Piroshki

Title:
Piroshki

Yield:
4 Servings

Categories:
Russian,
Dumplings,
Soups




Ingredients:




-----------------------------------DOUGH-----------------------------------


 2 1/2 ts Dried yeast


          Pinch sugar


     5 tb Warm water


 2 1/2 oz Butter


     1 lb Flour


          Pinch salt


     8 tb Milk


     2    Eggs





--------------------------------MEAT
FILLING--------------------------------


     1    Medium onion


     1 tb Oil or butter


     8 oz Minced beef / veal / chicken


          Seasoning:  salt, pepper,


          -nutmeg, chopped herbs to


          -taste


          Optional:  2 T beef suet or


          -jellied stock, chopped


          -hard-boiled egg


     1    Egg for binding



------------------------------MUSHROOM
FILLING------------------------------


     1 lb Fresh mushrooms


          Butter for saute'ing


          Chopped herbs to taste


     1    Chopped hard-boiled egg


          Sour cream to bind



-----------------------------BUCKWHEAT
FILLING-----------------------------


     8 oz Kasha (buckwheat groats)


     1    Medium onion


   1/4 lb Fresh mushrooms


     1    Hard-boiled egg





 FOR THE DOUGH: Dissolve the yeast and a pinch of sugar in the warm water.


 Sprinkle in a teaspoon of flour and leave for 15 minutes in a warm place.


 Pour into a bowl, mix in the softened butter, sifted flour and salt, the


 milk and the beaten eggs, and knead into a smooth dough. Leave to rise


 until it has doubled in volume. Knead again and roll out. Cut out in small


 circles:  you will be folding these in half to enclose the filling in a


 semi-circle or canoe shape.  Brush the inner edges with a little milk to


 help them seal firmly. Then either brush the piroshki with egg and bake in


 a moderate to hot oven for about 10 minutes, until golden brown: or fry


 them, uncoated, in deep fat. FOR THE MEAT FILLING: Lightly fry the onion in


 the oil or butter, add the meat and cook for 5 minutes. Combine in a bowl


 with the seasoning and herbs and allow to cool. Pirozhki often come out


 rather dry  because of the small quantities of filling which cannot, as


 with a pie, be moistened by the last-minute addition of stock. Both suet


 and frozen stock in little chips have been recommended to me by


 conscientious Russian pastry cooks to cure this fault. My objections are


 that suet makes the pirozhki undesireably fatty, while the chipped stock


 needs forethought and a sledgehammer, both of which go missing when I am in


 a hurry.  A better solution, I think, is to use stock either naturally or


 artificially jellied with gelatine.  Add 2 teaspoons, finely chopped, to


 the mixture when it is absolutely cold from the refrigerator, bind with egg


 and use immediately. FOR THE MUSHROOM FILLING: Chop the fresh mushrooms


 into quarters and cook gently in butter with finely chopped herbs for 15


 minutes.  Season, add a little chopped onion, chopped hardboiled egg or


 rice or both, and enough sour cream to make a fairly moist filling. FOR THE


 BUCKWHEAT FILLING: Cook the kasha in salted water for about 15 minutes


 until soft but not mushy. Drain well and combine with chopped hard-boiled


 egg, chopped fried onions, and chopped mushrooms saute'ed in butter. Add


 seasoning and herbs to taste. Allow the mixture to cool thoroughly in the


 refrigerator and add little pieces of very cold butter. Use immediately.


 ...These are basic traditional fillings, but there is plenty of scope for


 invention along non-Russian lines;  for example, egg and mushroom filling,


 moistened with butter....


 


 From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini