Russian Peroshki

I had a hankering for some Russian food the other day and it's been awhile since I posted much of anything on the recipe blog so I snapped some pictures for you. Peroshki are meat filled pockets wrapped in a dough and deep fried. There are also ones that are baked which are probably less fattening, but I prefer the fried kind since that was the kind my mother always made for us.

You will need the following:

1 lb of 80/20 hamburger meat
4 hard-boiled eggs chopped fine
1 large onion sauteed until translucent
1 large handful of fresh dill, chopped fine
salt and pepper
bread dough (Pillsbury's hot roll mix, 1 box)

Start by sauteing the onion, add the hamburger and cook until all the clumps are separated, add the chopped egg, mix to combine, add the dill and salt and pepper to taste.
Tilt the saute pan and bunch up the meat to one side to allow to drain, remove drained meat and let cool for at least 2 hours, while dough is rising.

To make the dough you have several options. I like to use a yeast dough. You can use any white bread recipe if you like, you can even use a bread machine to make the dough up to the baking process.
If you use the prepackaged Pillsbury dough, or hand made bread down, mix and let rise. Once risen, plop down the dough onto a floured surface and divide in half. Place half into bowl with plastic on top to keep from drying out while you make the first batch of Peroshki.

Go ahead and roll out the dough to the thickness of about 1/8 or less. You will need to find something round to cut the dough into rounds. Something about 5 or 6 inches across will do fine. Something like a old juice can, ( the kind grapefruit juice use to come in before plastics) or a wide cookie cutter, etc.
Cut about 4 or 5 rounds then take one round place in your hand , you can stretch it if you like, it should be quite stretchable, be careful not to pull it too much or you will open up holes in the dough disk. Then with a 1/4 cup or 1/3 cup metal round scoop, scoop out the cooled meat and place into the middle of the dough pocket. The pull the edges up and over and pinch them together. Be careful not to include any of the filling or else the dough will not pinch close and will open when you fry it.

Take the ends pinch the dough and fold over about 1/2 inch on each end.
Put on floured tray until ready to fry.
Once your oil is ready, carefully place each Peroshki seam side down into the hot oil. You should be able to get 4 or 5 in the pan at the same time. Cook until they are dark golden brown the color of coffee. Remove and drain on paper towels.
Serve hot or warm, you also after they cool, freeze them for later , zap in microwave if frozen for about a minute or so, and they will come back almost as good as fresh.



The trick is to make the dough as think as possible without having it break open, I have seen some Russian bakeries make the dough so thick that you only get about a tablespoon full of meat. That's way too much dough.