Little purses of yum

My clever friend Sveta gave us a real treat at our English conversation class on Tuesday; she had made some strawberry varenyky. Verenyky are like miniature pasties which can be filled with a variety of different things, sweet or savoury. Our strawberry varenyky were served with fresh strawberries and yoghurt – they disappeared in a flash!

These little delicacies are Ukrainian and apparently they are traditionally served on Christmas eve, but I am sure they are enjoyed on many other occasions as well! Some families serve twelve different little dishes to remember the twelve apostles, and varenyky are usually one of the twelve. because there used to dietary restrictions attached to this special day, some foods were not allowed, so in a very traditional family they might be stuffed with mashed potatoes or fried onions, or cabbage and sauerkraut.

I am sure every family has its own way of cooking these little dumplings, just as in Italy I am sure that ravioli are filled with all sorts of different fillings! Fruit, vegetables of all sorts, meat, cheese… there is probably an infinite number of different ingredients which would be successful in varenyky!

I don’t know what Sveta’s recipe is, but one I have has the following ingredients:

• 600g flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 30g butter
• 250ml evaporated milk
• warm water as needed

The process seems simple, but I’m sure it needs practice! Mix the ingredients to a dough, rest, knead, rest, roll out and cut small 3 inch circles to be filled with your choice of yum; gently poach in boiling water in a large pan. Once they start floating they are cooked. leave them to drain on an oiled tray, not touching because they are sticky. At this stage they can be frozen which seems a splendid plan to prepare in advance!

The next stage is to fry, poach or stem them and serve with soured cream,and whatever toppings seem suitable… we had strawberries!