Heather Hagwell

I've taken what I've learned from hands on experience with Russians + Russian recipes online and came up with "my" said Russian Pel'meni recipe.

Makes 2 gallon ziplock bags full

Dough:

4c cool boiled water (boil water, let it come to room temperature I recommend doing this the night prior)

4 eggs

1tbsp vegetable oil

9 cups of flour (possibly more, the dough will not be sticky)

Mix ingredients in a stand mixer or by hand, cover with towel.

Filling:

16oz ground beef

16oz ground pork (sausage)

1tbsp Vegeta Seasoning (http://www.vegeta.com/where-to-buy)

1 large yellow onion

1.5 c whole milk

1tsp pepper

1tsp salt

In blender/food processor combine onion and milk until liquid (it will look somewhat like applesauce, that's okay)

Combine mixture with remaining ingredients in a bowl.

Prepare a work space with floured surface and rolling pin. Have 2 cookie sheets ready (if they fit in your freezer, otherwise find another flat, freezeable surface). Keep flour available because you will need more as you roll.

There are two ways to do the dough. I suggest the second way if you haven't ever made Pel'meni and have no one to show you how.

1: Tear quarter sized balls of dough one at a time and roll them out to form about a 1.5-2in circle. The dough should be thin, but not see thru. Take 1.5tsp measure of meat and put it in the center. Fold the dough in half around the meat, to make a half circle. Press edges together to seal completely, be sure NO meat or juices are touching the edge of the dough or it won't seal. Then take the 2 "ends" and squeeze them together by the flat side of the half circle. I'm sure you can google pelmeni folding and find photographs if I'm not making sense to you. You may have no unsealed edges, and no holes in the dough, or it will fall apart when cooking. Put your finished Pel'meni on the tray making sure they dont touch, and repeat. When your tray is full, freeze it for about an hour - 2 hours, you'll know they're frozen when they are no longer sticky and feel hard as a rock. Then you can put them in a ziplock bag and keep them in the freezer as you continue the process. If they are not fully frozen when you place them in the ziploc bag, they will stick together and break in cooking process.

2: Roll out about 1/4 of the dough to thin, but not see thru, thickness. Take a 2" circle cookie cutter and cut as many circles as possible. Keep the dough covered as you fill the Pel'meni like I described above. This gives you the 'perfect' shape every time.

Be sure to shake off all access flour from the dough!

This will take hours, I recommend asking someone to help you or you will be in the kitchen 6 hours or more.

When you're ready to cook them, take only what you need from the freezer, 6-8 pieces per person is sufficient, if you're having guests 10-15 pieces is nice for serving. They're filling, just like dumplings!

Boil water on the stove top, when it's full boil, bring it down to just over medium so it boils softly and doesnt break your Pel'meni. Boil until they are all floating, then boil for one more minute. This usually takes no more than 7 minutes total so be sure to watch!

Some people like theirs served in "broth" which is the water you boiled them in, and some people like it without! Add a spoonful of sour cream on top of each bowl of Pel'meni (or go without), this is especially good if you are serving it with the broth.