Pierogi with blueberries

This is one of the tastiest Polish dishes. I make pierogi every month. My kids and my husband like them a lot. For my kids I make pierogi with fruit because of their allergies. For me and my husband I make pierogi ruskie with potatoes, cheese and onion.

Below is the recipe for the dough and an explanation how to make it. The recipe does not contain milk or eggs.

Pierogi with blueberries

This recipe makes pierogi for four. It is almost not possible to tell how many pierogi you will make because it depends on many things: how big the pierogi are, how thick the dough is…

Ingredients for pierogi’s dough:

• 0.5 kg all-purpose flour;
• 1 cup warm water;
• 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Filling:

• 4 -5 handfuls of blueberries, you can also use other fruit for filling, for example: strawberries,  apples, etc.
• sugar.

You will also need:

• big bowl;
• large pastry board or board;
• rolling-pin;
• glass or round cookie cutter;
• big pot or big sauce pan;
• 2 tbsp of oil and 1 tbsp of salt to add to the boiling water;
• sotted spoon.

Preparation:

Rinse and dry the blueberries.

Place the flour into a large bowl, add the salt.

Using your left hand, pour the warm water slowly into the bowl with the flour. At the same time mix the water with the flour using your right hand. The water must be warm, not lukewarm, not cool. The water should be very warm, but not too hot, so you do not burn your hand. The warm water makes your dough more flexible and easier to form and roll out. Each flour is different, so it is difficult to specify how much water you need to use to make your dough perfect. Add more flour if your dough is too sticky, add a little bit more water if your dough seems to be too dry.

When the dough in the bowl starts to resemble a ball and does not stick to your hand, you can transfer the dough onto a large pastry board or a board or a clean countertop. Knead the dough on a floured work surface until the dough is soft, flexible, smooth and no longer sticks to the work surface.

Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a bowl, then cover the bowl with a cotton cloth so the dough does not dry out.

Cut out a small piece of dough. Shape the small piece of dough into a ball, then sprinkle it with flour.

Roll out the dough thinly (about 3 mm) on a lightly floured work surface.

Using a glass or a round cookie cutter cut circles out of the rolled-out dough. The size of the circles is important. Big circles will give us very large pierogi, small circles will give us a lot of small pierogi.

Apply a few blueberries (a teaspoon) on a dough circle, sparkle with sugar.

Press the dough on the edges firmly so pierogi will not open during cooking.

Place the pierogi in rows on a cotton cloth so they do not touch each other.

Use a big saucepan or a big pot because pierogi should be cooked in a large amount of water. Add salt and oil (about 3 table spoons) to the boiling water then place the pierogi in the water.Using a wooden spoon, stir cooking pierogi gently, so they do not stick to the pot’s bottom.  Do not cover the pot with a lid. Once the pierogi start floating on the surface, cook them for about 2 -3 minutes more. Cooking time will depend on the size of the dumplings. Using a sotted spoon remove pierogi from the water and place them on the plates.

Serve immediately with sugar. If you are not allergic to milk, you can eat them with sour cream or butter.