Pelmeni - Siberian Dumplings

Dough

1. In a Stand Mixer with dough hook, or in a Food Processor with dough blade, mix Flour and Salt.
2. With motor running, add Egg, then pour in Water in a slow, stream until the dough forms a ball around the dough hook or dough blade. You should not have used quite the whole cup of water.
3. Transfer to a lightly floured board and knead by hand for a few minutes until nice and smooth. Make sure the ball is not sticky. If it is, knead it with a dusting of flour until it isn't.
4. Cover with thin plastic so it won't dry out and let it rest for about 30 minutes, while you work on filling and set-up.

Flour:

Assembly and Forming

In Russia today, many people use a Pelmennitsa (pelmeni mold) to save a lot of time. It is similar to a Ravioli Mold, but honeycomb shaped rather than square. Commercially, Pelmeni are made using complex pasta machines imported from Italy.

Here we make them the traditional way. Exact time will depend on your dexterity and how fast you work. The photo shows half moon (varenyky), envelope, and flying saucer folds.

I do all the work on a 2-1/2 foot square sheet of plywood, lightly varnished on the working side. You will also need a Rolling Pin, preferably the French tapered kind, a 2-1/4 to 2-1/2 inch cookie cutter, an 18 x 13 inch rimmed baking sheet, and, hopefully a Piping Bag (pastry bag) with a 1/2 inch plain round nozzle.

1. Check that you can get the Baking Sheet into the freezer compartment of your refrigerator and still close the door.
2. Beat 1 Egg White moderately so it is uniformly liquid. Pour into a shallow bowl.
3. Flour your working board lightly, but completely enough so your dough will not stick.
4. Divide your Dough Ball into three equal sized balls. Make sure they aren't sticky or you will have problems. If they are sticky, just knead a powdering of flour into it. Keep one ball out and cover the rest with thin plastic.
5. Roll out one ball very thin, but not quite translucently thin, making sure the sheet can slide on the board. Spread a little more flour under it as needed.
6. Cut out about 15 or so 2-1/4 inch circles. Give the cutter a bit of a twist to make sure the cut is complete. Free them by peeling up the dough in between. Keep the off-cuts under plastic if you intend to use them for a 4th ball. Move the circles up front where you can work with them, and cover the rest of the sheet with thin plastic so it won't dry out while you work.
7. Use your Piping Bag to squeeze out the right amount of filling onto each circle, a little towards you from exactly centered. Because meat fillings tend to have some stringy stuff in them, you will likely have to use a knife to scrape it off at the nozzle.
8. Working with one circle at a time, wet your index finger in the Egg White and wipe it around the edge opposite from you.
9. Carefully fold the near edge over the stuffing and stick down to the far edge, making sure all the stuffing is inside. Work the edge from the center out, driving out any air. Now you have a Ukrainian Varenyky. Go on and do all the other circles you have cut.
10. Touch one point of each dumpling with Egg White. For envelope fold, wrap the dry point over the stuffing, then wrap the wetted one across to stick to the other one. For flying saucer form, bring the points together along the straight side, allowing the curved edge to curl up around the stuffing (see Photo). The flying saucer form is fancier and cooks more evenly, but doesn't take much more time or skill than the envelope form, but it does take more room on the freezing sheet and in the the bag. Another way is to put pleats in it as you seal the main edge and leave it at that, but that form looks like it takes a lot of practice.
11. Lightly flour your Baking Sheet and place the finished Pelmeni on it as close together as you can without them touching (a little touching of the edges is not a problem). Cover with thin plastic while you work on more.
12. Keep at it until you have completely filled the baking sheet, or run out of something.
13. Slide the Baking Sheet into the freezer compartment of your refrigerator and let the Pelmeni freeze. Traditionally, Pelmeni are rarely cooked before they have been frozen.
14. Pry the Pelmeni off the baking sheet and bag them in a plastic bag. They can be kept frozen for months.

Cooking

1. Bring plenty of cold Water up to a boil and stir in about 1/2 Tablespoon of Salt per quart of water, same as for pasta. Pelmeni can also be cooked in broth.
2. Stir Pelmeni into rapidly boiling Water. Do not crowd the pot! Let boil until Pelmeni float to the surface, then give them 4 or 5 minutes more (they will float before sufficiently cooked).
3. Scoop them out with a shallow strainer and drain.