Vareniki with Spinach and Potatoes (Ukrainian Dumplings)

Katyusha Popovych
Apr 29, 2015
3 min read

(makes 25 – 30)

300 g finely chopped spinach
200 ml water
2 eggs
1/2 – 1 tsp. salt
600 – 700 g flour
6 potatoes (1 kg)
100 g (three) onions, finely diced
50 g bacon or pork fat, cut into small pieces
Several bay leaves
Salt, freshly grounded black pepper, nutmeg

1 In a large bowl, combine together flour and salt. In the middle dig a hole, add there 1 egg and knead well. Add another egg, and continue kneading. Bit by bit, add water and spinach, while continuing to knead. Roll the dough in a ball, set aside in a bowl for 30 – 60 minutes and cover with a towel.

2 Peel potatoes, put in a saucepan and pour cold water over. Cook potatoes over medium – low heat, until almost tender (undercook). Salt the water and put bay leaves several minutes before discarding potatoes. Keep the broth for further use.

3 Mash potatoes, while still warm. Season with salt, freshly grounded black pepper and nutmeg.

4 In a large frying pan over medium heat, fry bacon or pork fat. Add the onions and sauté until softened, 3 – 5 minutes. Set aside 2/3 of the mixture.

5 Add the rest of the mixture to the potatoes, and combine well. Additionally, add 1 tbsp. butter to the filling.

6 Cut the dough into 4 to 6 pieces. Work with one piece at a time and keep the rest covered with plastic wrap.

7 Dust the rolling pin and the surface with flour.

Method 1: Roll out a piece of dough until fairly thin, about 2 mm thick. Take a wide cup or glass, and use it to cut out the rolled dough into circles of 6 – 7 cm in diameter.

Method 2: Otherwise, form a piece of dough into a log and cut off small pieces (a little larger than a gumball), one at a time. Roll out each small piece separately.

8 Fill these circles with the filling at room temperature. Fold half of the dough over the filling to form a crescent and seal the edges tightly with your fingers. Moving from one end of the sealed edge to another, place the edge between fore- and middle finger, and press them together. You should get a wave pattern on the sealed edge. Place the finished vareniki on a surface dusted with flour until ready to boil. Sprinkle some flour on top of them.

9 Bring previously used potato broth to a boil. Fill it up to 1/4 with prepared vareniki. Cook over medium – high heat (keep the water boiling) until they float to the surface, for about 5 minutes, and for another 2 – 5 minutes afterwards.

10 Serve with sour cream, fried bacon and onions, while they are still warm.

My Tips:

The formed vareniki always put in one layer and never touching each other, in order to prevent them from sticking.
Formed (but not cooked!) vareniki can be stored in a freezer for about 1 month. But make sure that they are not touching each other. You can use aluminium foil in order to separate them from each other.
In the same way you can store the dough itself as well.
Spinach can be processed using a blender for a few minutes. You can combine spinach with some water in a blender, in order to facilitate the blending process.
After cooking vareniki, they can with fried with a piece of butter, and then served as recommended.