Pelmeni (Siberian Pork and Beef Dumplings)
Tiny dumplings of thin egg dough folded around raw ground pork, beef and onion with plenty of black pepper, boiled in bay-scented broth and served with butter, sour cream, fresh herbs and more pepper.
Pelmeni are small, thin-skinned Russian meat dumplings, and Wikipedia says they became a staple as Russia expanded into the Ural Mountains and Siberia. The name comes from the Komi and Udmurt languages and is often glossed as "ear bread." Unlike pierogi or vareniki, pelmeni are never sweet, the filling goes in raw, and the dough is rolled as thin as possible. In Siberian winters they were frozen outdoors and carried into the taiga by hunters. Izhevsk, the capital of Udmurtia, has a monument to them.
Where pelmeni came from is an open argument: an adaptation of Chinese jiaozi (the black pepper is one clue), a dumpling the Mongols carried, or a Ural hunters' food. This version comes from Alissa Timoshkina's Russian cookbook Salt & Time, as printed by The Splendid Table. Her family eats them with butter, black pepper and sour cream, or in their own broth, and her father liked soy sauce on them.
Why it works the kitchen science
Raw filling, thin dough
The meat cooks inside the dumpling and its juices stay there, and dough rolled to 1.5 mm cooks in the same 5 minutes the tiny meatball needs.
Cooking in broth
A bay leaf and a bouillon cube turn the cooking water into soup, so you can serve pelmeni in it with no extra work.
Step by step
- Step 1
Sift the flour onto a clean counter and make a well. Add the salt, egg and water and work the flour in with your hands to a firm dough. Knead 5 to 7 minutes, wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes.
- Step 2
Meanwhile, mix the pork, beef, onion, salt and pepper thoroughly in a bowl.
- Step 3
Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface (a pasta machine on setting 7 is easiest) into sheets about 1.5 mm (1/16 inch) thick. Cut rounds 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches across with a shot glass or cutter.
- Step 4
Put a teaspoon of filling in the center of each round, fold it into a half-moon and press the edges together. If you like the classic shape, pinch the two corners together into a ring.
- Step 5
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat with the bay leaf and bouillon cube. Add the pelmeni in batches and cook about 5 minutes per batch, until they float and the center of one reads 160°F.
- Step 6
Ladle them into bowls with some broth, or lift them out with a slotted spoon onto plates and top with butter. Finish with sour cream, herbs and plenty of black pepper.
Pelmeni (Siberian Pork and Beef Dumplings)
Serves 5 · about 100 pelmeni · 1 hr 55 min total
Dough
- 350 g (about 2 3/4 cups) Italian "00" flour or all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp (100 ml) water
Filling
- About 9 oz (250 g) ground pork
- About 9 oz (250 g) ground beef
- 1 onion, very finely chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
To cook and serve
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 beef or chicken bouillon cube
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- Chopped fresh dill or parsley, and black pepper
Method
- Sift the flour onto a clean counter and make a well. Add the salt, egg and water and work the flour in with your hands to a firm dough. Knead 5 to 7 minutes, wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, mix the pork, beef, onion, salt and pepper thoroughly in a bowl.
- Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface (a pasta machine on setting 7 is easiest) into sheets about 1.5 mm (1/16 inch) thick. Cut rounds 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches across with a shot glass or cutter.
- Put a teaspoon of filling in the center of each round, fold it into a half-moon and press the edges together. If you like the classic shape, pinch the two corners together into a ring.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat with the bay leaf and bouillon cube. Add the pelmeni in batches and cook about 5 minutes per batch, until they float and the center of one reads 160°F.
- Ladle them into bowls with some broth, or lift them out with a slotted spoon onto plates and top with butter. Finish with sour cream, herbs and plenty of black pepper.
Adapted from Alissa Timoshkina, Salt & Time: Recipes from a Modern Russian Kitchen (Mitchell Beazley), "Siberian Pelmeni Dumplings", The Splendid Table (December 3, 2019). The book's dough (700 g flour, 2 eggs, 200 ml water) serves meat, fish and mushroom fillings together for about 200 dumplings; we make only the meat filling as written (250 g each pork and beef, 1 onion, 1 tsp each salt and pepper) with half the dough. We follow the 5 to 7 minute knead, the 30-minute chill, 1.5 mm sheets, 1 1/2- to 2 1/2-inch rounds, a teaspoon of filling each and 5 minutes per batch in salted water with a bay leaf and a bouillon cube. The 160°F check, the serving amounts and the 5 servings are ours. splendidtable.org. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (2)
Tips
- Pelmeni freeze well laid flat in a freezer bag; cook them from frozen a few minutes longer.
- Timoshkina says fresh dill was not traditional (pelmeni were winter food) but now recommends fresh herbs, even sage butter.
- Wikipedia lists vinegar, mustard and horseradish as other common toppings.
- A pelmeni mold (pelmenitsa) speeds up shaping if you make them often.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Pelmeni are Siberian. Disputed: Wikipedia calls them widely seen as Siberia's contribution, but lists Chinese jiaozi, the Mongols and the Urals as other proposed origins.
- Pelmeni filling goes in raw. Documented as Wikipedia's account, unlike vareniki and pierogi.
- Dill on pelmeni is traditional. Disputed: Timoshkina says it was not (winter food, no fresh herbs) but now uses it; many modern cooks do.
- Pelmeni were frozen outdoors for winter. Documented as Wikipedia's account of Siberian practice.
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