January 8, 2008

Piroshki, Piroshki!

Once upon a time, there lived a little girl called "Em." Em loved sweets, loved them more than anything, and indulged daily on everything that she could get her ravenous mitts on: chocolatey truffles, tart gummies, treacly licorice, chewy caramels, buttery cookies. Em's sweet tooth knew no bounds, and it drove her mother mad.

Em's mother, as mothers are wont to do, implored her child to widen her gastronomical horizons, and served up simple savories and dramatic delicacies to no avail. Hot slices of homemade bread turned up torn and hidden under breakfast plates, melt-in-your mouth cheeses would meet turned-up nose instead of eager tongue, and fancifully herbed roasts would not make it past the pearly white gates.

Your teeth will rot, warned Em's mother.

Pass the pie, Em would reply through grinding teeth.

And so it continued and Em's mother gave up on her daughter, setting her sights on cooking for Em's father, whose birthday was fast approaching.

What would you like, she asked him, pinching her eyes shut and hoping beyond hope that he wouldn't say cake.

Pirog, he answered.



It had been his Russian mother's specialty and years since his wife had ventured to replicate it, infused of course with her own northern Iranian tastes.

Em's mother quickly got to work, preparing the dough and leaving it aside to rise. And rise it did, puffing up proudly after years of being forgotten while its re-creator tossed together its innards: cooked basmati rice, sauteed ground meat, hard-boiled egg, fresh parsely, chopped scallions.


































She filled precisely rolled disks of dough with the magical mixture, carefully folding each one and twisting the pocket shut. By the time she lowered them into the hot oil eagerly waiting on the stovetop, she could hear her husband's hungry sighing - and the pitter patter of little feet just beyond the kitchen door.


































Little Em ate her fill of the golden pockets that evening, and again the next morning. Her calls of Piroshki, Piroshki could be heard through the house for years, as her mother experimented with savory, new combinations. Em never complained, and her mother thought the sugary free-for-all was over. Until, that is, Em made a filling suggestion of her own.

Can we put chocolate in the peroshki?


***
Piroshki a la Shamsi
Adapted from my paternal grandmother, my mother, and a member recipe posted on www.Chow.com (because the Chow member measures, whereas my mother "just feels" how much flour, etc. she needs)
There is a fair bit of leeway with this recipe. Feel free to experiment with different fillings, both savory and sweet. Fruit fillings are popular, and I have plans for a chocolate version, which I hope to share very soon.
As far as savory goes, I prefer them filled with lean, ground turkey breast and loads of veggies and baked, while my dad likes them beefy and fried. One thing we both agree on: slice one open - or bite the "head" off - and add a lavish squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

Dough
1/4 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp yeast
4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
almost a cup of milk
6 tbsp melted butter
4 eggs–use 3 whole eggs and one lonely yolk (set the egg white aside and see below)
Filling
20 ounces (1.25 lbs.) ground meat (beef, lamb, turkey, chicken, pork), sauteed in large skillet
3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1 cup cooked basmati rice
1 bunch parsely, chopped
5 stalks scallions, sliced into small discs
salt and pepper to taste
Other
one egg white, for wash before baking
vegetable oil, for frying
Instructions
Combine the water and yeast, and let the mixture bubble up. In a big bowl, beat 3 eggs and one yolk. (Set aside the white for a wash if you choose to bake the peroshki). Mix in the milk, butter, salt, the bubbly yeast mixture and the flour, chunking it up with a big wooden spoon until it becomes smooth, yellow and shiny and doesn't stick to the bowl or spoon.

Shape it into a ball, cover loosely and let it rise in a cool place overnight or in a warm place until it doubles in size.

Sautee the ground meat in skillet until browned and cooked, then add the eggs, rice, parsely and scallions. Taste the filling and salt and pepper to taste. (The filling can be made up to a day in advance and refridgerated until ready to use. Leftover filling can be kept in an airtight container and eaten on its own later on.)

When ready to prepare, knead the dough on floured surface, careful not to overwork it, and pinch off an egg-sized piece and flatten it out. Place a heaping teaspoon of filling on the center and pull the sides up over it. Twist the edges together and give the dough a pinch to close up the end, and place it to the side. You should get about 24 piroshkis.

(At this point, the Chow member recipe recommends letting the piroshkis rise loosely covered in a warm place for about an hour, or even overnight, until they look puffy. Our piroshkis, however, go straight into the pan. Likewise, we eat them straight out of the pan, burning ourselves. We're not a family known for its patience.)

Now you have two options: to bake or to fry, that is the question.

If you are baking:
Lightly grease a baking sheet and preheat oven to 375. For a glossy crust: Mix a teaspoon of water with the eggwhite and brush on before baking. For a richer, softer crust, brush with melted butter. Better yet, do some of each. Immediately after placing in the oven, lower heat to 350. Bake about 25 minutes, until golden brown.

If you are frying:
Fill a skillet with about two inches of vegetable (or other frying) oil. Heat on medium until you see the oil shimmy (watch it, you'll see what I mean, I promise), then add the piroshkis one by one with a slotted spoon, careful not to splatter the oil. You will need to fry several batches (varies depending on how large your skillet is) as to not overcrowd the skillet. Doing so could lower the temperature of the oil, rendering your piroshkis greasy rather than crisp. Fry on both sides until piroshkis are puffy and golden brown, remove them (carefully!) to a platter covered with paper towel sheets to soak up any extra oil. Repeat until all the piroshkis are done.

Serving note
These can be served hot, but are also delicious cold from the fridge the day after. If you are serving them at a party, or if your family/friends pack particularly voracious appetites, set a couple aside as a mid-morning snack the following day (or a midnight snack once the guests have scattered).

1 comment:

katie said...

yum. I was perusing the blogs for some recession food and thought that piroshkis would be great. I will definitely use this recipe to help me on my quest for piroshki heaven! Helpful pics too!