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Vareniki with Cherries

Type: Desserts
Servings: 6
Ready in: 1,5 hours
Calories: Middle
If you've read 'Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka' by Russian classical writer Nikolai Gogol, you surely remember how adroitly one of the characters ate vareniki with sour cream that flew into his mouth by themselves. Of course, traditional Ukrainian vareniki don't have such super skills, but their taste is sure to make you think of the Ukrainian cuisine's magic.
Ukrainian vareniki are often compared to Russian pelmeni or Italian ravioli. Vareniki's crucial difference from other similar dishes is their dough. Traditional Ukrainian vareniki can't be Lenten, that is, kefir and eggs are always added to the dough.
What are vareniki like? Nikolai Gogol wrote that you could eat hat-sized vareniki at some farms. That's, of course, an exaggeration. The classical varenik is around 10 cm large and, contrary to pelmeni or ravioli, has a crescent shape.
Vareniki's filling can be very different: potato, cabbage, potato and meat, potato and salo (pork meat), sweet or salted curd, pumpkin, cherries and so on. The filling is warped up in dough and cooked for five minutes or less. Vareniki are usually served with sour cream.
Although it's truly Ukrainian dish, vareniki are well-known all over the world. People in different corners of the world took liking of vereniki's unusual and rich taste and installed monuments to varenik. In particular, Ukrainian varenik was immortalized in Canada and Russia.

Ingredients

Flour 1 glass
Water 0.5 glass
Vegetable oil 1.5 tbsp
Salt pinchs
Cherries (fresh/chilled) 250 g
Sugar 3 tbsp

 

Stages of cooking

1
Sieve the flour in the bowl. Make a well and pour warm water in here; then add the butter, a pinch of salt and make stiff but elastic dough.
2
Roll the dough in plastic wrap and set aside for 1 hr.
3
Wash and deseed the cherries. Then add the sugar so the cherries will give some juice. Pour off the juice and set aside; dust the cherries with flour and stir a little.
4
Then roll out a thin big tablet and shape 5x6 cm circles with a glass. Put the cherries in the middle and shape crescent-shaped dumplings.
5
Simmer the dumplings for 3-5 mins in salted water. Take them out and place in the bowl.
6
Serve with sour cream and prepared sweet juice.

 

 

 

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