Pelmeny - Russian Dumplings

I decided to try again to write down some of the recipes. Today, it is a very traditional russian dish - pelmeny or pel'meny, which is basically dumplings stuffed with meat.

Pel'meny

Flour - bread type (not self raising) 250 gr

Eggs - 1

Olive oil - 1 table spoon

Water - 100 ml

Salt - 1/4 tea spoon

Put flour in a bowl and make a wheel in it. Put everything else in and mix it well together. It works better if you cover the dough and let it stand for 20 or 30 min. 

Make stuffing: 250 gm of minced meat (ideally half beef and half pork, but any other meat works too). Add salt and pepper. You can also add optional garlic powder (or fresh minced garlic), onion powder (or fresh minced onion), dill, parsley, green onion and egg. 

Roll the dough very thinly on a surface lightly dusted with flour. Cut circles (e.g. with a glass). Put a teaspoon (or a half) of stuffing on it. Fold the edges together and pinch them tightly. Fold the ends and pinch them together.

Boil water and put pel'meny in. Boil on medium for 10 to 12 min - depending on thickness of the dough.

Serve with sour cream, butter, dill, minced raw garlic, green onions in whatever combination you like. Alternatively, serve with soy sauce. Aim at 10 to 12 pel'meny per portion. 

Cabbage Pancakes

As I mentioned in my previous post, few years ago my son went through a pancake eating stage. Not all pancake recipes remained on our regular menu, but a few did. One of those survivors is a Cabbage Pancake recipe. I fount the original recipe on Russian website http://supercook.ru/. My recipe has evolved into two slightly different versions.

Cabbage Pancakes

Ingredients
- 1/2 cup of self raising flour
- 1 cup of buttermilk
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup of finely chopped white cabbage
- 1 tbsp of vegetable oil
- salt and/or sugar to taste

Method
- Mix everything together
- Cook right away

My two versions come from the way I chop the cabbage. Version number one involves actually chopping cabbage in a food processor, squeezing out liquid and then adding the cabbage to the rest of the mix. Second version involves blending cabbage and buttermilk together in a smoothie maker and turning it into a paste (basically a smoothie). In the second version, you need to add more flour to the mix or your pancakes will be very thin. The original recipe suggests frying them in butter. I either fry on a non stick pan or I just wipe the pan with a tiny amount of oil. I use a table spoon to pour batter on a pan.

My son eats these pancakes with nutella to cover up the taste of cabbage. Nutella hides everything! 

Spelt and buckwheat pancakes

It's been ages since I wrote anything in this blog. So, I am going to try again. I really need a simpler way of locating recipes I use often. For some strange reason, I can't cook without looking at the recipe - even if I cooked the same thing dozens of times. 

Today's recipe is for spelt and buckwheat pancakes. I came across this recipe years ago in a book called "Rise and Dine Canada. Savory Secrets from Canada's Bed and Breakfast Inns" by Marcy Claman. I still don't know what possessed me to buy it. I use only two recipes from it. This pancake recipe is one of them. For some reason it is named Spelt Pancakes even though there is as much buckwheat flower in it as spelt. I discovered this recipe when my son was going through his 'pancake' stage. Basically, he was eating only pancakes. The pancake stage ended awhile ago but the recipe stayed on our family menu. So, here it is in a slightly modified over time version:


Spelt and Buckwheat Pancakes
from Marcy Claman's "Rise and Dine Canada"

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup buckwheat flour,
- 1/2 cup white spelt flour,
- 1 cup buttermilk (250 ml tab),
- 1 egg,
- salt,
- 1/6 cup of boiling water,
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Method:
- mix both flours, buttermilk, salt and egg,
- mix boiling water and baking soda and pour it into the flour mixture
- mix everything well
- spoon batter onto lightly greased or non stick hot pan.

I use a tablespoon of batter per pancake. My kids prefer their pancakes small.  the original recipe suggests adding blueberries into the batter. I don't like it. Blueberries work better on top of pancake together with maple syrup.

Back on the road to motherhood ...

Somehow, I never really put too much effort into this blog. It never really took off. Now, the life brought a little surprise. I am pregnant again. I decided to revive my old On the Road to Motherhood blog again. I hope I will manage to update it more often.

Take care and wish me luck.

Mixed Vegetable Stir-Fry

It is one of the easiest things to make. The only problem is that it cannot be made in advance. Vegetable stir-fry should be eaten as soon as it is made. So, just pre-cut all vegetables and make rice while your baby is watching Baby Mozart and do the actual frying right before dinner.

1. Cut – garlic - the more the better, onion – ½ of red, white, or few shoots of green whichever you have (today I am using the red onion), zucchini – 2 small, two small bell peppers (I used one red and 1 orange), broccoli (small cup of florets) and a bunch of bok choi (or Chinese cabbage or any other Chinese green leaf vegetable).
2. Heat well sesame oil (2 tbsp) and olive oil(1 tbsp).
3. Add garlic and onion - stir fry till nicely fragrant but not too brown.
4. Add zucchinis, bell peppers, broccoli – stir fry till brown on edges but still crispy.
5. Add green leafy vegetables, stir fry till more or less cooked – one minute or so.
6. Add soy sauce(2 tbsp), rice vinegar (1 tbsp), hoisin sauce (1 tsp) – mix well – cook for 1 min.
7. Remove and immediately serve with rice.

Tip of the day

Make rice in a microwave – 1 cup of basmati rice + 2 cups of water + 1 whole clove + 1 tsp of olive or any other oil – put in a microwavable pot with a heavy lid and cook on maximum for 20 minutes.

Cooking Mommy

What's cooking tonight?

Tonight's dish is a middle eastern recipe. It is perfect for a vegetarian household, but it would go well with lamb chops or lamb roast.

Chick peas with couscous

I found it somewhere on the net long time ago and it has been a favorite ever since. Of course, my version is a simplified one.

1. Heat couple of table spoons of olive oil in a bowl
2. Add a dash of cumin seeds and a bit of chopped fresh ginger and fry till fragrant
3. Add half a tea spoon of curry powder and fry few seconds
4. Add chopped tomatoes – 1 big tomato – fry till softens
5. Add salt, half a tea spoon of honey, and a tea spoon of freshly ground black pepper
6. Add half a can of chick peas and a bit of water – about half a cup – mix and let it boil till tomato is cooked
7. Add half a cup of couscous, mix
8. Add chopped coriander leaves
9. Cover with the lid and let stand for 10 minutes add more hot water if needed
10. Serve with any indian pickles such as Patak's or National Mixed Pickle and plain yoghurt
    

To simply this recipe even further:

• Use crashed fresh frozen ginger and add it together with tomatoes
• Use canned chopped tomatoes – a cup or so
• Amount of water differs depending on how much liquid tomato gave
• This dish should be a bit spicy, so black pepper is a must - quantities for all other ingredients vary

P.S. I do not attempt to provide the correct quantities of ingridients as I always vary them when I cook. This recipe is a guideline not an absolute truth.