Kitchen Curious: Cottage cheese is easy filling for Eastern European deep-fried hand pie
Across the globe, deep-fried hand pies are not only popular street fare but also comfort food. Now that the stockpiling of flour and yeast due to the coronavirus pandemic has slowed down, home cooks can get their hands busy making savory pockets of the Eastern European variety.
Piroshki, also called pirozhki or pyrizhky, are baked or fried yeast-leavened boat-shaped buns stuffed with savory or sweet fillings. One of Tatyana Nesteruk’s piroshki recipes in her newly released “Beyond Borscht: Old-World Recipes From Eastern Europe: Ukraine, Russia, Poland & More” (Page Street Publishing Co., $21.99) is especially appealing for quarantine cooking because the filling calls for dairy aisle staple cottage cheese.
This hands-on project is a good one for those who enjoy the rhythm of repetition: kneading dough, wringing out the cheese until it’s dry and crumbly, rolling dough, adding filling, sealing the savory pockets and frying them in batches.
If you are the type to experiment, consider upping the quantity of fresh dill or green onion in the filling. My taste testers even proposed adding finely chopped spinach for more greenery. I’d also reduce the salt in the filling by half.
The prescription for that soft, airy dough? Don’t mess with perfection.
Cottage Cheese and Dill Piroshki
- For the dough:
- 1 1/2 cups lukewarm whole milk
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter, melted
- 1 large egg
- 4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- For the cheese filling:
- 3 pounds, or 2 (24-ounce) cartons, large-curd cottage cheese
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill
- 1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
- 2 green onions, diced
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- For frying:
- 2 cups canola or grapeseed oil
- To make the yeast dough, whisk the milk and sugar together in a large bowl for 1 minute. Sprinkle the dry yeast over the top and allow it to proof for 5 minutes. Next, whisk in the salt, butter and egg until smooth. Begin mixing in the flour in 1/2-cup increments, until a soft dough forms. Transfer to a lightly floured work surface and knead the dough for 4 to 5 minutes, until it is very smooth and uniform. Place the dough into a large bowl, cover it with a towel and allow it to proof for 1 hour, or until it has doubled in size.
- Meanwhile, line a large, fine-mesh strainer with cheesecloth and add the cottage cheese. Rinse the cheese with cold water until just the curds remain. Wring out as much water as possible, until the cheese curds are crumbly. Place the cheese into a large bowl and add the dill, egg and egg yolk, green onions, salt and black pepper. Mix all the ingredients together.
- Once the dough has proofed, assemble and fry the piroshki. Heat the oil in a deep saute pan over medium heat until the oil reaches 350 degrees.
- Dust a work surface with flour. Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces. For each piroshok, roll the dough into a 5-inch circle using a rolling pin. Add 1/3 cup of the filling to the center of the circle, forming a half moon. Starting from the middle, bring the edges of the dough up over the filling and pinch it at the top, then continue pinching along the edges until secure.
- Assemble and fry the piroshki in small batches, 3 to 4 piroshki at a time. Fry for about 5 minutes, rotating the piroshki every minute to brown them evenly. Transfer the piroshki to a wire rack lined with paper towels to absorb the excess oil. They are best enjoyed warm.Serves 16.
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per piroshok: 273 calories (percent of calories from fat, 37), 11 grams protein, 30 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 12 grams fat (trace saturated fat), 49 milligrams cholesterol, 688 milligrams sodium.Reprinted with permission from “Beyond Borscht” by Tatyana Nesteruk (Page Street Publishing Co., 2020).
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About the Author
Ligaya Figueras is the AJC's senior editor for Food & Dining. Prior to joining the AJC in 2015, she was the executive editor for St. Louis-based culinary magazine Sauce. She has worked in the publishing industry since 1999 and holds degrees from St. Louis University and the University of Michigan.
