Russian Cuisine: Vareniki

Russians love making and eating vareniki – a kind of stuffed dumplings. When vareniki are being made collectively (by friends or members of the family, especially together with kids), it is so much fun to make and eat them!

Vareniki. Recipe

Ingredients for the dough: 500 gr flour, 1 egg, 2/3 glass of water, 1 teaspoon salt.

You can also use milk instead of water and add 2 teaspoon sugar for the vareniki with sweet stuffing.

Kinds of stuffing:

• Potatoes with onion (you can also add mushrooms);
• Sweet cottage cheese
• Cherry or strawberry with sugar
• Minced meat with onion
• Kraut with an egg

How to make vareniki:

Preparation of the dough:

Pour sifted flour on a large hardboard, make a hollow in the middle, beat an egg into it, pour warm water, salt and knead stiff dough.

Cover it with a napkin or a lid and leave it for 30-40 minutes.

Preparation of the stuffing:

Boil 8 potatoes in salted water.

Fry 2 chopped onions.

Mash the potatoes, mix them with the onion and add 1 egg.

Making vareniki:

Roll out the dough in a thin layer.

With a thin (wine) glass cut out circles. (Then I roll out each of the circles a little bit.)

Put the stuffing onto one half of the circle, cover it with the other side and pinch the edges together.

A proper varenik should look like this:

Boil vareniki in salted water. Serve warm with sour cream (and melted butter).

Vareniki can be also used for fortune-telling:

Despite Christianity being an “official” religion in Russia, Russians have always been a little bit pagan. The tradition of fortune-telling is still popular. One of the ways for fortune-telling is “through vareniki”. The things you’ll find in the stuffing will tell you about your future:

• pieces of tomato – for love
• coins – for money/wealth
• bay leaf – for job and fame
• a ring – for wedding
• a thread – for traveling

Anastasia and Natalie

Illustrations to the Article

photos by the authors of the “Parents’ Ideas”