Latvian dumplings
Pelmeņi are dumplings consisting of a filling wrapped in a thin dough. They didn’t originate from Latvia – they are very popular in Russia as well as other Eastern European countries. If you know Asian food, you might associate them with gyoza – just the ingredients are different. The usual filling in Latvia consist of minced meat. I’ve filled my pelmeņi with smoked meat and mushrooms. I think that the best ones are home-made, because you can choose your own filling and adapt them according to your taste. So, be courageous and make your own 
pelmeni
Yield: ca. 30-35 pelmeņi (3-4 portions)
Ingredients:
Dough
- 2,5 cups of flour
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup of milk
- a little bit of salt
Filling
- 200g of smoked meat
- 200g of mushrooms
- salt, pepper
Step by step:
- First start by preparing the dough. Place all ingredients in a bowl.
ingredients for dough
- Mix all ingredients well together until you get a big ball of dough. If needed, add a bit more flour.
ready dough
- Place the dough in the refrigerator.
- While the dough cools down, you can prepare the filling: start by cutting the mushrooms in small pieces.
mushrooms cut into small pieces
- Cut the smoked meet into small pieces as well, and place both in the frying pan and fry until well-done.
fry mushrooms with smoked meat
- Take the dough out of the refrigerator. Take a small part of the dough and place it on a lightly floured work surface.
- Roll out the dough until it is 1-2mm thin.
dough rolled out
- Take the filling with a tea spoon and place it on the dough, near the border.
put the filling on dough
- Fold the dough on top of the filling.
fold the dough
- Using a normal drinking glass, cut out a half circle of dough with the filling inside.
cut out the dough
- Repeat these steps until you have used all the rolled-out dough.
- Discard the remaining dough pieces when you roll out a new part of the dough, since mixing them together will make the dough too hard and difficult to work with.
- The thinner you get your pelmeņi, the better.
- Once ready, place them on a lightly floured chopping board and leave them in the freezer for up to one hour.
pelmeņi on the chopping board
- To serve them, cook them in chicken broth for around 10min. Serve them with sour cream and some herbs, for example dill or chives.
Enjoy!