is boiled and never fried first. They are among the two or three dishes Ukrainians name when asked what their cooking is, and the fillings run from the everyday, potato with fried onion, curd cheese, sauerkraut with mushrooms, to the summer luxury of sour cherries served with cream and sugar. The dough is where the argument lies. Plain flour and water makes a firm wrapper, but Ukrainian cooks widely use soured milk, kefir, whey, or the water potatoes were boiled in, which gives a softer, slightly slack dough that stays tender after boiling rather than going rubbery as it cools. The dough is worked hard, then rested for at least half an hour, which is not optional: unrested dough springs back and cannot be rolled thin. They are related to the Polish pierogi and the Russian vareniki, and the family is genuinely shared across the region rather than being anybody's exclusive property; what is particular to the Ukrainian form is the range of fillings and the dressing, which is nearly always shkvarky, fried onion in pork fat or butter, and soured cream. They carry a good deal of ritual. Varenyky are made for Christmas Eve in the meatless form, for Saint Andrew's Eve in December when unmarried women make them and the divination games attached are still played, and at weddings. Ukrainian communities in Canada put up a nine-metre varenyk on a fork at Glendon, Alberta in 1991, which is a fair measure of how far the dish travelled with the emigration.

Ingredients

Dough

500 g plain flour, plus more for dusting
250 ml kefir or soured milk, at room temperature
1 egg
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp salt
0.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Potato filling

700 g floury potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 onions, finely chopped
60 g butter
100 g curd cheese or crumbled feta
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

To dress

2 onions, sliced
80 g butter or pork fat

To serve

250 ml soured cream
2 tbsp dill, chopped

Method

Mix the flour, salt, and bicarbonate of soda, then work in the kefir, egg, and oil to a soft dough.
Knead for eight minutes until smooth and slightly tacky, then cover and rest for at least thirty minutes. Unrested dough springs back under the pin and will not roll thin.
Boil the potatoes until tender and drain, keeping a little of the water.
Fry the two chopped onions in the butter until deep golden, about fifteen minutes.
Mash the potatoes with the fried onion, curd cheese, salt, and pepper, loosening with the potato water if stiff, and cool completely.
Roll the dough out thinly, about 2mm, on a floured board and cut 8cm rounds.
Put a teaspoon of cold filling on each round, fold over, and pinch the edge firmly closed, working out any air. Warm filling makes the seam damp and the dumpling will burst in the water.
Crimp the sealed edge in a rope if you like, and keep the finished varenyky under a cloth so they do not dry out.
Fry the sliced onions in the butter or pork fat until golden and keep them warm in their fat.
Boil a wide pan of well-salted water and cook the varenyky in batches, no more than fifteen at a time.
They rise to the surface after two or three minutes; give them a further two minutes from that point, then lift them out with a slotted spoon.
Toss each batch straight into the onion fat so they do not stick to one another, and serve hot with soured cream and dill.

Notes

Kefir or soured milk gives the tender dough Ukrainian cooks prefer; plain water works but goes firm as it cools. Rest the dough. Cool the filling completely before it goes near the dough. Seal firmly and squeeze the air out, since trapped air expands and splits the seam. Boil in batches in plenty of water and toss the drained dumplings in fat immediately. For the sour cherry version, drain the stoned cherries well, toss them with a spoonful of semolina to catch the juice, and serve with cream and sugar. Uncooked varenyky freeze well on a tray and go into the pan straight from frozen with a minute added.

The Gastrographer

Name: Varenyky
Prep time: 1 h 30 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 2 h
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Poltava & Ukraine
Ingredients: 500 g plain flour, plus more for dusting; 250 ml kefir or soured milk, at room temperature; 1 egg; 2 tbsp sunflower oil; 1 tsp salt; 0.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda; 700 g floury potatoes, peeled and quartered; 2 onions, finely chopped; 60 g butter; 100 g curd cheese or crumbled feta; 1 tsp salt; 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper; 2 onions, sliced; 80 g butter or pork fat; 250 ml soured cream; 2 tbsp dill, chopped

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control