TanyaHow did we spend quality time as a family in Siberia? We read books aloud, played musical instruments and sang together, and… made pelmeni.
It was a popular group activity during those long, cold winter nights. Every family member had their role – some made long dough ropes, while others sliced the dough, some rolled the dough slices into circles, while others stuffed the meat into shells making the actual pelmeni. My grandma was watching everybody’s work and, at one point, my Dad was disqualified from his participation because his fingers were too long. And, according to my grandma, while it was good for piano playing, it was bad for proper sealing of the pelmeni shell.
“Seal tight so that the shell holds the meat while boiling”, grandma kept repeating her mantra and we obeyed.
This tradition continued through generations. I learned the art of making pelmeni from my grandmother, my mom did the pelmeni session with my children, and now I teach my grandchildren how to knead and roll the dough and dress the ground meat in little coats.
It’s a wonderful way to spend time together, and chat, and then eat pelmeni together, dipping them in homemade sauce.
The word pelmeni is reportedly derived from pel’n’an’ (пельнянь) — literally “ear bread” in the native Finno-Ugric Komi and Udmurt languages. It is unclear when pelmeni entered the cuisines of the indigenous Siberian people and when they first appeared in Russian cuisine. One theory suggests pelmeni, or stuffed boiled dumplings in general, originated in Siberia, as a simplified adaptation of the Chinese Wonton. Another theory suggests that pelmeni were carried by the Mongols to Siberia, from where they gradually spread as far as Eastern Europe.
Whatever the origin of pelmeni may be, my knowledge of pelmeni and my cooking inspiration comes from my grandma’s kitchen where she took her cooking business seriously.
Pelmeni preparation is time consuming, but once you made them and froze them, you can quickly use them for dinner by just boiling them with spices. There is no need to unfreeze them before boiling. That’s very convenient and that’s why the Siberian hunters carried them around as a quick and nutritious food easily cooked on the way. It’s a remarkable means of preserving meat during the long winter months.
My grandma used to freeze pelmeni outside the window in a special box, then place them in bags made of cloth and keep them in the eternal snow of the Siberian winter until needed.
I always keep homemade pelmeni in my freezer and use them for a quick and delicious dinner.
The dough recipe is very simple. It just requires some kneading, which once proved to be the best physical therapy for my fractured and healing wrist.
For elastic dough, I whisk two eggs with a sprinkle of salt. I don’t discard eggshells. I use them to measure the amount of water and milk – that’s how my grandma taught me. So, I add two half eggshells of milk and the same amount of water. Then I add four cups of flour, mix until it becomes homogeneous, turn it over to a floured board and knead for 10 plus minutes. I put the dough aside, cover it to prevent it from drying and leave it for an hour.
In the meantime, I grind meat (⅔ of pork and ⅓ of beef), a big head of sweet onion, three cloves of garlic and a celery stalk to make the meat moist. I stir all ingredients with my hand adding salt and fresh ground pepper.
I could use my kitchen machine for kneading and stirring meat, but I prefer to do it with my hands like my grandmother and mother used to do.
The process of making pelmeni is simple but requires some practice. The pictures below show the process of making ropes of dough, cutting them into pieces, and rolling pieces of dough individually into small circles.
Then I hold a dough circle in my left hand, put a spoonful of ground meat onto it, bend it in half, seal it and place it on a floured board. Don’t they look like soldiers?
Sometimes you have more dough than meat, sometimes vice versa. You can make pasta from the dough leftovers, and meatballs from the ground meat leftovers.
To cook pelmeni I bring the water to a boil, add salt, bay leaves and a few peppercorns.
I drop pelmeni into boiling water (not more than 25 at a time). Then I wait until the water starts boiling again and makes them rise to the surface. I let them boil for two more minutes and use a strainer to remove pelmeni onto a plate.
I make sure that the water is drained well. I add a tablespoon of butter into pelmeni. That’s how I like to eat them. Some in my family mix a tablespoon of mayo and ketchup and dip into it. Some prefer to add homemade chicken broth and eat it as a soup.
It’s important to eat pelmeni while they are hot. A shot of vodka goes well with pelmeni. Na zdorovie!
P.S. All the food featured in this post has been prepared and photographed by me.
