Piroshki - A Russian/Kazakh Dish

This is my daughter's absolute favorite dish! So here she demonstrates how to make these delicious little pockets. They are a simple dough filled with ground meat and several different herbs. This is actually a Kazakh peasant food made with lots of love, and I have to say that Gracie is a natural at putting these little pockets together!!!

Ingredients:

For Meat Filling

1 lb of ground meat, any kind

2-3 cloves of garlic minced

1 medium onion, chopped

Fresh dill chopped, or 1 T dried

1 T dried marjoram

1 T dried mint

1 T dried Thyme

Salt and pepper

1 T butter for sauteing

For Dough

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 egg

Approximately1/2-3/4 cup milk

salt

2-3 more T. butter for sauteing

Method:
Melt butter in a frying pan and then add the garlic and onion, sauteing until onion is transparent, be careful not to burn the garlic. Add the ground meat and brown. Add the next 4 ingredients plus the salt and pepper. Let the meat mixture cool completely before assembling the piroshki.

Next, in a large bowl, add the flour, egg, milk and salt and mix together. You may need to add more flour to the dough to prevent it from becoming too sticky. You don't want the dough sticky or you will not be able to work with it properly.

Roll out the dough on a clean floured surface, again you may want to add more flour to prevent dough from sticking. Your dough should be about 1/4 of an inch thick. Then using a round cutter or a glass, press into the dough and pull out the circular shapes. Cover them with more flour and roll them out into and oblong shape.

Then add 2-3 tsp. of the meat mixture to the center of your dough.

Now using your finger with a little bit of water, trace the outer perimeter of the dough with the water. This is to ensure a good seal on the pocket.

Then carefully fold the dough in half, pulling one side over the meat, and press edges to seal. Place on a well floured surface and repeat the process until all the meat is used.

Melt butter in frying pan and add the doughy pockets to the pan.

Fry in pan until the dough becomes golden in color. Carefully remove and serve or keep in a warm oven until ready to serve.

These are great alone or served with a dollop of sour cream. The dough recipe here can also be used to make the Eastern European pirogi.

Enjoy!!!