Cook Ukrainian Varenyky Like a Pro!

Feb 1

This month’s Community Recipe is for the world-famous Ukrainian Varenyky.

Varenyky, along with borscht, are the national food of Ukraine. It is a simple and straight forward dish that requires a little bit of skill and experience and offers endless opportunities in terms of fillings. FYI: varenyk is singular and varenyky is plural.

Today’s recipe features the classic potato filling.

Varenyky, potatoes, making. Ukrainian San Antonio.

Community Recipes is a recurring feature where our community members share a Ukrainian inspired recipe with the rest of us. If you want to share a recipe in this series, pitch us your idea here. This series is all about sharing Ukrainian recipes and stories about our community members. Our goal is to build and sustain a positive community focused on Ukrainian culture and heritage.

Ingredients:

Dough:
½ cup room temperature water
1½ cups of sifted all-purpose flour. Plus more flour as needed
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon of canola or sunflower oil

Filling:
4 large russet potatoes
½ large yellow onion
1 tablespoon of canola or sunflower oil
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper

Topping:
1 large yellow onion
2 tablespoons of canola/sunflower oil

Filling:

Start with preparing a potato filling. Peel the potatoes, cut into cubes about 1-1½”, put in the pot with water and bring to boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and boil for about 10-15 minutes. Potatoes are ready when you can easily pierce a potato cube with a fork or a toothpick. Set a timer for 8 minutes and then check on potatoes every 2-3 minutes until they are done.

While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the onion. Heat a medium size skillet on a medium heat. Peel and chop the onion. Once the skillet is hot, add the oil and then chopped onion and sauté until the onion is golden yellow. Set a skillet aside.

Two-three minutes before the potatoes are ready, add salt to the water. Once cooked, drain the water (reserving ½ cup in case needed) and mash potatoes so there are no potato chunks are left. Then add the sautéed onions to the potatoes and ground black pepper (freshly ground pepper is always better). Cover the potatoes to keep them warm and start working on the dough.

Dough:

Making dough for varenyky is more than measuring and combining ingredients. You need to “feel” the dough so it’s at the right elasticity and consistency. Trust your culinary instincts and adjust the ingredients (a little bit more or a little bit less) to achieve the right “feel” for the dough.

TIP: There’s a great debate whether you start with water and then add flour OR you start with flour and then add water. In all honesty, both methods work. But if you start with water and gradually add flour, it’s just easier to control the consistency of the dough.

In a tall bowl mix the water at room temperature, salt, oil, and sifted flour. Don’t add all of the flour at once. Start with about half of flour and then add more as needed. You might end up using more or less flour than the recipe calls. It’s OK. Remember, your dough is your guide.

TIP: Mix water and flour with one hand and use the other hand to gradually add flour.

Mix for 3-5 minutes. The dough is ready when it’s not sticking to the sides of the bowl and doesn’t stick easily to your hands.

Once the dough is the right consistency, dust your work surface with flour and place the dough on top of it. Shape the dough in an oval mound and cut it into four long pieces. Work with one long piece at a time. Cover the dough you’re not using with a kitchen towel so it does not dry out.

Take a long piece you cut from the dough and on the floured surface, using your hands roll into a log that’s about 1½” in diameter. Using a knife cut the log into 1” pieces. Using your hands shape the 1” pieces into disk that are about ½” sick. Take the dough “disks” and with a rolling pin roll them out into small circles. Make sure not to make the “circles” too thin. Remember, these “circles” need to be filled with stuffing and the dough must be thick enough to hold everything in place.

Making Varenyky:

Right before you start making varenyky, place a large pot of water on the stove and bring it to a gentle boil.

Check on your potato filling. It needs to be warm and not hot. If it’s hot, put the filling on a plate to cool off.

Take a dough circle into the palm of your left hand and with a right hand spoon the potato filling and put it in the middle of the circle. Gently close the sides of the circle and pinch the edges together with your right hand. With practice, you’ll be able to visually determine the right quantity of potato that needs to go on top of the dough circle. Start on a conservative side as too much filling will rip the dough and you won’t be able to pinch the top of the varenyk.

Dust a plate with flour and place your completed varenyk on it. Once you have a plate full of varenyky you can start boiling them or, if you wish, finish making all of the varenyky. Just cover the varenyky plate with a kitchen towel so the dough doesn’t get dry.

Boiling Varenyky and Finishing Touches:
Before you start boiling varenyky, prepare the onion topping. Heat a medium size skillet on a medium heat. Peel and chop the onion. Once the skillet is hot, add the oil and then chopped onion and sauté until the onion is golden yellow golden. Set a skillet aside.

Add 1 tablespoon of salt to the gently boiling water and place 10-15 varenyky into the pot. Be careful not to over crowd the pot. Gently stir the pot and wait for the water to come back to boil. Once the water is boiling the varenyky will float to the top. Gently stir the pot again and wait 2-3 minutes for varenyky to boil. All of the varenyky should be floating on top by now. Stir the pot again and wait a minute or two. With a slotted spoon pick varenyky and put them in a bowl. Scoop the potato/oil topping and sprinkle varenyky with it. Give a gentle toss to the bowl to ensure varenyky are all covered with the onion topping and are not sticking together.

Work in batches to boil all of your varenyky. Don’t forget to add the topping and giving a gentle toss when you add freshly cooked varenyky to the cooked ones in the bowl.

Enjoy! Smachnogo!

Ukrainian San Antonio held a Heritage Master class for members of our community and St. Anthony the Great parishioners to teach the art of making delicious varenyky! Click here to learn more about this class.