Varenyky

As tradition built it

In the pot for 5 to 7 minutes.

Ingredients

For the dough

• 400 to 500 g flour
• 200 to 300 ml hot water
• 1/2 tsp salt

For the filling

• 1 tsp per dumpling potato and cottage cheese, for a savoury filling
• 1 tsp per dumpling sour cherry, for a sweet version

To serve

• to taste melted butter
• to taste fried onion
• to taste soured cream

Method

1. Mix the flour, hot water and salt into a dough, or for a softer alternative use a kefir-and-bicarbonate-of-soda dough, needing 20 to 30 minutes' rest before rolling.
2. Roll the dough thin and cut it into circles.
3. Fill each circle with a teaspoon of potato and cottage cheese, or sour cherry for a sweet version.
4. Seal each dumpling by hand.
5. Boil five to seven minutes.
6. Serve with melted butter, fried onion or soured cream.

What a modern chef changes

A vacuum-rested dough, a smoked-salo filling and a pan-seared finish

Rung 4

Method

1. Rest the dough under vacuum for at least an hour rather than a simple bench rest, relaxing the gluten far more evenly so it rolls thinner without tearing.
2. Fill half the batch with a potato-and-smoked-salo purée, the salo cold-smoked per rung four before blending, giving a filling with real depth rather than plain mash.
3. Finish by pan-searing the boiled dumplings briefly in the salo's own rendered fat for a lightly crisped skin.
4. Serve with a quick soured-cherry gastrique built from the sweet filling's own fruit, sharpened with a little of the varenyky cooking water, rather than a plain dusting of sugar.