Пельмeни

I bought some пельмени (pelmeni)at Dnipro Market the other day. Pelmeni are the original frozen convenience food. They are very popular in Siberia where they were, in the past, frozen outdoors. They are basically dumpling/ravioli like, but very tasty in a simple and hearty kind of way. In Russia, frozen pelmeni are notorious as a sort of Bachelor Chow for single men, being very easy to prepare. I purchased some pork filled ones that looked pretty good. I will be cooking these two ways, boiled and boiled then fried.

They go into a rolling boil for about 8 minutes after they float to the surface.



That is pretty much it, buttered and then topped with a little smetana they were delicious. The ingredients listed for the filling are very simple. Pork, onion, salt, and dill are it. No preservatives or other weirdness in there so they had a fresh, homemade taste.



If you don't know, smetana is some serious stuff. It is usually described as Russian sour cream, but it is kind of a different animal than the stuff you may be used to. It is super thick, about the consistency of soft serve icecream.



I also fried up some boiled pelmeni in the lovely grease of the Polish bacon I got at Dnipro (are you tired of me raving about this stuff yet?



They cooked until lightly browned and crisp.



Both cooking methods produced a delicious result. I am a big fan of meat centered/dough wrapped foods (asian dumplings, ravioli, pirogi, varyniki, etc...). I love that nearly every culture has its own version and that it usually represents the epitome of homey comfort food. I recommend trying these out if you stop by Dnipro.