The weather’s cooled again, there’s the Olympics to watch on the telly – it’s the perfect time to make perogies! If you’re not familiar with these eastern European dumplings, you’re in for a treat. These boiled dumplings are usually stuffed with potato, sauerkraut, meat, cheese, mushrooms or even fruit for a sweet version. Sometimes they’re even fried after they’ve been boiled.
I grew up with them in Canada – it was immigrants who brought it over the Atlantic. Bags of frozen ones are easily found in most supermarkets and they are cooked up easily and they’re what I remember eating at home as a treat. (I’ve read that they’re also popular in the States though I’m not sure how available they are.) The most popular filling in Canada (and Poland) is potato and cheese. While fresh white cheese would be used in Poland (and what’s found in the frozen sections of Polish shops here), in Canada cheddar is the cheese of choice. I had to make them at home, I missed them so (don’t get me started on the bags of frozen hash browns you cannot get here in London).
Of course, these far surpassed any of the frozen ones we used to get. I made a filling of potato, cheddar cheese and fried onions and tried a perogy dough recipe I found online. After boiling them, I tossed them with fried onions and bacon, just as my mother used to serve them (and apparently the way they also serve them in Poland). Homemade is the way to go!
Potato and Cheddar Perogies
adapted from this Canadian Living recipe.
makes about 40-45.
For the dough
3 cups (750ml) plain flour
1.5 tsp salt
1 egg
175 ml water
4 tsp sunflower oil
For the filling
2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
100g mature yellow cheddar
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 medium onion, chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the topping
100g lardons
2 medium-large onions, sliced
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp sunflower oil
To make the dough, mix together all the dough ingredients and then knead the mixture until smooth. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.
For the filling, first boil the potatoes as you would to make mash. While the potatoes are boiling, heat the oil and butter in a frying pan over medium-low heat and fry the chopped onion until they’re just starting to turn golden. Set aside. When the potatoes are cooked, drain them and mash them and let them cool. When cool, mix in the onions and grated cheddar. Add salt and pepper to taste.
To form the perogies, roll out a portion of dough thinly (less than 2mm thick) and cut out 3 inch rounds. On each round, place a teaspoon of filling, moisten the edges with a dab of water and fold in half, pressing the edges together to seal. Repeat with the rest of the dough and filling. Don’t stack the perogies at this stage but place them in a single layer on a tea towel without their touching each other.
Create the topping. Heat the butter and sunflower oil together in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the onions and fry until golden. Add the lardons and continue cooking until the lardons are browning as are the onions. Set aside and keep warm.
Set a large pot of water to the boil. When the water is boiling, place about 6-8 perogies into the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until the perogies float. Drain with a slotted spoon and mix them with the topping. Repeat until all the perogies are cooked and all are mixed together with the onions and bacon. (You can also fry the boiled perogies together with the onion and bacon.) Serve, with some sour cream/crème fraîche on the side if desired.
The uncooked perogies can be frozen (individually, so they don’t stick to each other) and cooked from frozen later.
Mon, 30 Jul, 2012 at 04:06
Those look delicious! Here in the States, at least in Ohio, frozen mass-produced pierogies are very easy to find in most grocery stores. I used to only see potato/cheese and sauerkraut but now I’ve found spinach and cheddar, bacon and cheddar and cheese/japapeno. We also have a large Eastern European community, so homemade pierogies are a common staple at church fairs. My mother-in-law makes homemade ones for Easter and Christmas.
Sun, 5 Aug, 2012 at 21:17
I love the sound of the cheese and jalapeno ones! And I’ve just come across buffalo chicken perogies online – insane!
What fillings does your MIL make?
Mon, 30 Jul, 2012 at 12:57
Add to the list, bags of spanish jamon croquettes bought in frozen bags all around spain (not as good as fresh, homemade but brilliant to have on hand)
Sun, 5 Aug, 2012 at 21:17
YES! They are quite a pain to make.
Mon, 30 Jul, 2012 at 14:28
It’s funny that Pierogies aren’t a staple here. My Partner’s from Ontario and she’s got us into (here in London) polish style meals of pirogues, Borsht and sauerkraut with a nice rye bread. We’re so much nearer Poland and with so many Poles in London, you would’ve thought their cuisine would feature more across the board, rather the still tucked away in specific eastern-european eateries deep in the suburbs of north-london..
Sun, 5 Aug, 2012 at 21:21
I guess the Eastern European immigrant wasn’t in earnest until very recently. The Polski skleps that are dotted around London are spreading though and it’s good fun investigating them!
Mon, 30 Jul, 2012 at 14:33
What came first? The pierogi or the Chinese jiaozi? I’m intrigued.
Sun, 5 Aug, 2012 at 21:20
No idea! That’s one we should look into! There’s also all those Russian dumplings and Middle Eastern dumplings to investigate too.
Mon, 30 Jul, 2012 at 20:07
The trouble with these are that they’re so moreish! Bornali (previously Planethalder)
Sun, 5 Aug, 2012 at 21:37
We almost finished the whole batch between us that night…. almost…
Tue, 31 Jul, 2012 at 17:16
These would be so much better than the frozen ones! I had freshly made dumplings the other day and you could taste the difference in texture 🙂
Sun, 5 Aug, 2012 at 22:01
That’s true – the difference is very apparent in the skins. And the filling too – you can add more of what you like!
Tue, 31 Jul, 2012 at 23:00
I’m not disputing homemade is best, but actually, I’ve seen lots of ready-made pierogies in Eastern European shops in various parts of London. And not all these shops are small and obscure. Have you ever been to Lituanica? It’s a chain of Lithuanian shops which stock a huge range of Eastern European foods, including an encyclopaedic selection of savoury and sweet pierogy.
Another tip – Tesco do an own-brand hash browns which are tasty enough and very convenient. Also if you ever hunger for tater tots (not sure if they have them in Canada too but it’s certainly American comfort food), the closest I have found to them is a product from Iceland called potato crunchies with bacon.
Sun, 5 Aug, 2012 at 22:08
They are indeed available at Eastern European shops but in Canada, you can find them in the equivalent of Sainsburys or Tesco. And they certainly don’t sell potato and cheddar here!
The closest thing to tater tots I’ve found is a Morrison’s own brand potato crunchie thing. Thanks – I’ve got to check out the Iceland brand!
Also, the hash browns sold frozen in Canada are closer to home fries, I guess is the other name.
Fri, 3 Aug, 2012 at 11:06
These perogies looks delicious. Recipe is very simple. Taste of Fresh food is amazing always then frozen food. Thanks for the recipe.
Sun, 5 Aug, 2012 at 22:14
And thank you for dropping by!
Fri, 3 Aug, 2012 at 15:51
It is definitely not a good idea to read a food blog while I’m so hungry. Now I have such big cravings for these perogies …
Sun, 5 Aug, 2012 at 22:18
Hehe…I can’t read them when I’m having a terrible lunch or else I feel terribly sad…
Fri, 3 Aug, 2012 at 18:38
wow, all of those ingredients must make some super duper perogies!
Sun, 5 Aug, 2012 at 22:17
They were great! Thank you very much!
Sun, 12 Aug, 2012 at 04:42
YOU ROCK! These perogies look unbelievable!
Sun, 19 Aug, 2012 at 17:51
Thank you for a very good memory jog; still too hot out here for pierogi, but I wait for the cooler weather/Autumn to have these again. One brand of frozen pierogi I have seen (in Caifornia) has the label description as “Polish style ravioli”, which made me literally laugh out loud. Your recipe is similar to mom’s (and mine) except we use sour cream in the dough instead of water or oil. Also, I’ve always used white pepper when making mashed potatoes; still a heat but you don’t see it.
Thu, 11 Jul, 2013 at 18:06
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