Pelmeni is a dish well known to everyone from childhood, but, of course, they are not recommended for dietary meals because of premium flour and store minced meat, which often contains a lot of fat. Nevertheless, on cheat meal days, you want to pamper yourself with delicious dumplings, especially if you don’t want to cook, but you want to have a hearty and quick lunch. Nothing terrible will happen if you use dumplings occasionally and fit them into your daily intake of KBZHU (if you are not actively losing weight).
How to choose dumplings
There is a huge selection on store shelves. How to choose delicious from all this variety? Let’s try to figure it out.
The first thing we pay attention to when buying is the appearance and expiration dates. Good quality dumplings – smooth, not broken, without cracks on the surface. If there are small cracks on the surface of the dumplings, this may indicate that the product has been defrosted and re-frozen. The color of the dumplings should be light, almost white. If the dumplings are gray or brown, then low-quality ingredients or non-premium flour could be used for their production.
Shake the packaging. The dumplings should move easily inside it. It is advisable that all the dumplings are separate from each other. If the dumplings are stuck together, then there is a great risk that they will break during cooking.
Manufacturers are trying to produce dumplings in translucent packaging so that you can clearly see the product from all sides. But it happens that dumplings are sold in cardboard boxes and opaque bags. What to do in this case? And in this case, GOST will help us. According to GOST, dumplings are divided into 5 categories: from A to D. The filling of a product of category “A” should contain more than 80% meat, “B” – from 60 to 80%, “C” – from 40 to 60%, “G “- from 20 to 40%,” D “- less than 20%. The rest is soy, flavors and even semolina. What is not added to dumplings to reduce the cost of production. To buy high-quality dumplings, in which there is more than 80% meat, you just need to find category “A” dumplings. On the packaging, the manufacturer must indicate the category, as well as the composition and expiration dates.
About the shelf life: dumplings can be stored from two months to six months, if more, it means that they contain an antioxidant or preservative.
How to cook dumplings correctly
So, you have selected and purchased dumplings, making sure they meet all your requirements. Bring them home, and if you don’t want to cook them right away, put them in the freezer. Do not defrost the dumplings before making them.
The process of making dumplings itself is simple, but there are a few tricks. Everything in order.
- Put a saucepan with cold water on high heat, add salt, add a few peas of black pepper, bay leaf. Many add other spices, such as turmeric, dry garlic, paprika. Many also add an onion, which is taken out of the broth when ready and thrown away. Spices and onions make the broth aromatic and tasty.
- Place the dumplings in boiling water. Cooking proportions are also important! For one kilogram of dumplings, you need 4 liters of water. Otherwise, the dumplings may stick together. Wait for the dumplings to float to the surface.
- When all the dumplings are on the surface, pour a glass of cold water into a saucepan in a thin stream. Wait until it boils again, reduce heat by 50% and cook for another 3-4 minutes. This trick with a glass of cold water will help make the filling of the dumplings more juicy and the dough more fluffy.
Arrange the finished dumplings on plates and serve with sour cream, vinegar, mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup or even soy sauce. Serving options and additions can also be very different, many housewives add fried onions or butter to fragrant dumplings, grate cheese on a grater, sprinkle with dill.
If you want to warm up on a cold evening, serve dumplings with aromatic broth. When cooking, be sure to add spices to it: bay leaf, some Provencal herbs or curry. Add what you love (calorizer). And serve a deep bowl of flavorful dumplings with sour cream. It will not be superfluous to decorate with greens.
How to fry dumplings deliciously
And you can not cook dumplings, but fry them. True, it turns out completely non-diet, but very tasty.
- Heat a skillet with oil over a fire. For a frying pan with a diameter of 24 centimeters, you will need four tablespoons of oil.
- Arrange the dumplings in one layer so that they do not touch each other, otherwise they may stick together when frying. Stir the dumplings and fry until golden brown.
- Pour boiling water into the pan so that it covers half the dumplings (about 1 liter), cover, reduce heat and wait until the water is absorbed into the dumplings.
Such dumplings are somewhat reminiscent of mini-pasties in taste. The dough is crispy and the filling is very juicy. Serve them hot with your favorite sauce, herbs, cheese.
Of course, in the classic version, we are used to cooking dumplings, but over time, there are a lot of ways to prepare them. For example, dumplings can now be cooked in a multicooker and in a microwave, and fried in a deep fat fryer. On the Internet, you can even find a recipe for omelet with dumplings or a recipe for savory fried dumplings in a spicy sauce.
We are used to thinking that the dumpling is a purely Russian invention. And historians tell us that the word “pelmen” itself came to us from the Urals from the words “nanny” – bread and “pelmen” – ear, translated from the Udmurt language. In the capital of Udmurtia – the city of Izhevsk – there is even a monument to dumplings. It is a tall metal fork with a classic-shaped white dumpling on top.
In many countries of the world there are dishes that are similar in composition and taste: Italian “ravioli”, Chinese “xiao long bao”, Japanese “gyoza”, manti and khinkali – all this can be considered close relatives of dumplings. Of course, each of these dishes is prepared differently and each has its own characteristics, but nowadays, dumplings can be considered an international dish.
Each housewife has her own little secrets of cooking dumplings and each has her own taste preferences. At the end of the article, we say that it is not difficult to cook dumplings, the main thing is that they are of good quality and you like them to your taste. Well, the most useful thing is not to buy dumplings in the store, but to cook homemade, from good homemade minced meat.