Pierogi are probably the most identifiable dish of the Polish traditional cuisine. Why not start your Polish cooking experience with that very dish...

Pierogi ruskie (Russian style pierogi)
Serves 6 ( ca. 60 pieces)

Filling:

• 400 grammes full fat curds (called twarog - available in all Polish shops)
• 2 medium sized onions
• 600 grammes potatoes, cooked and mashed thoroughly
• oil
• salt and pepper

Peel the potatoes, cook and mash them thoroughly (you could run them through a mincer, if you happen to have one to hand). Blitz or mince the curds, making sure that there is no unnecessary liquid before you start. Peel and dice the onion finely, fry it briefly in oil and add to your curds and potatoes. Add salt and pepper. Thus prepared filling will be formed into little balls, roughly the size of a walnut. You could ask your kids to join in and give you a hand. They are guaranteed to have fun!
Put the filling aside and start kneading the dough.

Dough:

• 1.5 kilo plain flour
• 350 ml hot (possibly boiling) water
• No eggs - the secret to soft dough is not using any!

Put your flour in a bowl, add boiling water and blitz until the dough is cool enough to handle. Put the dough on your worktop and knead until it's smooth and springy. Well-kneaded dough will have air bubbles inside – you can check that by cutting it in half. My dough never sticks to the worktop. I trust you will also succeed in not having to use any extra flour to stop it from sticking. Should your dough be too moist, however, do use some flour on your worktop to prevent disaster.

Invite a friend to help you seal your pierogi:

Take a piece of the dough and roll it until thin using a rolling pin. Remember that your success will be determined by how thin your dough is. Try and roll it as thin as possible and then take the largest glass in your possession – a whiskey tumbler will do just fine ;) and hand it over to your friend. They will be cutting circles out of the dough, and you will be putting the filling balls in. Try to place the filling in the middle of the cut-out shapes and make sure not to get any on the edges. Seal the sides thoroughly. I always check mine twice. 1,2,3,...

Once you have sealed all of your pierogi, stick on a large pot filled with water (make sure to add enough salt – remember, there is no salt in your dough). Once the water boils, add your pierogi, a couple of pieces at a time. Stir them gently to prevent them from sticking to the bottom and wait until they start floating. Only one minute left to go and you can start fishing them out. I always harden mine before serving – give them a quick bath in a pot of cold water with a drop of oil, 1 minute will do. It will make them springy. You could fry them in a pan or eat them as they are.

Nothing more left to add, but: Enjoy!

Monika Rusin

PS. Don't forget to fill the tumbler glass and hand it over to your friend who helped along :-)