The one and only - Polish "p i e r o g i"

My Dear Steemian friends!

Today I am inviting you to Poland, my home country! To polish cuisine more precisely!;)

I would like to tell you more about one of my favourite dishes: “P I E R O G I”!

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What “pierogi” are?

“Pierogi” are, to make things easier, a kind of dumplings. This name is an extremely vast category of food, well known and existing all around the world!

I do not know why am I such a huge fun of any kind of dumplings! Does not really matter if they come from Polish, Chinese (“xiaolongbao” among others), Italian (”ravioli”), or Georgian (”khinkali”) cuisine.

They are simply delicious, period!

In general one may say that dumpling is just a pocket of dough filled with stuffing (savory, sometimes sugary flavor). But the truth is that the home made pierogi have a lot of love and attention as their secret ingredient. ;)

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Personally, Pierogi will always remind me of my childhood, when I was helping my mum by cutting little circles from the dough, and then stuffing them with the filling. And, obviously, eating the filling at the same time! Soon she realised that each time she wanted to serve Pierogi, she was obliged to prepare much more filling than was needed only for the dough itself ;)).
I guess we all have those kind of carefree memories, don’t we? :)

A tiny bit of history

The word “pierogi” first appeared in Polish cookbooks in XVII century, but allegedly they have been made since XIII century. Although for a long time they remained peasant food, they were slowly gaining popularity within nobles. They were present on Polish tables throughout the years and nowadays they are considered one of the most typical polish national dishes.

The origins of polish dumplings are disputed, there are legends stating contrasting stories and their origins. One of them is saying that pierogi were brought to Poland from China by Marco Polo's expeditions, through Italy.

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Pierogi from the inside:

There are variety of fillings, depending what mood you are in and what do you fancy? So yes, you are basically limited only by your imagination. They can have savory, spicy or sugary flavour!
One of the most traditional are so-called “pierogi ruskie” (you read it like you write it). This is an option for vegetarians;) Their filling consists of: cooked mashed potatoes, typical cottage (farmer, white, “fresh”) cheese, and stir-fried onion. There are pierogi with meat filling as well. The forcemeat will be better for meat eaters;) Another vegetarian kind is a must during the Polish Christmas Eve dinner: mushrooms with cabbage.
But… the sky is the limit;) so nowadays you can find basically any kind of filling: spinach, pumpkin, 4 cheese, lamb etc!

Very typical, and maybe my favourite, are pierogi with fruits! They are particularly present on polish tables during the summer, when the filling is made from fresh strawberries, barriers, and so on.:)

Pierogi from the outside:

The dough for Pierogi is made from flour mixed with warm water. My mom adds a little bit of olive oil, but it is not obligatory. Than you roll it flat and cut into circles using any kind of drinking glass (depending on the size you want).

Topping:

There are variety of ways how to serve Pierogi. Savory flavoured Pierogi with melted butter, sour cream, small pieces of fried bacon and/or onions. Sweet ones with sour cream mixed with sugar, apple sauce or jam.

"Pierogarnia"

Pierogi are so popular among poles and tourists that you can find special bars (I would be carefull with calling them restaurants) serving them in bigger cities. Those bars are called “Pierogarnia”. There, you can easily order traditional as well as more creative fillings or toppings.

Recipes worth knowing.

I invite you, my international friends, to visit this site. It offers some really tasty Pierogi recipes in English!

And if you speak sufficiently Polish, I recommend one of my favourite cooking site kwestia smaku.

I hope you enjoyed this tasty post!

Sending joy!
Kasia