Vareniki with Tvorog or Cottage Cheese – Recipe from my Grandma
This is another nostalgic recipe for me: vareniki. Think dumplings filled with cottage cheese from the Ukraine. You may serve these as a savory main dish, but you may also serve them sweet, traditionally filled with sour cherries. I was used to a rather hybrid version, we would eat them with tvorog or cottage cheese and served it with a sour cream sauce we knew as “shmargus”. Since everything was seasoned with salt and pepper, you may think of this as a savory dish. But it is also possible to serve with sugar sprinkled on top and some additional sour cream. As you can see on the last picture, my grandma actually passed on a recipe. This comes as a huge surprise as she normally did not write down any recipes she would make regularly. She knew them off by heart and thus did not see the need to document. So I am beyond grateful that she took the time to write down ingredients and amounts. Mind you, no instructions other than a list of ingredients, but at least this is a starting point. Since it is only the two of us, I halved the recipe, I have learned the hard way that my grandma always wrote down large amounts to feed a crowd. But at least there is something documented.
So I took the ingredients list for the dough and worked from there. I have had my share of dumplings I have made. Obviously, I have had my hand at empanadas. From Slavic countries I have tried Russian pelmeni and Polish pierogi, so I had an idea what to do. The filling is pretty straight forward, you will mix tvorog, egg, salt and pepper and that’s it. Since we live close to a Ukrainian shop, I managed to get proper tvorog, here in Germany Lidl and Aldi sell tvorog (named “cottage cheese”), usually from the brand Dovgan. Back in the days when my grandmother lived with us in Germany, she complained that German quark contained more liquid and had to be drained in order to produce anything similar. So she would get cottage cheese and quark and first drain both properly before using.
You will often find recipes with a potato and onion filling. However, my family only served the version with cottage cheese. I only remember one time that we were gifted a large amount of sour cherries, so everybody was busy making jam, compote, and vareniki. The same dough was used as the basis, but you would add about two to three destoned cherries to each vareniki and sweeten them with a bit of brown sugar. Then you would serve them with sour cream and sprinkle with some more sugar. As stated, I only remember eating them sweet once, we would have the cottage cheese version all the time. My grandma would invite a friend or two and they would take the whole morning to make vaerniki while happily chatting. A few batches would be frozen and one batch served fresh. I am sure that my mom was relieved she could consult the freezer in order to serve us nice dinner and didn’t have to make the vareniki herself.
Vareniki – Ukrainian Dumplings
Serves: For about 3 servings
Prep time: 1 hr 30 min – Cooking time: 15bmin – Total time: 1 hr 45 min
Vareniki – these dumplings come from Ukraine are filled with farmer’s cheese and can be either made savory or sweet. You can also fill them with berries or fruit.
Ingredients:
- Dough
- 125 grams of boiling water
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 375 grams of all-purpose flour
- 40 grams of neutral oil
- 1 egg
- Filling
- 300 grams of cottage cheese (preferably tvorog)
- 1 egg
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Sour Cream Sauce (we called it “shmorges”)
- 20 grams of butter
- 1 tablespoon of flour
- 100 grams of heavy cream
- 100 grams of sour cream
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In this reel you see how I make them. For the dough mix the salt with the boiling water, then weigh the flour into a large bowl. Add the boiling water and mix with a wooden spoon. Whisk together the oil with the egg and add to the mix. Stir with the spoon until cool enough to work with your hands. The dough will first be crumbly, but should come together soon. Once you have a ball, knead for at least five minutes. Yes, I do put a timer. Once the dough is ready, an indented fingerprint should spring back, the dough should be soft and elastic. Cover airtight and let sit for at least half an hour or longer at room temperature.
2. For the filling mix all ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
3. Dvide the dough into four equal parts. I usually manage to roll it out without any additional flour. If needed, only flour lightly. Roll out thinnly (1mm). Then using a glass or breakfast bowl, cut out circles, mine were on the small side (7cm), I would recommend bigger circles (10-13cm). Place 1-3 teaspoons of filling onto each circle, wet your finger with water and wet the edges of all circles, then fold over half so that you get half moons. Press down edges with your fingers, then seal the edges additionally with a fork. Roll out dough, cut out circles and fill and seal until all dough and filling is gone. I would recommend keeping prepared vareniki on parchment paper. They shouldn’t sit for too long as they will be sticky. If not immediately using, place loose on parchment paper into freezer for about an hour, then transfer to an airtight platic bag and freeze fully.
4. Bring ng water in a large pot to a boil, salt. Place as many vareniki inside until they cover the bottom of your pot, you don’t want to overcrowd your pan. Let them boil on medium until the float on the top, this takes between 5-7 minutes, depending on their size. Sometimes they get stuck at the bottom, gently release so that they can float as the others. Cook for another minutes. Then take out water, drain and serve immediately.
5. For the sauce melt butter and flour in a frying pan, while stirring, add the cream and cook on medium for a few minutes until it thickens. Then add the sour cream last. Stir and add salt and pepper to taste.
6. If you want to, you can also briefly fry the vareniki in some butter once they are cooked, this is my favorite way of eating them, but that is optional. Serve with a lof of the sauce. Enjoy.
