Potato dumplings, the recipe of which can be both simple and complex, is a traditional dish of Slavic cuisine. In each family, they are prepared in different ways, but there are special rules thanks to which you can treat your household with real dumplings prepared in accordance with the recipe.
Characteristic features of dumplings
Dumplings, dumplings, sorcerers and pyzy - which names do not exist to define this dish. But all the salt is hidden in the features of its preparation. Potato dumplings, the recipe of which can be the most diverse, are found in many cuisines of the Slavic peoples. So, in some countries these are potato balls, in others - cottage cheese. Dumplings can be with and without filling, served in boiled or fried form.
There are a great many varieties of this dish, but first you should get acquainted with the classic recipe for cooking. It so happened that the traditional Belarusian dish is potato dumplings.
Recipe
Ingredients:
- 10-12 pieces of medium-sized potatoes;
- 2 onions;
- salt and nutmeg to taste.
Cooking method:
- First of all, it is necessary to prepare the main ingredient - the potato is peeled and rubbed on a fine grater.
- After that, squeeze the potato juice. For these purposes, it is better to use pure gauze or dense tissue (so that the potato mass itself does not leak directly).
- The resulting juice is not worth pouring. To prepare a traditional Belarusian dish, you need starch, which is formed in the process of settling the liquid.
- After adding starch to the grated potatoes, salt and nutmeg should be added to the total mass to taste.
- The grated product changes color quickly. To maintain aesthetics, you can add a few drops of lemon juice.
- Then from the resulting dough, small but neat balls are rolled, which subsequently need to be lowered into boiling water.
- You can add a few peas of black pepper and a bay leaf.
- Dumplings do not cook for long - about 30 minutes. Decorated with fresh herbs, they are served at the table with sour cream or cream sauce.
Traditional potato dumplings, the recipe of which was not at all complicated, are ready. In traditional cuisine, they are served with sour cream or doused with fried brisket and onion.
Meat dumplings
To prepare this simple dish you will need the following ingredients:
- 14-16 medium-sized potatoes;
- pork (about 500 g);
- two medium onions;
- 2 eggs;
- 300 g of premium flour;
- salt, pepper and spices to taste.
First of all, you need to cook the ingredients. Of 16 medium-sized potatoes, 4 pieces must be selected, boiled in their uniforms, cooled and peeled. Peel and grate the rest of the potatoes. So that the mass does not darken, you should immediately rub two onions in it or add a few drops of lemon juice.
Then you should free the potato mass from excess fluid - for these purposes, gauze or bandage folded several times is ideal.
Peeled boiled potatoes must be carefully chopped - for this you can use a meat grinder or a blender. Then boiled and raw potatoes are mixed together. Eggs, flour, salt, pepper and spices are added to the mass. You can add a small amount of fresh herbs. The resulting dough is well behind hands and has a uniform consistency.
Cooking the filling and the dumplings themselves
These are the simplest boiled potato dumplings . The recipe is unique in that for the filling you can use not only meat - mushrooms, onions and other components go well with potatoes.
Now you need to prepare the filling for the pork dumplings. To do this, pass the meat through a meat grinder, add chopped onions, salt and pepper to taste to it.
The dough can be rolled out and molded roundly from it or nibbled in small pieces. Spread the potato mass in the palm of your hand, make a small depression and put the stuffing from the minced meat into it, then pinch the edges tightly and form neat balls (for cooking) or tortillas (for frying).
Potato dumplings (the recipe with minced meat is quite simple) can be fried in a pan or boiled. In any case, they should be served with sour cream and fresh herbs.
Potato Dumplings: Recipe for Soup
The aforementioned dumpling preparation method can also be used for this variation of serving. In this case, the dumplings are served with the broth in which they cooked, seasoned with fresh herbs and sour cream.
Cooking soup can also be very diverse. To do this, you can roll small potato balls with and without filling. You can cook soup with dumplings and meatballs, add fresh vegetables and meat bone to the broth. It is worth noting that Belarusian dumplings can be baked in the oven until golden brown.
Cooking Tips
The recipe for potato dumplings with meat is not only stuffed balls. Potato dumplings can be used as a side dish prepared using one of the above methods, and serve meat separately as a main dish.
In order to make the potato dough soft and airy, you can add a small amount of milk to it.
Before adding eggs to the potato mass, it is best to beat them with a little butter.
Even the grandmothers told their granddaughters that the most delicious dumplings are obtained from small balls. But this does not mean that the potato mass should be turned into a large number of peas - to create the optimal size, it is advisable to focus on the plum.
Another little secret
Experienced housewives have long taken up the recipe for raw potato dumplings and create culinary masterpieces based on it that deserve special attention. So, to treat your family members with an incredibly tasty and satisfying dinner, you can cook the most ordinary dumplings in a very unusual way.
First you need to roll neat balls from the dough, the recipe of which was described just above. You can do it with or without filling. Then, the potato balls are gently dipped in boiling slightly salted water with the addition of ground pepper and bay leaf. It is important not to overdo it with the number of balls - if there are too many of them, the dumplings can stick together.
Having cooked them for about 30 minutes, you can get the dumplings and put them in a colander (so that the glass has excess liquid). After this, boiled lumps must be fried in butter. You can add a small amount of olive. Grandma’s secret: it’s best to fry dumplings one thing at a time, carefully turning each one until golden. So incredibly tasty dumplings are obtained, which can be served to the table, seasoned with sour cream or any other sauce.