Pelmeni (Russian dumplings)

What pelmeni are

Pelmeni are small Russian dumplings: a thin, firm dough wrapped around raw ground meat and onion, then boiled. They come from Siberia and the Urals, where families made hundreds at a time in winter and kept them frozen outside. The name is usually traced to the Finno-Ugric languages of the Urals, where it means "ear bread", for their shape. Today they are eaten across Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Central Asia, and frozen pelmeni are sold in most Russian and Eastern European grocery stores in the US.

Pelmeni, pierogi and other dumplings

Pelmeni are often confused with Polish pierogi and Ukrainian vareniki, but they are different. Pierogi and vareniki are larger half-moons with cooked fillings, such as potato and cheese, sauerkraut or cherries. Pelmeni are small, almost always filled with raw meat, and the meat cooks inside the dough as they boil, so the filling stays juicy. The dough is also thinner and firmer. The closest relatives are Chinese wontons and Italian tortellini, which are folded the same way.

The filling

The classic Siberian filling is a mix of beef and pork. The pork gives fat and juiciness; beef alone makes a drier, firmer filling. Some cooks add ground lamb. Two small things make a big difference:

• Grate the onion instead of chopping it. Its juice spreads through the meat, with no crunchy pieces to tear the thin dough.
• Add ice water and beat the meat until it turns sticky. The water makes steam inside each dumpling and keeps the filling moist, and the beating helps it hold together as one piece.

The filling is raw pork and beef, so it has to be cooked to 160°F. Small pelmeni get there quickly, but cut one open from each batch the first time you make them. The filling should be gray all the way through, with no pink.

The dough

Pelmeni dough is firmer than pierogi dough, with less water, so it can be rolled very thin without tearing and holds its shape in the pot. It will feel stiff when you knead it. The 30-minute rest makes it much easier to roll. Keep the dough you are not working with covered, because it dries out quickly and then will not seal.

How to fold pelmeni

Cut circles about 2 1/2 inches wide with a glass or cutter, and put a heaping teaspoon of filling in the center of each. Fold the circle in half over the filling and pinch the edges together firmly to make a half-moon. Then bring the two corners together around the tip of your finger and pinch them, so the dumpling looks like a small round hat or an ear. A fork is not needed and does not seal them well.

It goes much faster with two people, which is how pelmeni have always been made. Russian kitchen shops also sell a pelmennitsa, a round mold with honeycomb holes. You lay one sheet of dough over it, drop filling in each hole, cover with a second sheet and roll over it with a rolling pin to cut and seal about three dozen pelmeni at once.

Cooking pelmeni, fresh or frozen

Use a big pot of water and salt it well. A bay leaf and a few black peppercorns in the water are traditional. Add the pelmeni one by one and stir gently right away so they do not stick to the bottom. Fresh pelmeni are done 3 to 4 minutes after they float. Frozen ones go straight into the water without thawing and need about 5 minutes after they float, or the time on the package for store-bought ones. Cook no more than about 25 at a time, so the water stays close to a boil.

Freezing them

Pelmeni are made to be frozen, and most people make a double batch. Set the uncooked pelmeni on a floured baking sheet, not touching, and freeze them for an hour until hard. Then move them to a freezer bag. They keep 3 months and cook from frozen. Frozen in a pile, they stick together into one block.

How to serve pelmeni

• With sour cream and butter: the most common way, with chopped dill and black pepper.
• With vinegar: a splash of white vinegar, or vinegar mixed with a little mustard, is how many Russians eat them.
• In broth: served in a bowl of the hot cooking liquid or in chicken broth, with dill. In a cold winter this is a meal on its own.
• Fried: fry boiled leftovers in butter until crisp and brown on both sides, or fry frozen ones in a covered skillet with a little water, like potstickers.

A bowl of borscht before them makes a full Eastern European dinner.

What they are worth nutritionally

A serving of about 15 pelmeni has around 445 kcal, with 21 g of protein, 17 g of fat and 49 g of carbohydrate. Like most dumplings, they are mostly dough: more than half of the calories come from the flour. Sour cream is not included, and a tablespoon of full-fat sour cream adds about 25 kcal. Using all 93% lean ground beef instead of the beef and pork mix saves about 65 kcal and 8 g of fat a serving, but the filling is drier, so add another tablespoon of ice water. Served in broth with a salad, a smaller portion of 10 pelmeni comes to about 300 kcal.