Piergogi

Inspired by the Hairy Bikers recent trip around the Baltic I just had to make these Polish dumplings. Traditional fillings are often vegetarian which is a bonus!

Ingredients
For the dough
250g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil
150ml warm water 

For the mushroom and sauerkraut filling
50g dried mushrooms
250g sauerkraut 
1/2 onion
2 Bay leaves
40g butter

For the cheese and potato filling
250g floury potatoes, such as Maris Piper, cut into pieces
3 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
250g cottage cheese

To serve
300ml soured cream

1 onion, chopped, crispy fried
small handful fresh dill, to garnish




Method
For the mushroom and sauerkraut filling (Kapusta)
Rinse the dried mushrooms then soak in 300ml of warm water. Set aside to infuse for 30 minutes. 

Drain the mushrooms pouring the water into a saucepan. Bring it to a boil.
Rinse the sauerkraut in a colander and transfer to the pan of boiling mushroom water. Add the bay leaves.

Reduce the heat to simmering and cook the sauerkraut for about 20 minutes. Finely chop the mushrooms and finely chop the onion. Then melt butter in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and the mushrooms and cook until the onions are soft. 

Next add the mushroom/onion mix to the sauerkraut. Turn the heat to low and place a lid on the saucepan. Continue to simmer until all of the liquid has evaporated. 

Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Remove the bay leaves.

For the cottage cheese and potato filling (Ruskie)
Boil potatoes in salted water until soft enough to mash.  Drain well and set aside to cool.
Fry the onions for 5 minutes on a high temperature until browned.  Reserve some of the onion to fry further to crisp and use as garnish.
Then simply mix together the boiled potatoes, browned onion and cottage cheese. Set aside to cool.

For the dumpling dough 
sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and make a well in the centre. Fill the well with salt, oil and water. Gradually stir in the flour until it comes together as a soft dough. 
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 5 minutes until it is smooth. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and set aside to cool. 

To make the pierogi
Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface to a thickness of about 3mm. Cut 10cm circles using a pastry cutter. 

Place one heaped teaspoonful of the cottage cheese and potato filling into half of the pastry circles, and one teaspoonsful of the mushroom and sauerkraut filling into the other remaining half.

Brush a little water around the edge of each pastry round, then fold the edges together to create a small pasty shaped dumpling, pressing the edges together to seal.
Poach the pierogi, in a deep-sided pan of boiling water for a few minutes until they float to the surface.

To serve, pile the pierogi onto plates and serve the sour cream and crispy fried onions in small bowls alongside.  Sprinkle with  dill.