Pelmeni s Gribami

Pelmeni s gribami, mushroom dumplings, are the Siberian alternative to the classic meat pelmeni, made for the Orthodox fasting days when meat and dairy are forbidden. The Russian Orthodox calendar has nearly 200 fasting days a year, and on these days the same dumpling shape is filled with mushrooms, cabbage or potato instead of meat. The mushroom version is the most prized, made in autumn when Russians forage the forests for porcini, chanterelle and other wild mushrooms. The dumplings are shaped identically to meat pelmeni, the thin dough wrapped around a filling of sauteed mushrooms and onion, then boiled and served with smetana or just butter and dill. The mushroom filling is actually more flavourful than the meat on its own terms, the forest mushrooms giving a depth that ground meat cannot.

Tender thin dough yielding to a deeply savoury, earthy mushroom filling, the flavour of the forest concentrated in each bite. Eaten with cold sour cream and dill, the dumplings are a fasting-day meal that does not feel like deprivation.

The technique is identical to meat pelmeni except the filling. The dough is flour, water, egg and salt, kneaded smooth, rested, rolled thin. The filling: wild mushrooms are sauteed with onion until their moisture is gone and they are intensely flavoured, then cooled, chopped fine, and seasoned. A spoonful is placed on each dough round, the dough folded and pinched into the characteristic pelmeni crescent, the edges sealed tightly. Boiled in salted water for 3 to 4 minutes until they float, drained, and served with butter or smetana. The mushroom filling must be dry, as wet filling bursts the dumpling during boiling. The dough must be thin enough to see the filling through, about 1mm.