Ravioli, dumplings, manti, khinkali, dumplings - these boiled "pies" with various fillings are popular among many peoples. Some even consider them a unique phenomenon of national cuisine. And in Russia and Ukraine, such a dish is called dumplings. They are made with a variety of fillings: with minced meat, like dumplings, with chopped liver and egg, with potatoes, cabbage, hard cheese and feta cheese. Dumplings are also served for dessert. To do this, use a sweet filling - cherries, blueberries, cottage cheese. And there are so-called "lazy dumplings." For them, the filling (mashed potatoes, herbs or cottage cheese) is mixed with the dough. In this case, there is no need for a long molding of products. The dough is cut into pieces (in Western Ukraine lazy dumplings are called “sticks” - “fingers”) and boiled in boiling water, after which it is fried with greaves and onions. Serve a dish with sour cream, melted butter, mushroom sauce. Desserts are watered with condensed milk or honey. Dumplings with cottage cheese are especially loved in Ukraine . A recipe with a photo and a step-by-step process for their preparation will be given in this article.
Ingredients
At home, dishes are dedicated to dumplings with cottage cheese . Recall, for example, the one where the Cossack is ready to give up his girl for "cheese pies." In each region and even the terrain of Ukraine there is a recipe for delicious dumplings with cottage cheese. In the east, they are made large, almost like chebureks, so you can eat two or three. And in the west they are small, with a neat “pigtail” along the edge. Recipes differ in both the method of preparation of the dough and the composition of the filling. But whatever they are, they all have the same product requirements. So what do we need for a dish? Flour should be finely ground. Only this kind gives off a lot of gluten. The dough from it is well molded, holds the filling inside, does not tear and does not unfold during cooking. Cottage cheese should be fat, not very thin and not dry. Before preparing the filling, it should be rubbed through a sieve to break the smallest lumps. There is a dough recipe where the flour is steamed with boiling water, but in most instructions for making dumplings, the water or milk should be very cold. The list of ingredients also includes eggs, salt, in dessert versions - sugar.
Lazy dumplings with cottage cheese: a step by step recipe. Dough
Let's start with the simplest. As we have already mentioned, in the “sticks” the filling is kneaded with the dough. But if you have never made dumplings before, either ordinary or lazy, you need to dwell on this point in more detail. For example, take the recipe for dessert "sticks":
- In a deep bowl we put 450-500 grams of fat and unsalted, always fresh, cottage cheese. Since we make preserves for lazy cooks, we don’t need to pass cheese through a sieve, just knead it slightly with a fork.
- Drive an egg into a bowl, add a little salt.
- Add two tablespoons of sugar. Mix.
- Gradually sift 140 grams of flour into a bowl. Stir with a fork until it becomes difficult to do so.
- Then sprinkle flour on the countertop, spread the dough and begin to knead. It should turn out to be slightly sticky to the hands, a little moist, but very soft and elastic.
The secret of delicious "sticks" lies precisely in the correct consistency of the test. If it is too steep, the dumplings will come out sticky, like unbaked bread. And if it is excessively soft, the products will boil to a jelly state.
How to make and store lazy dumplings
Move on.
From the dough we form a sausage, which we cut into equal cubes. At this stage, you need not be too lazy and hold on the sides of each lazy dumpling with a fork, leaving grooves. The fact is that with a smooth dough, the sauce (butter or sour cream) will slip. But in the grooves he lingers. If you are not going to cook lazy dumplings with cottage cheese right now, the recipe recommends freezing them.
Sprinkle the board with flour, lay out raw products. Sent to the freezer. As soon as the workpieces become hard as stone, transfer them to the bag and store until the right moment.
How to cook "sticks"
If you are going to immediately enjoy delicious lazy dumplings, put a saucepan of water on the fire already when you knead the dough. Add some water, even for the dessert option. When it boils, make the fire a little less. Dip the sticks into the water and cook for about three minutes until they pop up. You should already have a bowl of melted butter ready. Catch fingers with a slotted spoon and transfer them to a greasy environment so that they do not stick together. Traditionally, dessert sticks serve:
- with sour cream and sugar,
- with sour cream and jam,
- with condensed milk,
- with a variety of toppings.
Unsweetened lazy dumplings with cottage cheese recipe recommends to fry in fat with cracklings and onions. This dish is served separately sour cream or mushroom sauce.
Dumpling for dumplings
It is very difficult to determine which of the recipes is classic. Each mistress has her own secrets of the “right” test. Some make it a custard. But most cooks prefer to stick to the recipe for dumplings with cottage cheese, which uses a very cold liquid for kneading. And very many people believe that on milk the base is tastier than on water. We begin by sifting two glasses of fine flour into a deep bowl. We make a depression in the hill. Drive an egg there. Add a pinch of salt.
If you want to serve dumplings for dessert, add another tablespoon of sugar. Also pour a glass of cold milk. We try to place all these ingredients in the “crater” of the flour hill. Now with a fork, we begin to mix the loose ingredient from the edges into the middle. When it becomes difficult to operate the device, we begin to knead with our hands. If the dough is still liquid, add flour. We must achieve a cool consistency. For convenience, you can transfer the kneading process from a bowl to a flour dusted surface. But the dough should remain elastic. Cover it with cling film or a damp towel. Set aside for half an hour.
Stuffing for sweet dumplings with cottage cheese: recipe with photo step by step
It just seems that two ingredients are enough for minced meat - home-made cheese and sugar. To prevent the filling from boiling juice and breaking the dough, the egg is mixed into it. It serves as a “cementing material”, because the protein in boiling water immediately “seizes”.
- Cottage cheese (about 400 grams) must be wiped through a sieve. It is important to achieve a creamy cheese structure.
- Combine the cottage cheese with one egg, add a pinch of salt and four or five tablespoons of sugar. Knead everything thoroughly.
Dessert fillings can be varied at your discretion. Here are some sweet cottage cheese supplement ideas:
- vanilla sugar,
- raisins,
- chopped dried apricots,
- candied fruit,
- grated lemon zest.
If you are going to serve dumplings with cottage cheese as the main dish, recipes recommend mixing with cheese:
- mashed potatoes,
- chopped greens
- spinach,
- mushrooms.
And you can even use salted feta cheese as a filling.
Modeling
This is a very important stage in the preparation of dumplings with cottage cheese. The universal recipe prescribes to unfold the dough, once again knead it with your hands and roll it out on a flour dusted surface. The layer should be quite thin. We take a glass and cut the same circles in the dough with its edges. For each spoon, lay out the filling. We collect scraps of dough, roll it out again, make new circles. Now we proceed to the actual modeling. We take a circle with a stuffing in the left hand. Bend in half. With our right hand we make a usual pinch, as on dumplings. We turn the crescent of the dumpling to ourselves in a circle. We take the upper tip of the nip with two fingers of our right hand, pull it a little to the side, and lay it on top and obliquely. So we go along the entire semicircle until we get a neat “flagellum”. Perhaps the first time it will not be very smooth and beautiful, but then you will get used to it and you will argue. We put ready-made semi-finished products on a board sprinkled with flour.
Cooking products
We proceed to the final stage of cooking. Dumplings, both ordinary and dessert, are boiled in large quantities of water. It should be slightly salted. If you do not know how to cook dumplings with cottage cheese, the recipe will tell you this. When it boils, add a little any vegetable oil to the water. This is necessary so that the products do not stick together and do not stick to the bottom of the pan. Dumplings are cooked very quickly, so you should have a bowl with pieces of soft butter or a spread where you will put the products. So that the pinch does not turn around, and the test bags are not torn, the water should not boil too violently, as in a geyser. But a very small fire is also undesirable. In this case, the workpiece will sink to the bottom and stick to it. How much to cook such products? It all depends on the amount of water, on the size of the workpieces and on the boiling force. It is necessary to focus not on the clock, but on the dumplings themselves. As soon as they come to the surface, catch them with a slotted spoon and transfer them to a dish.
Choux pastry for dumplings on water
The name speaks for itself. The dough is brewed with boiling water, which is why more gluten is extracted from the flour. Therefore, it is superelastic, stretches thinly, molds well and holds the filling reliably. Many chefs prefer to stick to these recipes for homemade dumplings with cottage cheese - on custard dough. It happens with milk and water, with and without eggs. Consider the first recipe. Sift 200 grams of flour into a wide bowl. We put on the fire 250 milliliters of water. When it boils, add 50 ml of vegetable oil and half a teaspoon of salt. Pour the flour with water. Knead with a spoon, and when the mass cools down a little - with your hands. In this case, you need to constantly add flour - another 200 grams. The dough should turn out soft and elastic, like plasticine. If it comes out too cool, put it in a bag for half an hour.
Choux pastry in milk
Here is another interesting recipe for dumplings with cottage cheese. Sift two cups of flour into a large bowl. Mix it with a teaspoon of salt. Boil a glass of milk and immediately pour the flour. Mix so that the lumps disappear. Gradually mix another glass of flour. This balance needs to be added a little bit. Constantly knead with your hands until a smooth, elastic dough is formed. Roll out a ball from it, wrap it in cling film and leave it at room temperature for half an hour. After that, the dough can also be rolled out to begin modeling dumplings. Culinary experts assure that this type of base is not ventilated or dried. And the dough stretches very well and does not break. When used, it can be rolled thin-thin and put more filling.
Egg Choux
So we learned how to make dumplings with cottage cheese. Recipes with photos helped us a lot. As you can see, there is nothing complicated in the preparation of dumplings, and the molding of products will be easier for you each time. And in the end, we will give another recipe. We will break two eggs into the mixer bowl, add a spoon of salt and pour a glass of boiling water. We begin to add flour, using nozzles for kneading the “spiral” dough. When the mass becomes tight, and the mixer will not be able to cope with the task, continue to knead. Then we roll the gingerbread man, wrap it in cling film and put it in the refrigerator for an hour.