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The Dumpling 100 · make it at home

Pelmeni with sour cream and dill

1 hr 15 min · About 80 small, 4 people

Small, thin-skinned meat dumplings from the north, made by the hundred and kept frozen for winter. Boiled in stock, then eaten with butter, sour cream and dill.

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The real one

You need

• For the dough: 400 g (3 1/4 cups) all-purpose flour
• 1 egg
• 180 ml (3/4 cup) water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp neutral oil
• For the filling: 250 g (1/2 lb) ground beef
• 250 g (1/2 lb) ground pork
• 1 onion, grated
• 1 garlic clove, grated
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 60 ml (1/4 cup) cold water
• To cook: 2 liters (8 cups) beef or chicken stock (or salted water), 2 bay leaves, 6 peppercorns
• To serve: 2 tbsp butter, sour cream, chopped dill, a splash of white vinegar if you like

How to make it

1. Make the dough (10 min, plus 30 min rest): Mix flour and salt, add the egg, water and oil and knead 8 minutes until smooth and elastic. Cover and rest.
2. Make the filling (5 min): Mix the meats with onion, garlic, salt and pepper, then work in the cold water until absorbed.
3. Roll and cut (15 min): Roll half the dough to 1.5 mm thick. Cut 5 cm (2 in) circles with a glass.
4. Fill and shape (30 min): Put a scant teaspoon of filling on each circle, fold into a half-moon, pinch shut, then bring the two corners together and pinch so it looks like a small ear. Repeat.
5. Cook (6 min): Bring the stock to a boil with bay and peppercorns. Boil the pelmeni in batches 5 to 6 minutes, about 3 minutes after they float.
6. Serve: Toss with butter and serve with sour cream and dill, or in a bowl with some of the stock.

Tips

• Freeze on floured trays, then bag: they cook from frozen in 7 to 8 minutes.
• A pelmenitsa (honeycomb mold) makes 37 at a time if you get hooked.

Chef Amazing's own home version of pelmeni, in our words; not any restaurant's recipe.