Varenyky is a very popular Ukrainian everyday and ritual dish made of boiled dough with fillings known since ancient times. It is made with different fillings, like cabbage, poppy seeds, different berries, boiled meat, porridges and even fried flour.
The word “Pyrogy” is the ancient Slavonic word “pirogъ” that is – formed from the word “pir'” (“feast”) with the suffix -ogъ or from the word “руго” (“wheat”), the ancient slavic word “pyro” under the influence of the word “pir'” (“feast”). The word “Varenyky” is from the word “varyty” (“to boil”)
There was no potato in Ukraine until it was brought from South America in XVI century, so varenyky with potato filling are not the ancient variant of dish. One of the most popular fillings was fresh cottage cheese mixed with dill, Varenyky with cheese and vegetables filling (steamed)
Varenyky usually were done on Sundays or different special days, such as weddings, memorial lunch, giving name ritual, childbirth, ritual holidays, harvest gathering. Varenyky have the moon shape and are very symbolic.
In Ukraine was a tradition that the first dish in ancient times that mother ate after childbirth was Varenyky and people who cooked them wished her to have a lot of children and said “Be always full like varenyk”.
Varenyky with cheese
Ingredients:
- flour - 600 g
- Milk - 250 g
- egg - 5
- Butter - 100 g
Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying. Butter consists of butterfat, milk proteins and water.
Butter, unsalted
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 2,999 kJ (717 kcal)
Carbohydrates 0 g
Fat 81 g
– saturated 51 g
– monounsaturated 21 g
– polyunsaturated 3 g
Protein 1 g
Vitamin A equiv. 684 μg (86%)
Vitamin D 60 IU (10%)
Vitamin E 2.32 mg (15%)
Cholesterol 215 mg - cottage cheese - 800 g
A fresh cheese made from whole, part-skimmed or skimmed pasteurized cow’s milk. Curds are a dairy product obtained by curdling (coagulating) milk with rennet or an edible acidic substance such as lemon juice or vinegar, and then draining off the liquid portion. The increased acidity causes the milk proteins (casein) to tangle into solid masses, or curds. The remaining liquid, which contains only whey proteins, is the whey. In cow’s milk, 80% of the proteins are caseins. Milk that has been left to sour (raw milk alone or pasteurized milk with added lactic acid bacteria or yeast) will also naturally produce curds, and sour milk cheese is produced this way.
- salt - to taste
Salt is a mineral substance composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl)
Salt is present in most foods, but in naturally occurring foodstuffs such as meats, vegetables and fruit, it is present in very small quantities. It is often added to processed foods to make their flavour more appealing and is also present at higher levels in preserved foods.
In many East Asian cultures, salt is not traditionally used as a condiment.In its place, condiments such as soy sauce, fish sauce and oyster sauce tend to have a high sodium content and fill a similar role to table salt in western cultures. They are most often used for cooking rather than as table condiments.
Table salt is made up of just under 40% sodium by weight, so a 6 g serving (1 teaspoon) contains about 2,300 mg of sodium.
Sodium serves a useful purpose in the human body: it helps nerves and muscles to function correctly, and it is one of the factors involved in the autoregulation of water content (fluid balance).[49] Most of the sodium in the Western diet comes from salt
Too much sodium is bad for health, and health organizations generally recommend that people reduce their dietary intake of salt. High salt intake is associated with a significantly greater risk of stroke and total cardiovascular disease in susceptible people. In adults and children with no acute illness, a decrease in the intake of sodium from the typical high levels reduces blood pressure and provides a health benefit, and a low salt diet results in an even greater improvement in blood pressure in those with hypertension than in those without. A reduction in salt intake of 5 g per day has been found to be associated with a 23% reduction in the rate of stroke and a 17% reduction in the rate of total cardiovascular disease. The World Health Organization recommends that all adults should consume less than 2,000 mg of sodium (5 g of salt) per day. A 2013 report from the Institute of Medicine states that there is insufficient evidence to show that there is any additional benefit in lowering sodium intake to less than 2,300 mg per day.
- dill - to taste
- green dill - to taste
- green onion - to taste
- green parsley - to taste
- sour cream - 100 g
Sour cream is a dairy product obtained by fermenting a regular cream with certain kinds of lactic acid bacteria
Instructions:
1. Sift flour, add milk, 3 eggs, melted butter, salt and knead the elastic dough. Put it for 20 min. to stand, cover it with napkin to avoid drying.
2. For the filling take cheese, add 2 eggs, cut herbs, salt and mix thoroughly.
3.Roll out the dough thin of 1-2 mm, make with glass rounds, put the filling by a small spoon in the middle of the rounds and press the edges. Varenyk has the form of a crescent.
4. Varenyky are boiled in small portions (500 g.) in a big amount of hot salted water (3-4 tbsp.). When the water is boiling, reduce the heat to low, put varenyky, boil for 1-2 minutes., and remove with a slotted spoon into a deep bowl, add butter, sour cream, parsley.
