Week 23 - Pelmeni

This is actually my second attempt at making Pelmeni. (Pelmeni is a Russian dumpling.) However, this is a different recipe and therefore earned it's spot on my blog. Once again, this is a recipe that was inspired by my college days in Madison. There was this wonderful little Pelmeni shop on State Street. They served two things: potato dumplings and beef dumplings. You could then have your choice of two styles: spicy or not spicy. They could either be served with a spicy sriracha-based sauce or with sour cream. That was it; that was the entirety of their business plan. There were only 5-6 tables in the restaurant. One person could easily run it. The demise of the restaurant came not from the quality of the food but instead by some controversial ownership dispute. Alas, such a shame.

• 1/2 cups flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 lb. ground beef
• 1/2 lb. ground pork
• 2 medium onions, finely chopped
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• garlic to taste

Pel Meni Sauce

• butter
• a little rice wine vinegar
• cilantro
• curry powder
• sriracha

These Pelmeni dumplings were very tasty. They fed me for a couple days. Each day, I would make them fresh. The biggest battle that I encountered when making these dumplings was the dough. It was just sticky, almost impossible to work with. No matter how much flour I added, it just didn't seem to help much. By the time I had gotten the dough to a point where I could handle it, it seemed like I had added at least another cup of flour. Subsequently, once the dumplings had boiled for their 7-8 minutes, it seemed like the outside of the dumpling wasn't quite as tender as it should have been. I am on the search for more feasible dough proportions. I suspect that I probably shouldn't be using as much water or will need to cut down on the eggs. Perhaps I need to cut down on the boiling time... As much as I want to complain about the dough, I should note that the process was greatly simplified with the acquisition of a Pelmeni mold.

The dumpling filling was quite tasty. It's somewhat simplistic, however there isn't anything that I would change about it. The sauce also came very close to what I remembered having in Madison. Overall, this was a pleasantly nostalgic meal. I sat in quiet reverence for about 5 mintues after finishing my meal. I was in awe that I was able to replicate something that I so truly missed from my days in Madison.

I give this 8 stars out of 10. The only thing that needs improvement is the dough. Everything else was perfect.