Sour Cherry Dumplings (Vareniki) We are so happy to share this delicious dish on HOB. This is one of my personal favourite dishes since childhood, very traditional Russian homemade cherry dumplings (vareniki).This isn't a complicated dish to cook but still every family has their own way of making it. This recipe is my grandmother’s, now my mother masters it. This is usually a summer plate because of the accessible fresh sour cherries that we have from fruit farms. So here it is, firstly hand-picked, de-seeded and finally preparing it for breakfast or even an afternoon snack that I love to have!
Dough 1 egg 1 pinch of salt 1 glass of water 2 cups Plain flour - (until you are able to knead it)
Filling 1kg Sour Cherry (fresh recommended) – De-seed White or brown caster sugar (1 tsp per dumpling) Method: Firstly prepare the dough; simply mix all the ingredients together keep adding flour until you are able to knead the dough on a flat surface. The dough doesn’t require to rest, you can get into it right away. Prepare the filling, deseed the sour cherry if it is available to you, if not, pitted cherries are also possible (it has to be sour). Roll the dough into ‘sausage’ shape, cut it into small pieces and flatten into 10 cm diameter circles and thickness of 2 cm (not to thick). Once the casings are prepared, spoon 1 full tbsp. of cherry with 1 tsp of sugar sprinkled on top. Fold the casings in half, creating half-moon shape, pinch the dough together making sure the juice will not sip out. Once the desired number has been made, fill the saucepan with approximate 2L of water to boil, add in 1 tbsp. sugar and pinch of salt (make sure the water is semi-sweet). Once the water is boiled, throw in the dumplings one by one, leaving it to boil for 3-4 min. Take them out and lay flat on a platter so it doesn't stick together. Serve hot or even better when it’s cold.
