Mushroom Vareniki

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   How do you make mushroom vareniki? Gather all the ingredients. Use top-grade flour. Use a medium or large egg, and take it out of the fridge 1–1.5 hours before you start. For the dough to turn out well, all its ingredients should be at room temperature. Use one large onion or two small ones. You can use any mushrooms instead of button mushrooms — just keep in mind that some need to be boiled first.

2. Step 2:

   

   Start with the dough. Wash the egg with food-safe soap, dry it with a towel or napkin, and crack it into a separate bowl. Add salt and beat it with a fork or whisk — there's no need to beat it until foamy. Adding salt improves the flavor of the dough and makes beating the egg easier. Add room-temperature water and stir until smooth.

3. Step 3:

   

   To knead the dough, take a deep bowl that makes it easy to combine the dry and wet ingredients. Sift the flour to remove any fine debris and aerate it. Pour half the flour into the bowl. Make a well in the middle of the flour.

4. Step 4:

   

   Pour the egg-and-water mixture into the well in the flour and stir. Always add the liquid to the dry ingredients, not the other way around — that gives the best dough. Since flour of the same grade can behave differently depending on the producer, add the remaining flour in small portions to reach the right consistency.

5. Step 5:

   

   When it gets hard to stir with a spoon, switch to your hands. Knead the dough thoroughly.

6. Step 6:

   

   The dough should come out slightly springy but tender, and not stick to your hands. Don't make it too stiff, or the vareniki will turn out rubbery. Cover the dough with a cotton towel or plastic wrap so it doesn't dry out. Let it rest for 15–20 minutes — after that it'll be easier to work with.

7. Step 7:

   

   While the dough rests, make the filling. Peel the onion, rinse it, and cut it into small cubes. That way it cooks quickly and the filling comes out more uniform.

8. Step 8:

   

   Clean, rinse, and chop the mushrooms the same way as the onion, so the filling is more uniform.

9. Step 9:

   

   To cook the filling, use a skillet at least 18 cm across so the whole filling fits. Heat it over medium heat. Add the butter and melt it over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Add the chopped onion. Fry, stirring occasionally, until the onion starts to turn golden — that took me about 3 minutes. We fry the onion first because it needs to brown a little, which wouldn't happen with all the extra liquid from the mushrooms.

10. Step 10:

    

    Add the mushrooms to the onion and fry until the moisture evaporates. If you're using frozen mushrooms, there will be more moisture, so the frying time will be longer. At the end, add a little salt and stir so it dissolves completely and the filling is evenly seasoned. Cool completely.

11. Step 11:

    

    Now shape the vareniki. Roll the dough out on a floured work surface into a sheet 0.3–0.5 cm thick. Using a cutter (a glass or a pastry ring), cut out rounds 4–6 cm across. Make the vareniki whatever size you like — just keep in mind that if you make them too big, you'll need more filling and may end up with extra dough.

12. Step 12:

    

    Place the mushroom filling in the center of the rounds.

13. Step 13:

    

    Form the vareniki by sealing the edges.

14. Step 14:

    

    Do the same with the rest of the dough and filling. To cook the vareniki, take a roomy pot and fill it 2/3 with water. Salt it lightly and bring it to a boil. Drop the vareniki into the boiling water and gently lift them with a spoon or slotted spoon (the dough in homemade vareniki is quite tender and tears easily). Then turn the heat down a bit and cook for 3–4 minutes.