Although I am not Ukrainian, but a mixture of Polish, German and Russian blood, I love dumplings very much, like my whole family! Mom cooked them wonderfully, with cracklings, onions and, of course, cherries! For this reason, I decided to rummage in the internet and find interesting about dumplings and the history of their appearance in Ukrainian cuisine.

Vareniki is one of the most common dishes of Ukrainian cuisine made from boiled dough with filling.

Patsyuk opened his mouth, looked at the dumplings and opened his mouth even more. At that time the dumpling spilled out of the bowl, plopped into the sour cream, turned over to the other side, jumped up and just got into his mouth. Patsyuk ate and opened his mouth again,
and the dumpling set off again in the same manner. " Perhaps this is one of the most famous culinary scenes in Russian literature. Gogol always delighted his reader with tasty and juicy descriptions of the feasts. They say that Andrei Bely counted as many as 86 "deliciously served dishes or carnivorous references to them" in Gogol's prefaces, everyday stories and "Dead Souls".
Nikolai Vasilyevich knew a lot about food and he himself was not averse to making the aforementioned dumplings.

Ukraine is the homeland of lard with garlic, borscht with sour cream and dumplings with cherries.
Delicious and hearty Ukrainian dishes have spread far beyond
their homeland. However, this was not always the case. Culinary traditions have emerged
only in the 18th century and finally took shape by the beginning of the 19th - after all
it was then that the territory of Ukraine was formed. And before this dish,
settling in Ukrainian stomachs were like two drops of water similar
for food of Poles and Belarusians.

Ukraine was just as eagerly absorbing the culinary techniques of the German,
Hungarian, Tatar and even Turkish cuisines - although the Turks in Ukraine
oh, how they did not love. Still Turkish dumplings
dush-vara was to the taste of the Ukrainians. By the way, not only to them.
In Azerbaijan, the dish took root in its natural form, has it really changed
that the name - there it became a dushbara. Used as a filling
no cherry, but the most natural mutton with fat tail fat and
garlic. Azerbaijani "dumplings" are pinched with a triangle,
then fried in oil and only then boiled in broth with
aromatic spices. Turkish dumplings were good for everyone,
but Ukrainians are far from mutton.

Turkish dush-vara first turned into varaniki, and then into famous dumplings with fillings familiar and understandable to Cossacks - cherries,
cottage cheese, onions and cracklings.

For a long time in Ukraine, housewives have prepared dumplings with various fillings.
The filling for Ukrainian dumplings could be lean or smooth in
depending on the religious calendar. For the preparation of fillings
used cottage cheese, stewed cabbage, boiled crushed potatoes;
poppy, viburnum, cherries and other berries; apples, boiled and crushed
dried fruits (sushina), boiled beans, mashed peas, millet or
buckwheat porridge and even flour.

The flour filling was typical for the Poltava region and the south of Chernihiv region.
To prepare the flour filling, lard was fried until
it did not turn into dry yellow greaves, and into boiling lard
add flour gradually, stirring until it has absorbed
completely lard. The frying was cooled, and dumplings, which were called "dumplings with sand", were stuffed with it. Greaves are by no means a dietary dish,
but giving a special aroma and taste to any dish.
It was from the word "cracklings" that the verb "squirt" came from, meaning
sounds like the hissing of toasted bacon in a pan.
Ukrainian delicacy is reflected in the pages of Yaroslav Hasek.
The Czech writer tastefully describes the cracklings in The Adventures of the Brave
soldier Schweik ", awakening all senses of the reader and forcing him
actively salivate:

“Even the simplest pork rind can be eaten as long as it is warm.
When the bacon begins to crack and sprinkle, squeeze them, salt, pepper,
and then, I tell you, no goose greaves can compare with them ...
They are not brown, not yellow, their color is some kind of middle between these
two shades. Homemade greaves should not be too soft,
nor too hard. They shouldn't crunch. Crunchy means
overcooked. They should melt on your tongue, but you shouldn't
it looks like fat is flowing down the chin. "

Hasek is familiar with cracklings firsthand, they are also loved in the Czech Republic.
(true, from goose fat), but they are not eaten with dumplings, but with dumplings.
The advantageous difference between dumplings and dumplings is the filling.
In addition to the favorite berries and cottage cheese, they put apples, poppy seeds in dumplings,
plums, mushrooms, beans, potatoes and sauerkraut.
Urda was also a common lean filling.
(gurda - Podillia, vurda - Volyn).

The dough for dumplings was made from wheat, rye, buckwheat flour or
from a flour mixture. Unleavened dough was kneaded with whey and egg,
let him stand. William Pokhlebkin recommends using
ice water when kneading the dough, as it does not dry out
dough during the manufacture of dumplings.

At the same time, the dough for the progenitors of dush-var dumplings was made
based on fermented milk products. Ukrainians have simplified the recipe, and
in my opinion, very much in vain. Kefir dough tastes much softer,
does not dry during modeling, dumplings from it are cooked quickly and do not
have time to boil.
The prepared dough is rolled into a layer 1-1.5 mm thick,
for dumplings with juicy berry filling, the dough should be twice as thick.
You can cut into squares - then they are folded into a triangle, or you can
cut out mugs with a glass and mold more familiar crescents out of them.
In the latter case, the dough waste dries quickly and is difficult to use.
again. However, from my own experience I can assure you that in the case of a test
this inconvenience is not observed on kefir.
Although Gogol described dumplings the size of a hat, it is still better
stop at circles 5-6 centimeters in diameter. Stuffing
put no more than 1 teaspoon of the filling in the dumpling, otherwise you risk
catch boiled rags instead of tight dumplings.
The joints of the dough (seams) can be greased with egg white -
then the dumplings are easier to cover. Ready dumplings must be omitted
in a large saucepan of boiling salted water (1 tsp salt for
3 glasses of water). Size matters as in a small saucepan
the dumplings can stick together.
The cooking time depends on the filling. But you can easily determine their readiness - boiled dumplings float up, demonstrating with their whole appearance
that it's time to run after the slotted spoon. Transfer the dumplings to a deep plate,
dish or pot, drizzle with melted butter.
Do not forget to serve sour cream to the table, because, as Gogol wrote, you can't sip dumplings like dumplings - you need to first
dip in sour cream.

In some western Ukrainian regions, dumplings were called "pies"
or "boiled pies". Dumplings were cooked in boiling water, and ready-made
took out a ladle from the vine, put it in a makitra, poured
frying from vegetable oil (olia) or lard with onions.
Sour cream was added to dumplings with cottage cheese, fruits or berries
or fermented baked milk, poured them with cold fresh or sour milk.

In the everyday menu of the Ukrainian peasant, dumplings met
infrequently, they were a decoration on Sunday and festive tables.
Dumplings were also served at festive meals -
at weddings, christenings, funerals, during feasts dedicated to
temple holidays, they were cooked on cleanup and grub. The dumplings were
a must-have dish carried by girlfriends on the second day
weddings, for a young woman for breakfast, women - for a woman in labor "for her mother's day."
Handing this simple gift to a young mother, the friends said:
"To always be full, like a dumpling." In these cases, dumplings
symbolized the continuation of childbirth. Dumplings with cottage cheese, greased
sour cream, were a must on Shrovetide (Syropust) along with
with pancakes, pancakes, patches.

Traditional dough (according to Pokhlebkin)

3 cups flour
0.5-0.7 cups of water
2 eggs
0.5 tsp salt

Kefir dough (according to Nezabudkina)

2 cups lukewarm kefir or whey
1 egg
1 tsp soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp sugar (if the filling is sweet)
700 g flour

1. With cherries.
Peel 1 kg of cherries, put in a glass dish,
cover with sugar, let stand for 2-3 hours.
Drain the juice into another bowl and fill the dumplings with dry cherries.
Make sugar syrup, stir in cherry juice and
serve with dumplings.

2. With cottage cheese.
Mix 600 g of squeezed dry cottage cheese with 1-2 tbsp. l. sour cream,
1 egg, 1 tbsp. l. sugar and a pinch of salt

3. With potatoes and cracklings.
Mash 0.5 kg potatoes, add salt and pepper.
Cut 150-200 g of chicken or goose fat into small cubes,
fry with 250 g of onion to make cracklings, good
stir with mashed potatoes.

4. With cabbage.
Stew 4 cups sauerkraut with 1 tbsp. oil, add
fried 2-3 onions and 1 carrot. Salt, sugar to taste.
And then simmer so that the minced meat dries a little. Ready-made dumplings
serve with fried onions.

By the way, women and dumplings in Ukraine were bound by a special ritual.
Hot dumplings were served to a woman who had just given birth with the words:
"The ball is tight, yak a dumpling!" Which is what I wish for you.

Old recipes of Ukrainian dumplings

1. Buckwheat dumplings

4 stacks buckwheat flour steamed 2 stack. hot baked milk, stir so that there are no lumps, salt.

Rub 2-3 lb. (1 lb. - about 400g) curd through a sieve, rub with 2 eggs and 1 pinch of salt. Sculpt a rocking chair from the dough with your hands, cut it into pieces, roll out flat cakes from which to sculpt dumplings. Dumplings are placed in boiling water, boiled until tender, poured over with hot oil and served with sour cream.

2. Dumplings with cabbage

Mix the stewed cabbage with fried onions, salt and pepper. After kneading the dough in water with salt, mold the dumplings, put them on a sieve sprinkled with flour. Boil the dumplings in salted boiling water 10 minutes before serving. Pour over melted butter and serve.

3. Vareniki with cottage cheese

Knead one and a half cups of flour with an egg, a spoonful of vegetable oil and half a glass of cold water, adding a little.

Cottage cheese is pounded with melted butter and yolks. Having made dumplings, they are boiled in salted boiling water, those that will float are placed in a heated deep bowl, poured with melted butter. Sour cream is served separately.

4. Dumplings with cabbage and herring

Chop a small head of fresh cabbage, stew it with butter, add mushrooms (4 pcs.), Boiled and finely chopped, one herring (finely chopped), onion, fried in oil, pepper and salt. Blind the dumplings and boil, pour over with oil and onions and serve.

5. Vareniki with mushrooms

Steam ½ (200 gr.) Pound dry mushrooms, boil them, chop finely, add 2 onions baked and stewed in butter, 2 tablespoons of grated stale rolls, salt, a little mushroom broth, mix everything and simmer slightly.

Roll out the dumplings dough in a thin layer, mold small dumplings and boil them. Serve with oil.

6. Dumplings with beans and mushrooms

Boil the beans and rub through a sieve. Stir in finely chopped boiled mushrooms, add oil, fried onions, salt and pepper. The dough is ordinary.

7. Dumplings with spinach

Boil spinach leaves, drain and rub through a sieve. Put butter steamed with flour, add a little cream or milk, salt, a little sugar. The filling should be thick enough. Blind dumplings from ordinary dough, cook in salted boiling water, pour with butter and crushed breadcrumbs.

8. Dumplings with cherries

Knead flour dough in water, not very steep, roll out a thin crust. Peel the cherries, sprinkle with sugar.

Digest the juice that escapes the cherries with sugar. Make small dumplings. Boil them, strain through a colander, pour juice on a plate. Serve cold with sour cream and sugar.

9. Dumplings with jam

Knead regular dough. Blind small dumplings with plum jam, boil, sprinkle with sugar, serve with sour cream.

10. Dumplings with plums

Peel the plums, sprinkle them with sugar, drain the juice and digest with sugar. Blind dumplings from regular dough, boil them with juice and serve.

11. Dumplings with blueberries

Wash the blueberries and sprinkle with sugar, knead the usual dough. Take a handful of blueberries, add water and boil the juice (syrup). Pour over boiled dumplings with strained syrup and serve with sour cream.