Vegemite pierogi?

Just in case you thought our kitchen was exclusively French...

The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale.

The challenge was to give a local flavour to pierogis made from scratch. I took inspiration from the very popular Asian dumplings which have probably been my only preganancy craving and made pork and shallot dumplings. Oh and instead of soy sauce, I used Vegemite to add salt to my pork seasoning. To make them more pierogi-like I cooked the meat filling first (ordinarily I would experiment and allow the boiling process to do this)

Russian style pierogi (makes 4 generous servings, around 30 dumplings)

(Traditional Polish recipe, although each family will have their own version, this is Anula's family recipe)

Dough:

2 to 2 1/2 cups (300 to 375 g) all-purpose (plain) flour

1 large egg

1 teaspoon (5 ml) salt

About 1 cup (250 ml) lukewarm water

Australian style pork filling

400 gm minced pork

2 shallots chopped coarsely

2 tab japanese rice wine

1-2 teaspoons vegemite

2 tab mashed ginger

2 tab mashed garlic

1-2 birds eye chillis, sliced

1. Mix ginger and garlic in mortar and pestle, add rice wine and vegemite to taste. Stir in chilli and shallots. Cook minced pork over moderate heat until just cooked, stir in all other ingredients. Use a dessert spoon full for each pierogi.

2. Place 2 cups flour in a large bowl or on a work surface and make a well in the center. Break the egg into it, add the salt and a little lukewarm at a time (in my situation 1/2 cup was enough). Bring the dough together, kneading well and adding more flour or water as necessary. Cover the dough with a bowl or towel. You’re aiming for soft dough. Let it rest 20 minutes.

3. On a floured work surface, roll the dough out thinly (1/8” or about 3 millimeters) cut with a 2-inch (5 cm) round or glass (personally I used 4-inch/10 cm cutter as it makes nice size pierogi - this way I got around 30 of them and 1 full, heaped teaspoon of filling is perfect for that size). Spoon a portion (teaspoon will be the best) of the filling into the middle of each circle. Fold dough in half and pinch edges together. Gather scraps, re-roll and fill. Repeat with remaining dough.

4. Bring a large, low saucepan of salted water to boil. Drop in the pierogi, not too many, only single layer in the pan! Return to the boil and reduce heat. When the pierogi rise to the surface, continue to simmer a few minutes more ( usually about 5 minutes). Remove one dumpling with a slotted spoon and taste if ready. When satisfied, remove remaining pierogi from the water.

5. Serve with a soy sauce, lime juice and brown sugar dipping sauce. Cold pierogi can be fried. Boiled Russian pierogi can be easily frozen and boiled taken out straight from the freezer.