Ukrainian Potato Varenyky (known as Pierogi in Poland)

Ukrainian Potato Varenyky (known as Pierogi in Poland)

00:00 Intro
00:25 Choosing the Batch Size
00:22 Dough
03:39 Filling
07:09 Rolling the Dough
09:45 Cutting the Circles
10:36 Shaping Varenyky
12:43 Brown Butter
13:09 Cooking Varenyky

Serves 4

The Dough:
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For 40 varenyky:
300g bread flour (unbleached all-purpose is fine in a pinch)
1 large egg + 1 large yolk + enough cold water to get 185g* of wet ingredients
5.7g salt (1 tsp table salt or 2 tsp Diamond Crystal Kosher or weighed for all other salt types)
* This assumes very low humidity. For wetter climates, decrease to 175g.

For 80 varenyky:
600g bread flour (unbleached all-purpose is fine in a pinch)
2 large egg + 2 large yolk + enough cold water to get 370g* of wet ingredients
11.4g salt (2 tsp table salt or 4 tsp Diamond Crystal Kosher or weighed for all other salt types)
* This assumes very low humidity. For wetter climates, decrease to 350g.

Put the flour, then the wet ingredients, then salt into the food processor. Run it until no dry flour remains. Get all the dough clumps out onto a work surface and knead for 8 min by hand.

If your dough sticks after the first minute of kneading, add more flour. Dust with flour, wrap in plastic, and let rest 30 min and up to 6 hours at room temperature.

The Filling for 80 varenyky:
====================
Sauteed Onions:
2 yellow onions, diced (about 340g)
2 Tbsp butter
Salt

Set a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the butter. When the butter is melted, add the onions and salt. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally until the onions start to turn translucent, about 10 min. Uncover and continue to cook, stirring occasionally until the onions are golden brown, about 10 min.

Mashed Potatoes
2 Lb (900g) yukon gold potatoes (or some other “boiling” potatoes)
4 Tbsp butter
50g grated cheddar
100g sour cream
Sauteed onions (see above)
Salt and acidity to taste

Peel and dice the potatoes. Put them into a medium pot. Cover with cold water. Set over high heat, cover with a lid, and bring to almost a boil. Remove the lid, salt very generously. Bring all the way to a boil uncovered. Reduce the heat so that they simmer very gently and cook until completely tender when pierced, 20-25 min. Drain in a colander. Return to the pot.

Set the pot over medium low heat and cook the potatoes, stirring often to get rid of residual moisture. They’ll leave a bit of a residue on the bottom of the pot. That’s normal, but you don’t want that residue to turn brown. When the potatoes look like they are covered in light fuzz, turn off the pot and add the butter, some black pepper and salt. Mash it in until potatoes are smooth. Mash in the cheddar. Mash in the sour cream. Stir in the cooked onions using a spoon. Taste and correct for salt and acidity. Cool completely. The filling can be made 1-2 days ahead and refrigerated.

Rolling and shaping:
Watch the video for the details, but here are the highlights.
Roll the dough to the 5th setting (repeating this setting one more time).
Place it on a rice flour covered surface.
Use a 3 inch (7.62cm) cookie cutter to cut the circles
Fill with potatoes and seal tightly
Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment or foil and sprinkled with rice flour

Storage:
To refrigerate for up to 4 hours: After the first half hour in the fridge, cover with a towel or plastic wrap. If you notice too much condensation, uncover.
To freeze for up to a few months: Place the baking sheet with varenyky into the freezer uncovered just until they are hard, 1-2 hours. Immediately, move to a zip lock bag. If they aren’t moved to a zip lock bag promptly, they can dehydrate and crack. Don’t defrost. Cook from frozen.

Brown butter (for 40 varenyky):
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
Salt and lemon juice to taste

Set a large skillet over medium heat. Add the butter and whisk until it melts and the white foam subsides. Cook whisking frequently until the butter is brown. Season with a few drops of lemon juice and salt.

Cooking:

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[tenstorme]

Helen makes a small mistake at the start of the video - I thought I'd correct it for you guys

Serving suggestions:
40 varenyky serves 1 person
80 varenyky serves 1 person

[dwaynewladyka]

My (late) paternal, half Polish, half Ukrainian, immigrant grandmother taught me how to make pierogies (varenyky), when I was a child. There were two kinds of fillings. One filling had boiled, mashed potatoes and cottage cheese. The other filling had sauerkraut, and onion as a filling. The dough was made with all purpose flour, a pinch of salt, an egg, a bit of corn oil, and water. Both types of pierogies (varenyky) were very good, and this was especially the situation when they were fried in butter, until they were golden brown. My grandmother was a great cook and baker. I also remember her homemade borscht, homemade cinnamon rolls, homemade doughnuts, and homemade potato salad. In fact, both of my grandmothers were excellent cooks and bakers. I have a mixed Slavic ancestry, including Polish and Ukrainian, and the food is so good. Thanks for sharing this recipe. Those pierogies (varenyky) look amazing. Cheers, Helen!👍👍✌️🇵🇱🇺🇦

[maryhawk]

Brings back memories of learning how to make pierogi from my grandmother with no food processor or pasta maker in-sight

[jjforcebreaker]

Great comfort food, and can be made with very cheap ingredients for the filling - here things like sauerkraut are close to the cheapest vegetables available, next to plain potatoes, beetroots or carrots. The best thing is how easy it is to enrich said fillings and turn this dish into something really exquisite.

My fav ones are with sauerkraut+forest mushrooms, potato+cottage cheese and spinach+feta/blue cheese.
And when it comes to sweet variants, nothing beats blueberries or especially sour cherries, toppled with sweet cream of course. Plums/strawberries are also a solid choice.

[WastedTalent-]

One of my childhood memories was coming home from school and seeing a black trash bag in the fridge, taking up an entire shelf, and a couple of tubs of sour cream. The Russian ladies my mom worked with would make tons of varenyky and give her about 20-30 lbs worth. My mom and I were the only ones in the house who ate them (her mother and grandparents were Russian immigrants after WW2 and her co-workers were old friends of theirs). My mom has Alzheimer's and I'm watching a ton of videos to learn how to make them so I could share some time with her, assembling them. She used to make them with her grandmother, Bubba. I've perfected Bubba's borschdt and piroshki (as my grandmother gave the thumbs up and cried that she hadn't tasted her mother's borschdt in so long and that it brought her back to her childhood). I can't wait to make these.

[americanmade]

This made me smile and tear up at the same time. One of my childhood neighbors was a Hungarian mom who loved to feed people. She called these pedahet (sp?) and she made and shared these by the bucketful. We tried them with every sauce in the house; unimaginably, one of our favorites was Chinese oyster sauce. We were strange kids but we ate well.

[helenv]

OMG! Thank you so much for this recipe and how to make it. My husband is polish and always wanted to make them at home but unfortunatly his parents passed away before teaching him how to do it. This is going to be a nice surpire.! Love your chanel....❤

[carolegeddes]

Thank you for a beautiful video. Following your detailed is structions ensures success. It looks pretty labour intensive but well worth the effort. How delicious! Thank you again, Helen.

[M_Ladd]

Great job! Thank you very much! I have eaten a lot of these growing up! My father was Ukrainian, and my my mom was Polish. My favorite was the cottage cheese with chives, with no sugar. Most places that do make the cottage cheese always add sugar for some dumb reason.

[MrOvnours]

Обожаю ваш канал за научный подход. Количество воды в тесте в зависимости от засушливости/влажности климата - такого я ни в одном рецепте на Ютубе не встречал!👍👍👍

[Ben-kvwr]

Definitely going to make these, I'm not stopping at caramelized onions though, caramelized cabbage, turnip, shredded leftover broccoli stems...

[Antyweszka]

Pierogi!!!❤️ In Poland we make it as simple as possible. For the CIASTO (dough) It’s just flour and hot, salted water, and for the NADZIENIE (filling) It’s 4 parts of mashed potato - not that firm and jelly kind but that soft and crumbly kind (when cooked), 2 parts of TWARÓG (fresh cheese), 1 part of onions (made just like in the video. Salt and pepper to taste and voila😻😍

[sykotikmommy]

I love pierogie so much! Thanks for this recipe.

[scrimpmster]

So Happy I found this. The other day I was telling my sister how I made pelmeni. She's a vegetarian and was telling me last time she was visiting family in Belarus nowhere seemed to have plain potato Varenyky but a mix of potatoes and mushrooms and she doesn't like mushrooms. Next time she stays over we're going to be making these.

[navyblue]

I'm going to be dreaming of these tonight. 😍

[pjschmid]

We always seal ours by having a little cup of water next to us and dipping our pinky finger at it and running it along the edge to create a really good seal. That way we don’t have to worry about flour getting on the dough The flour mixed with the dab of water on the dough actually helps to make the seal. We’ve never used a pasta machine in fact we don’t use a cutter either we roll each one individually using a rolling pin just like Oma used to do.

[vkiperman]

Real deal! Thanks for the nostalgia, chef!

[davidhalldurham]

Excellent video with very clear instructions!

[stef]

I love your channel, unfortunately I just discovered it
2 weeks ago this is the best cooking channel for me. I lived in the USA for many years, now I live in Poland. My family thinks I make the best pizza but I made them yours exactly like in the movie and we went crazy.
Next thing I'm going to make is stuffed cabbage, yours look great.

I make the stuffing for Russian dumplings in the same way, only I knead the white cheese and potatoes with a fork so that the ingredients are palpable. I learned about it from a professor who worked for many years in Moscow, but I will try yours because they look delicious.
My grandfather gave me a recipe for pierogi dough and it's brilliant, you can freeze it.
Recipe for this cake: flour, 1 egg, 1 yolk, 1 cap of heavy cream 30% fat not less, salt.💯💌🍀🌻
Warm regards

[gb]

I love 💕 you video. You are so easy to listen and follow. My Mother’s side of the family is Polish( so we are like cousins 😃) I have been looking for a recipe for perogi. Thank so much. I can’t wait to try.