Dumplings

Vareniki are considered one of the national dishes of Ukrainian cuisine. Different peoples of the world have similar dishes with an identical shape. Most often they are confused with dumplings, but even without this comparison, the dish has many analogues.

Historians argue that finding the exact source of the recipe is quite problematic. But this does not prevent gourmets from enjoying delicious and healthy food both during holidays and harsh weekdays.

A bit of history

Experts say that the well-known menu item presented can be called a truly Slavic representative. It is made on the basis of unleavened dough, various fillings. Later, the semi-finished product is sent to cook.

According to some reports, the bearers of Trypillia culture, which flourished many centuries ago on the territory of modern Ukraine, should be thankful for the appearance of a dish beloved by many. This assumption is indirectly confirmed by the numerous references to dumplings with cottage cheese and other traditional fillings in folklore. They can even be found in traditional ceremonies at Christmas and divination at Epiphany.

A few epochs ago, delicacy was considered mandatory on the festive tables. Weddings, religious holidays, meeting dear guests could not do without it. Moreover, each region had its own secrets and preferences for the filler. But products made from cottage cheese (fillings) are still considered classics of the genre.

To save time, some hostesses have simplified the standard recipe without changing the main ingredients. So the idea was born to sculpt lazy dumplings, which were liked by busy housewives, bachelors, students. Some self-taught chefs are so imbued that now even ordinary pasta with the addition of this fermented milk product is called a lazy adaptation of the famous Ukrainian dish.

The love of the Ukrainian people for their national representative of the festive table is so great that a monument was dedicated to him in Cherkasy several years ago. Now a huge sculpture of the famous Cossack Mamai flaunts there, and behind him stands a monumental dumpling.

To celebrate this case, the city prepared an almost record copy, whose length exceeded the average human height, and the weight exceeded the mark of almost 70 kg.

Today, the dish is prepared on the basis of unleavened dough, adding all kinds of vegetables inside in varying degrees of heat treatment. Some even prefer to create a culinary masterpiece with raw potatoes.

Tips for beginners

Experienced chefs advise beginners to be very careful when choosing flour. To get a gentle result, you need to find flour that is really finely ground. Separately, you will need to spend time sifting before direct kneading. So the final mass will not be too heavy, stick together and leave a heavy sediment at the bottom of the pan.

There are also two basic tips that simplify cooking:

1. The kneading liquid, which may include water or milk depending on the specific instructions, must first be chilled to an icy state.
2. Adding eggs should begin with the fact that the workpiece is first cooled in the refrigerator.

This will allow you to achieve the perfect consistency without any hassle. Also, experts of Ukrainian national cuisine advise boiling the semi-finished product over moderate heat. This ensures that the final result does not stick together. To achieve the same effect, you need to take care in advance to pour really a lot of water for boiling. And you need to give preference to a wide low pan.

Throwing the entire portion at once is strictly prohibited. It is necessary to store each copy separately in pre-salted boiling water. But to accurately answer the question: how much to cook will not work, since it completely depends on the weaving of flour, the characteristics of the filling.

After the dough has reached the desired condition, the delicacy is pulled out with a slotted spoon, but the broth is not drained in any way, leaving the contents in the pan. After extracting the finished product, it is sent to a colander. This will allow excess liquid to drain quickly.

It is not worth rinsing them with cold water, as is recommended when cooking some types of pasta. Serve immediately after cooking. If these were berry options, then before eating from above it is recommended to pour an appetizing slide of goodies with cherries with fresh homemade sour cream of suitable fat content.

But if it was not at hand, you can successfully replace:

• soft butter;
• sugar;
• syrup;
• honey;
• sweet sauce.

A vegetable filler goes well with butter. If there is a meat component inside, then after cooling they can be sent for frying, adding melted homemade butter for taste.

Offers with cabbage are good friends with vegetable frying, or just fried onions, coarsely chopped greens at your own discretion.

Kingdom of dumplings

There are many unspoken classifications of this dish. But most often, the division involves sorting according to the contents of each dumpling. Initially, people were guided in the manufacture of the religious calendar. There were lean variations that provided for a strict list of fillers like:

• potatoes;
• cabbage;
• berries and other fruits;
• mushrooms with vegetables.

And on holidays, when the post ended, you could taste more festive versions with:

• meat;
• chicken;
• cottage cheese.

But besides the religious classification, one also has to focus on the family budget. It was customary to call the most economical meals decisions with the following content:

• beans;
• pea mash;
• crushed dried fruits harvested since summer;
• buckwheat, millet porridge.

Special attention deserves the so-called “lazy adaptation”, which in the traditional sense means serving with sweet gravy. Since such an analogue of the classic saves time significantly, many are interested in how to cook it. But there is nothing complicated here. You will need to pour the cottage cheese directly into the dough during kneading, which eliminates the need to spend time folding.

There are significant differences in the manner of folding. The two most popular offers are:

1. Semicircular. From the rolled dough, you need to cut circles of equal size with a glass. Stewed vegetables, meat, mashed potatoes are laid in the core, and then the edges are glued in a circle.
2. Triangular. The layer is cut into equal squares, which are 5 by 5 cm in size. After laying out the contents, the opposite edges are connected.

Chefs insist that the dough should be as thin as possible, but at the same time without the risk of tearing during the cooking process. Such an approach will significantly reduce calorie content, as well as increase the digestibility of even impressive portions.

If you want to achieve maximum conservation of energy value, it is better to steam the dish. To do this, you need a double boiler or multicooker.

This ensures that nutrition is preserved within each instance.

Composition and use

The composition and benefits are closely interconnected. Usually, wheat flour is taken for harvesting, but if you want to move away from the canons, you can try to resort to another analogue.

The dough can be made lean, as most cookbooks say. To do this, you will need to choose:

• yeast;
• kefir.

The main advantage of the dish is the high content of various amino acids, without which the human body cannot function normally. Compared to a typical yeast dough, dumplings are digested more quickly.

If you want to achieve good nutrition without significant harm to the figure, then it is better to replace the water with fresh whey. It will delight you with a rich vitamin composition, which includes vitamins of groups B, C, A.

There are also trace elements that strengthen various organs:

• sodium;
• potassium;
• magnesium;
• phosphorus.

If a person consumes the daily intake of vitamin A every day, then he will not experience problems with visual acuity, and will also be able to boast of beautiful skin and hair. An additional advantage here will be the prevention of the appearance of fine wrinkles, because the aging process will slow down.

Even people who are far from medicine know about the benefits of vitamin C. With its help, it will be possible to strengthen the walls of blood vessels, making them more elastic and resilient. And without category B vitamins, the nervous system will quickly fail. Their daily consumption will allow a person not to face the following problems:

• depression;
• insomnia;
• deterioration of appetite.

The abundance of calcium and potassium is responsible for the stable functioning of the cardiovascular system in the composition of whey dumplings. Finding such a chic useful storehouse in store variations will be quite problematic. To preserve the marketable appearance, as well as prolong the shelf life, various chemical elements are often added there. They tend to accumulate in the body, poisoning it from the inside, which in the future can become a serious problem, turning into diseases of the digestive tract.

Hence the conclusion that store offers will not please you with benefits, but will only cause significant harm to well-being. It is much easier to use a step-by-step recipe and learn how to cook this delicacy yourself.

Recipe for Multivariate

The presence of smart technology always greatly simplifies household chores. The first assistant of a recognized or novice hostess is a slow cooker, in which you can easily cook a Ukrainian national dish. This will require the following ingredients:

• eggs – 2 pcs .;
• water – 160 ml;
• salt – half a teaspoon;
• flour – 450 g;
• sunflower oil;
• potatoes – 750 g;
• onion – one medium onion;
• Spices to taste.

At the preparatory stage, you need to deal with potatoes. First they wash it, and then they clean it. After cutting the cubes, the semi-finished product is sent to cook in order to make puree from it with the same structure without lumps.

Separately, you need to peel the onion to pass in the pan. If you don’t want to dirty all the dishes in the house, you can poison the onion frying in the same slow cooker. To do this, you just need to select the frying mode.

After the two main components are prepared, they are mixed, adding spices. Just salt and black pepper are best for this, but there are no hard limits. The resulting mass is sent to cool.

While the mixture is cooling, it’s time to knead the dough. For this, eggs are taken, beaten in a deep container. Pre-prepared salted water and vegetable oil are also added there.

After thoroughly mixing the solution, they begin to slowly add flour through a sieve. If the chef feels that he does not have enough patience, then he can be trusted to knead smart technology like the dough mixer mode in a food processor or bread machine. It will be necessary to interfere until a homogeneous tight consistency is obtained. Be sure to follow the absence of lumps. At the end, the workpiece is covered with a towel, leaving it in this state for twenty minutes.

Further, it is a matter of technology: the table is sprinkled with flour, rolling out thin layers, the width of which should not exceed 3,5 mm. The form for gluing is chosen independently, whether it be circles made with a glass or squares cut with a knife. The most important thing is to secure the edges correctly. Otherwise, all the work will be in vain, and the puree will fall out.

A few glasses of water are poured into the bottom of the multicooker bowl, and an extension for steaming is placed on top. All semi-finished products are laid out on it piece by piece so that they do not touch each other. The lid is closed by setting the steamer mode on the equipment. Cooking will take about 15 minutes.

Serving can be organized not only with sour cream, but with creamy sauce or some kind of proprietary filling. The main thing to remember is that everything should be in moderation. Overeating is the first step to obesity.