# Ukrainian Varenyky
Varenyky are traditional Ukrainian dumplings with a variety of fillings from sweet like cherries to sour like Sauerkraut. Each Ukrainian host has an own recipe of varenyky, but the cooking method stays the same: wrapping unleavened dough around the filling. Even Nikolai Gogol wrote about the dish, carrying a useful tip throughout the centuries: don’t forget to serve sour cream and dip varenyky in it before eating.
# Ingredients
For dough:
- 1 glass of kefir
- 5 glasses of wheat flour
- 0.5 tsp. of baking soda
- 1 pinch of salt
For the filling:
- 8 potatoes
- 2 onions
- 3 tbsp. sunflower oil
- 10 g butter
- 1 pinch of salt
- 0.5 tsp. black ground pepper
# Tools
- Saucepan
- Frying pan
- Knife
- Spatula
- Potato presser or stick mixer
- Rolling pin
# Method
- Wash and peel the potatoes, wash once again. Cut in large pieces. Put the potatoes in a saucepan and pour it with cold water, add salt and put on medium heat. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat and cook until ready for about 25 minutes.
- Peel the onion and cut in cubes. Preheat the frying pan with vegetable oil and fry the onion on medium heat until golden for about 5 minutes, occasionally stirring with a spatula.
- Drain the water from boiled potatoes. Add butter, a third part of the fried onions and blend the potatoes. Add salt, pepper to taste and mix thoroughly with a spoon. Put the filling in a plate and leave to cool off.
- Pour kefir and soda into a separate bowl, add salt and mix thoroughly. Then add the flour by half a glass each time, carefully mixing with a spoon. Spread the dough on the processing board for kneading and knead until homogeneous. It shouldn't stick to hands.
- Cut off a 2cm dough strip and cut it into cubes on the processing board. Mash the cubes in flour on both sides and roll out with a rolling pin.
- Put the potato filling in the middle of the circle of dough and pinch the edges. Put dumplings on a processing board sprinkled with flour, so that they do not stick to the surface. The dough is enough for about 25 varenyky. You can freeze dumplings in a freezer and cook them later.
- Pour cold water in a saucepan, salt to taste and boil on high heat. Put the dumplings in boiling water, moving them with a spatula so that they do not stick to the bottom of the pan. Leave to cook on medium heat. Remove the heat in 2-3 minutes after the dumplings pop up on the surface. Dry the water, put varenyky in a bowl. Mix with the rest of the fried onion. Serve hot with sour cream.
# Tips
There's hardly a more iconic Ukrainian dish than varenyky with potatoes. The most important part of the recipe is preparing the dough. Don't worry if varenyky don't come out picture-perfect at the first attempt - usually, it takes years of practice. Make sure kefir is room temperature before following the recipe.
# Author
Liuba Kuibida