I love dumplings of every kind and these pork and potato are some of my personal favourites.
Served with crispy bacon and onions just like they were when I first tried them, I've also added a nutty sage butter to this dish to add another level of flavour - and a warm cauliflower puree to dip the dumplings in elevates a classic dish.
Makes 16
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp salt
1 egg
¾ cup of water
Filling
200g pork mince
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
2 large potatoes
1 tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of cayenne
½ tsp ground coriander
Cauliflower puree
½ cauliflower
1 potato
½ onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp salt
Pinch of nutmeg
½ tsp coriander
25g butter
½ cups milk
2 cups water or chicken stock
Toppings
4 streaks of bacon
½ onion
4 sage leaves
50g butter
Method
For this recipe you’ll want to get your dough made first to give it time to chill in the fridge before use.
For the dough, if you have a kitchen stand mixer, add all the dough ingredients together and combine until a solid dough ball has formed. If it’s too tacky, slowly add a little flour a teaspoon at a time until it combines well. If it’s too dry, do the same but with water until it comes together into a dough ball. Wrap and keep in the fridge for later.
For the filling, peel your potatoes and cut into small cubes, cover with clean water and a little salt, then boil until soft.
For the pork mince you want to get it nice brown and crispy, start with this in a hot pan with very little oil; you don’t want the mix to get too oily. While this is frying off, you can chop your onion into a fine dice and finely chop your garlic into a minced textured. Add this to the pan with the salt, pepper, nutmeg, cayenne and coriander and continue to brown.
Take off heat, mix into a container or bowl and set on the top shelf of the fridge to cool quickly.
For the cauliflower puree, cut the cauliflower into small florets and finely dice your onion and garlic. Start with a hot saucepan, add a little oil and butter, add the garlic, onion, nutmeg and coriander, cook until golden brown and fragrant. Add your cauliflower and cover with water or stock.
Cover the pot with a lid and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes until the cauliflower is very soft, then add butter and milk and cover off heat to cool down a little before blitzing. I used a blender attachment, but you can also use a stick blender or kitchen whizz. Blend until lump free and pass through a sieve back into a pot to easily reheat when needed.
Once the filling is cool and the dough has rested, you can form the dumplings. Start by dividing the dough into 16 pieces of the same size and roll into balls. I use oil spray on my bench and rolling pin to start any sticking.
Using a rolling pin to roll out your dough balls one at a time aim to get a nice round circle about the size of your palm. Add a Tbsp of mix into the middle of the dough and fold all the edges back together, creating a half-moon shape, making sure they’re all well pressed with no holes around the outside.
Place them on a tray lined with baking paper, avoid having them touching each other. Once you have made all of your dumplings, get a large frying pan nice and hot with a little oil.
Add as many as you can to the pan at a time and brown nicely on both sides. Once you have browned both sides, add a little water to the pan to steam the dumplings before finishing.
In a small pan add chopped bacon and onion, get these brown and crispy before adding butter and browning further. Add sage leaves and cook until you have a beautifully fragrant brown butter sauce.
To serve, add your puree to the bottom, lay your pierogis and top with the brown bacon butter.
