Pelmeni Russian Meat Dumplings
Delicious recipe for Russian meat dumplings made with a ground beef filling.
Servings: 100 Pelmeni (appx)
Calories: 3314kcal
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 cup (284ml) Boiled water, cooled
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 Egg
- 3 ½ - 4 cups (437-500g) All-purpose flour
Filling
- 1 med. Onion (155g or 5.5oz)
- 14oz (400g) Ground Beef
- ½ tsp Salt
- ⅛ tsp Pepper (or to taste)
Instructions
Dough
- In a big bowl, mix (warm) water and salt until salt is dissolved. Add the egg and beat a little in the water. Start off by adding 3½ cups flour. Mix everything together until a good dough forms that doesn't stick to the sides of the bowl. If the dough is still very sticky, add some more flour. Knead the dough until a smooth ball forms. Cover and set aside. (see note 1)
- Meanwhile, finely chop the onions and combine with ground meat and salt and pepper in a separate bowl to form the filling. Mix the mixture thoroughly using your hands until well-combined. Set aside.
Method 1
- Start off by cutting off a piece of dough. It doesn't matter how big. Roll it out into a long sausage about 1cm thick. Cut the sausage into small round pieces about 1cm thick. Dip the flat sides of the circles into some flour, dust off the extra flour and set aside, covered with a bowl or a towel.Roll out individual dough pieces on the counter. Do 5-10 pieces at a time. Make sure to keep the rest covered so that the dough doesn't dry out. If the pieces stick to the rolling pin, add a bit more flour. Place about a teaspoon of meat in the middle of each rolled out piece of dough. Fold the dough in half and pinch the edges shut. Fold the ends to each other and pinch them together.
Method 2
- Roll out a piece of the dough into a large circle. Cut it into squares. Add about a teaspoon of the meat filling onto each square and then fold the dough the same way as in method 1.
Method 3
- Thoroughly sprinkle the pelmeni mold with flour. Roll out a large, round piece of the dough and place it on the top of the mold covering all the holes from edge to edge. Place the meat into each hole.Roll out a second piece of dough, cover the meat and the first piece of dough. Use a rolling pin to roll over the dough and basically stamp the pelmeni out. Remove the pelmeni out of the mold and you have a whole bunch of pelmeni ready at once.
Cooking Pelmeni
- To cook the finished Pelmeni, bring a pot of water to a boil. Add salt and then the Pelmeni. Stir the water with Pelmeni until they are floating (takes about a minute).
- Cook the meat dumplings on medium heat. The water should still be boiling/simmering, but it shouldn't be a rolling boil where the water is splashing out from the pot.Fresh Pelmeni need to be cooked for 5 minutes after they start floating.Frozen Pelmeni need to be cooked for 7 minutes after they start floating.
- Take out the Pelmeni using a slotted spoon and place into a bowl. Add a sliver of butter on the top and mix into the dumplings until melted. Enjoy!
Notes
- Note 1: All flours are different, so start off with using 3.5 cups, then add more if needed. It's easier to add more flour, than to make the dough stickier again:) If your dough does come out too hard, you can still save it. Let the dough sit for a bit, then poke little indentations into the dough. Add some water into those indentations and let dough rest. Then knead the dough. Repeat the process as oft as needed.
- Note 2: For all 3 methods, as you finish making the dumplings, place them in rows on a well-floured cutting board. As you make more batches of pelmeni, make sure to keep the finished ones covered. - Note 3: Flash-freeze the dumplings, and then place into a plastic zip-lock bag. Store in the freezer for when you need a quick meal. - Note 4: The amount of dumplings made will depend on how big or small each dumpling is. It can be anywhere from 80-100 dumplings with this recipe.
- Note 2: For all 3 methods, as you finish making the dumplings, place them in rows on a well-floured cutting board. As you make more batches of pelmeni, make sure to keep the finished ones covered. - Note 3: Flash-freeze the dumplings, and then place into a plastic zip-lock bag. Store in the freezer for when you need a quick meal. - Note 4: The amount of dumplings made will depend on how big or small each dumpling is. It can be anywhere from 80-100 dumplings with this recipe.