Sauerkraut and Mushroom Vareniki
These Ukrainian vareniki are delicious homemade dumplings filled with sauerkraut, mushrooms and caramelised onions. Makes approximately 45 dumplings.
Ingredients
For the Filling
- 2 onions
- 250 g/ 1 ⅔ cups sauerkraut
- 2 tbsp butter
- 200g/7oz chestnut or button mushrooms
- 20g/1/4 cup dried porcini mushrooms or any other type of dried mushrooms
- salt to taste
For the dough
- 450g/3 ⅓ cups all purpose/plain flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 225ml/1 cup water
Instructions
- Start with the filling, which could be made up to 2-3 days ahead. Pour a cup of boiling water over dry porcini mushrooms and let them hydrate for 30 minutes. Slice the onions and start cooking them in 1 tablespoon of melted butter over low heat until soft and caramelised. This should take approximately 20 minutes. The onions should have absolutely no crunch left at the end. They should be golden in colour and sweet. Once done remove the onions to a medium sized bowl.
- Remove the liquid from the sauerkraut by squeezing it over a sink. It should be quite dry. Then add to the same bowl with caramelised onions.
- Chop the chestnut mushrooms finely. Remove the rehydrated mushrooms from the liquid and discard the liquid, chop them up as well. Melt a tablespoon of butter in the same pan you used for onions and add both types of mushrooms with a pinch of salt. Cook over medium heat until the mushrooms are slightly golden and there is no liquid left in the pan.
- Add the cooked mushrooms to the bowl with the sauerkraut and caramelised onions and mix to combine. Cool slightly and put in an air tight container, refrigerate till needed.
- Make the dough. In a food processor pulse flour and salt. With the motor running add the egg through the tube and then cold water. Let the processor do its work for a minute until the dough forms around the blade. Transfer the dough into a bowl, cover with a tea towel and let it sit for 30 minutes.
- Cut out circles with a 3-3.5 inch cookie or scone cutter. Put a large spoonful of the filling into each dough circle, slightly off-centre, fold the dough over to form a half-moon shape and pinch the edges shut with your fingertips. If you want a more attractive look go over the edge one more time and this time pinch the edges together using your two fingers and a thumb and twist them to form a ruffled edge.
- Repeat with the remaining dough circles until you run out of both dough and the filling. You should have about 35-45 vareniki. The number will vary depending on how large you make each dumpling.
- Set aside a needed amount of vareniki (4-6 per person) for dinner and freeze the rest in a well floured and air-tight container to prevent sticking.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add salt drop vareniki into rapidly boiling water and stir to prevent sticking to the bottom, once they float to the top, drain and pan fry in butter over medium heat until golden on both sides. Serve with sour cream and crispy fried onions if desired.
- * Cook the remaining vareniki from frozen.
Video
Nutrition
Calories: 268kcalCarbohydrates: 50gProtein: 8gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 28mgSodium: 823mgPotassium: 280mgFiber: 3gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 123IUVitamin C: 7mgCalcium: 30mgIron: 3mg
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