Pelmeni (Russian Ravioli)

I don't think that I've ever had a babysitter that my parents paid for. My sister is 8 years older than I am and she was pretty much my built-in-babysitter. I was also lucky enough to have both sets of grandparents living nearby. I was with Grandma Riva Friday night until Saturday afternoon, since piano lessons (Friday night) and music theory class (Saturday morning) were near her apartment. Then I went to Grandma Tsylia's & Deda Matvey's apartment because Sunday morning chess class was near their apartment.

Sunday afternoons were for hanging out with grandma and grandpa. I peeled freshly roasted peanuts with my grandpa while we watched Fame on channel 5 and Benny Hill on channel 11. Ah, good times. Once every few weeks grandma would make pelmeni. She'd MAKE pelmeni! She'd take out the heavy metal pelmeni mold, make dough, make filling and make pelmeni. Magic. It never occurred to me to sit and watch her or ask her how she made them. I simply took it for granted that gorgeous pelmeni would appear in front of me a few minutes after she dropped them into boiling water.

Pelmeni Mold (available on Amazon and eBay)

Fast forward 25+ years and I'm desperate to make my own pelmeni. I borrow the mold from my moms friend. I scour the internet for dough recipes and filling ideas. I experiment with various fillings.... and wowza! Pelmeni were born! The filling can be flexible, to your taste. But, I wouldn't mess with the dough. They're time consuming to make, but not difficult. Try it. Make enough to freeze. You won't regret it... and you'll never go back to store-bought pelmeni again!

Flour, eggs and water into the KitchenAid mixing bowl

Mix until dough comes away from the walls of the bowl and forms a nice ball on the dough hook.

Combine all filling ingredients in a bowl. Mix well.

The filling should look like mush. 

After the dough has rested for 30 minutes, cut 1/6 of it and roll into a thin sheet. 

Place dough on pelmeni mold.

Using a 1/2 TBSP scooper (or your hands/fingers) place a small amount of filling into each pocket.

Fill each pocket and press filling down gently.

Pelmeni look soooooo good :)

Roll out second sheet and place it over the mold.

Using the rolling pin, gently but firmly roll over the top layer of dough.

Gently push out pelmeni from mold.

I could take pictures of these lovelies all day long!

Boil for a few minutes, drain and then enjoy immediately!

Pelmeni (Russian Ravioli)

Makes approximately 110 ravioli in the mold (3 batches)

Ingredients

3 cups all purpose unbleached flour
1 cup water
2 eggs
1 tsp kosher salt
Flour for dusting

1 pound ground veal
1/2 pound ground chicken
1 large onion, grated
2 tsp Kosher Salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

Large pot of salted, boiling water

Directions

1. Feel free to do this by hand, but I simply lack the stamina. Combine the dough ingredients in the bowl of a KitchenAid. With the dough hook attachment, on low, allow ingredients to combine, about 5 minutes (don't quote me on the time. I was doing 10 things simultaneously. The dough should come away from the bowl and form a "nice" ball around the dough hook.
2. Remove the dough, cover with a kitchen towel and let it rest for about 30 minutes.
3. Make the filling. Combine all filling ingredients and mix well.
4. Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces.
5. Dust flour onto your rolling surface. Roll out 1/6 of the dough into a thin sheet. Thin is a relative term. You don't want it to be paper thin, but it can't be so thick that it's toothsome. If you roll 1/6 of the dough into a circle big enough to cover your mold, you'll be in that "happy" thinness place. Place rolled dough onto mold. Lightly push down on th dough so that you can see where to place the filling.
6. I used my 1/2 TBSP ice cream scooper to place the filling into each space. You can use your hands/fingers, just make sure that you don't overfill each pocket.  Gently push down the filling into each pocket.
7. Roll out another 1/6 of the dough into a thin sheet. Cover the mold with this layer of dough.
8. Using your rolling pin, roll over the top layer of dough. The two layers of dough will seal and each pelmeni will form. 
9. Remove excess dough. Turn mold over and gently remove (pop out) out the pelmeni. (At this point you can freeze the pelmeni on a cookie sheet in a single layer.  After an hour in the freezer, you can put them into a ziploc bag).
10. Put pelmeni into boiling water. They'll float up after about 7 minutes. Drain water.
11. Serve immediately with sour cream or butter or vingar. Go for broke and try with all three!

Eat, Drink & Be Yummy!