Sauerkraut Pierogies

Being of Ukrainian descent I grew up with homemade pierogies. Anybody who has had real pierogies knows that they are far superior to those frozen bagged ones you can get at the grocery store. Most people I know have never had anything else and believe that the only varieties you can find are cheese, potato and cheese and potato and bacon, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Pierogies come in countless varieties including fish, yam, spinach and my favourite, sauerkraut. I'm going to have many different pierogi recipes as this blog continues, but let's start with my favourite

 
Ingredients

Dough

3 cups flour
3/4 cup warm water
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Filling

1 cup onion
1 cup mushrooms
2 cups sauerkraut
1/4 tsp black pepper

Makes about 40 pierogies

Mix the flour, water and oil together. Add more water if the dough is too dry or more flour if too wet and sticky. Cover the dough with a clean towel and let it sit for 1/2 hour.



While the dough is sitting, fry the onion for about 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms, pepper and sauerkraut.

Fry on medium heat for about 15 minutes or until the sauerkraut is lightly browned. Remove from heat and let cool.

There are a few ways to make the pierogies. My favourite is to use a pierogi press, but if you don't have one, the best way would go like this:

-Cut off a small amount of dough, about the size of a softball
-Using a rolling pin, roll the dough until it's as thin as possible, it should be almost transparent
-Using a round container, such as a yogurt container, cut circles out of the dough
-Place about a tablespoon of filling in the centre of each dough circle
-Fold in half and press the edges with a fork

From here you can lay them out in layers with wax paper between each
and freeze for later. If you're hungry now, though, you have a couple of options. Before meeting my wife, I had never heard of frying pierogies, I had always boiled just them. If you buy the bagged ones, I could see why you wouldn't; they turn out mushy. These ones, though, you just boil until they float and they stay soft, but firm. You can also fry them straight out with a little oil. My favourite is to boil them and them fry them so they turn out extra crispy.