Pierogi (cabbage)*

Ingredients (30 pierogies):

Dough:

3 cups flour
2 large eggs, beaten
1 cup cold water
3 tbsp. vegetable oil
½ tsp. salt

Filling:

1 large cabbage head
⅓ cup salted butter
salt to taste
white pepper to taste, or very fine black pepper

For Serving:

½ onion, finely diced
sour cream2 tbsp. salted butter for frying

Equipment:

large bowl
large sauté pan or stock pot
medium skillet
plastic wrap
3″ cookie cutter
kitchen scissors
baking sheet
slotted spoon

Instructions:

Dough:

1. In a large bowl add flour, eggs, oil, salt, and 1 cup of water. Mix well to form a dough, adding more water if needed.
2. Knead the dough about 5 minutes until it becomes smooth and pliable. Don’t overwork the dough.
3. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for about 1 hour.

Filling:

1. Quarter the head of cabbage. Remove the cores from the center of each quarter.
2. Peel a couple of the layers off the cabbage quarters. Discard the center of the cabbage. Slice the layers of cabbage into thin strips and remove any of the white vein pieces.
3. Removing veins from sliced cabbage. Removing veins from sliced cabbage.
4. In a large sauté pan or stock pot, melt ¼ cup of margarine or butter over medium heat. Add all of the sliced cabbage to the pan, stir and then cover with a lid.
5. Cook down making sure to stir often to prevent burning. When the cabbage starts to dry up from the margarine/butter, add one tablespoon at a time of the margarine or butter to the pan and stir in.
6. Season the mixture with pepper and salt. Continue to stir until all cooked down. Keep covered.
7. Remove any of the hard-white veins that were missed when cutting the cabbage. Uncover when just about done to cook out any extra moisture.
8. Set aside and let cool until ready to make the perogies. You can refrigerate the cooked cabbage until ready to assemble.

Assembly:

9. Using half of the dough, roll it out ⅛” thick. Cut out circles of dough using a 3″ cookie cutter.
10. Scoop 1½ tablespoons of filling and roll into a ball, place on each cut-out dough.
11. Wet the tip of your finger with water and moisten the edge of half the dough circle. Fold the top of the dough circle overtop of the filling so it lines up with the lower ½ of the circle.
12. Press to seal, using a fork to seal all the edges or the tip of your finger. Make sure the part that is pinched together is pinched quite thinly, so the pinch edge is about the same thickness as the ⅛” thick dough. You can trim the excess with kitchen scissors if desired.
13. Place each sealed pierogi on a baking sheet. Repeat.

Cooking:

14. Heat butter in skillet. Add diced onions and cook on medium-low heat until tender. Remove onions from the pan and set aside for serving.
15. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Gently add pierogies and cook until they float, about 2 to 4 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon.
16. Transfer pierogies to the hot skillet (adding more butter if needed) and cook until browned on each side, about 5 minutes.
17. Serve warm with onions and sour cream.

*Great Great Grandmother Agatha’s recipe