One of the most popular summer desserts are currant dumplings, which have an unrivaled taste. But don’t be upset if the summer has already passed and it is difficult to find fresh currants. This dish can always be made from frozen berries; it is sold in all supermarkets of the country. However, before cooking dumplings, you should pay attention to some cooking secrets.
Dumpling dumplings with currants
Please note that in this case the simplest dough is prepared, without adding soda, kefir and other ingredients. To make it on 4 servings of dumplings, you should take the following products:
- flour - 500 g;
- water - 100 g (the amount of water can vary up and down, it all depends on the quality of the flour);
- salt - ½ tsp;
- sugar - 1 tbsp. l
Kneading the dough occurs in the standard way: practically all the flour should be poured into the bowl (a little must be left if the dough turns out too liquid), salt, sugar and cold water. The dough should be kneaded for at least 10 minutes, then it will turn out soft and elastic. To make it easier to work with the product, it should be wrapped with cling film and put in a cool place for 30 minutes. If there is no cling film on hand, you can use a regular plastic bag.
Quite often, housewives use hot water to knead dumplings. But in this case it is necessary to use only cold water, due to the large amount of currant juice released during cooking, the dough can become sticky and unpleasant in taste.
Fresh currant dumplings recipe
The classic recipe for this dish is quite simple and does not require great cooking skills. For 4 servings of dumplings, the following ingredients should be taken:
- fresh blackcurrant - 200 g;
- sugar - 80 g;
- butter - 30 g;
- sour cream.
After the dough is ready, you should take half of the total mass (if cooking took place in 4 servings) and roll it out with a thickness of 0.3 mm. Then cut the circles, you can do this with any round tin or, for example, a cup. The diameter of the circle should be 3-4 centimeters.
After that, on each lace, you need to put a few berries of currants and sprinkle them with a little sugar on top. Then you need to fold the circle in half and pinch the edges well. This procedure is very important in the process of making dumplings, because if the edges are fastened poorly, then when cooking the mold will be lost and the berries will simply disperse in the pan.
When the dumplings are formed, proceed to cooking. Throw them only in boiling, slightly salted water. You should not worry that salt is added to the sweet dish, because it will fully reveal the taste. Cook the dumplings for about 5-6 minutes.
Checking the readiness of the dish is quite easy: when you press the dough with your finger it should be soft, but at the same time keep the shape, if digested, the shape of the dough will be loose and tear from the slightest touch. If the dumplings are ready, they should be pulled out, but first it is recommended to put them on a dry and clean board so that they get rid of excess water, and only then put them on a plate. From above it is necessary to add a piece of butter and pour the desired amount of sour cream.
As for the frozen berries, in this case the same recipes. From currants, which have already been frozen, you can cook exactly the same dumplings as fresh ones.
Steamed Dumplings
The recipe for steamed dumplings with currants is significantly different from the classic. In this case, kefir and soda are already used, they are necessary to improve taste. So, to prepare 5 servings of steam dumplings you will need:
- flour - 750 g;
- soda - 1 tsp;
- kefir - 500 g;
- sugar - 100 g;
- salt;
- currant - 300 g.
The principle of kneading dough is very similar to the previous method, however, if you can use combines for kneading dough for a regular dough, then in this case they are not recommended. Soda and kefir with manual kneading will make the dough more delicious and more elastic after cooking, it is quite difficult and almost impossible to achieve such an effect with a machine. After kneading, the finished product should also be wrapped in cling film and set aside for 30 minutes.
In order not to repeat ourselves, let’s say this: all subsequent actions completely coincide with the previous recipe. In this case, all the useful substances do not come out of the currant, therefore steam dumplings are more useful. Boil them in a double boiler for 7-8 minutes. If a double boiler is not available, then you can use a slow cooker. After that, put the dumplings on a plate and season with butter and sour cream.
Different variations
Currant is a berry that combines well with other types of products, if you experiment a little, you can get completely new and unusual tastes. All the following recipes are indicated in 5 servings, the type of test will depend directly on the type of heat treatment.
Currant and cottage cheese
This combination is simply amazing and quite unusual. For the filling, you should take the following ingredients:
- cottage cheese - 500 g;
- currant - 150 g;
- egg - 1 pc.;
- sugar - 150 g;
- honey - 30 g.
To prepare the filling, the cottage cheese must be mixed with an egg and sugar and honey with a fork, to simplify the procedure, you can use a blender, it will mix all the ingredients more thoroughly. After that, currants must be thrown into the curd mass and mix gently again, but so that the berries are intact. Now the filling is ready and you should proceed to the standard procedures for the formation and heat treatment.
Currant and Cherry
This recipe for currant dumplings includes the following ingredients:
- currant - 250 g;
- cherry - 250 g;
- sugar.
Each dumpling must be stuffed in equal proportions with these two ingredients and sprinkled with sugar, its amount is not indicated exactly, since each degree of sweetness is determined independently.
Some cooking secrets
For improved elasticity of the dough, it is recommended to add a few drops of vegetable oil. So that when rolling the dough does not stick to the table and rolling pin, they should be sprinkled with a small amount of flour.
During sculpting, the edges of the dumpling with currants can be lubricated with water or protein, in which case they will be held together much more reliably. The edges are recommended to be made a little thinner than the rest of the dough, so the dumplings will cook at the same time. In this case, it is desirable to additionally fasten the edges in the form of a small flagellum, thanks to which the juice from the currant will definitely not flow out.
The readiness of dumplings can be determined not only by clicking on the dough. A sign that they need to be removed already, is their emergence. This means that when the dough is raw, the dumplings lie below, and when it is ready, they float to the surface.