Lithuanian Cepelins - a national dish, as you can easily guess, Lithuania. They are also sometimes called dumplings or potato dumplings. This dish is very satisfying, therefore it enjoys special popularity in the cold season. When the windows freeze and blizzard, it is so nice to eat hot zeppelins, dipping them in sour cream ... To try them, you do not have to go to the Baltic states, you can also find them on the menu in domestic restaurants. And you can even please your loved ones and cook at home zeppelins. The recipe that we offer you is composed of several different methods of their preparation and is one of the most optimal.
So, you need to take the following products:
- several large potatoes, peeled and grated;
- several large potatoes, peeled, boiled and mashed in mashed potatoes;
- one large peeled onion, grated or chopped with a blender;
- half a teaspoon of salt.
For the filling, take:
- a pound of pork;
- one onion;
- salt and pepper;
- egg.
For the sauce we use:
- diced bacon;
- chopped onion;
- a tablespoon of starch;
- ground black pepper.
Cooking zeppelins usually takes a lot of time, so be prepared for this process. So, let's get started: we make minced meat from pork using a meat grinder or a powerful blender, add spices, onions, hammer an egg, knead it and put it in the refrigerator for a while. Add a few drops of lemon juice to raw grated potatoes so that Lithuanian zeppelins do not darken during cooking. Then put the grated potatoes in cheesecloth and carefully squeeze the juice into a bowl. You can make a "pear" and at the end beat it off on a table or cutting board. It’s better to put potatoes in gauze in parts, so it will be more effective. Drain the potato juice , starch will remain at the bottom of the bowl, which must be added to the dough. Mix the squeezed potatoes with the resulting starch, boiled and grated potatoes, grated onions and salt, mix well.
Now is the time to put a large pot of water on the fire, and Lithuanian zeppelins will cook in it. Now we roll out the potato dough on the table, the layer should be half a centimeter thick, with the help of a cup we cut circles, which we then straighten in the palm of your hand. In each such circle we put a little mincemeat and with the help of a hand moistened in water we pinch the edges, forming a zeppelin, as it should be denser and smooth out irregularities.
Carefully lower the finished zeppelins into boiling salt water, add a spoonful of starch there to protect the dumplings from decay, and cook for about 45 minutes. In the process of cooking zeppelin, you need to carefully turn it a couple of times so that they boil completely. After the time has passed, carefully drain the water, put the finished products on a plate. In the meantime, zeppelins are cooked, you can do the sauce: fry the bacon and onions, chopped into small cubes, add sour cream and black pepper to it, and boil a little. With him, Lithuanian zeppelins will be exactly what they should be: beautiful in appearance, juicy and very tasty.