When I moved to Poland from Mexico, I had to face new challenges every day, for example: the cold temperatures, different language, making new friends… But the biggest concern I had was if I would be able to survive without my delicious and glorious Mexican food.
During my first week in Poland I went to visit my girlfriend’s family, there was a family dinner and the food started to arrive to the table. I saw different Polish dishes like: barszcz, śledź, ogórki kiszone, and of course white vodka in the middle of the table. Then I saw small dumplings that looked delicious. I took a couple of them, when I tried them I felt like in heaven.
I couldn’t stop eating and my mother in law started to laugh, I probably looked like a homeless Mexican guy in Poland. After the dinner I asked: “What is this?”, and they told me: “These are called Pierogi, they are filled with meat and cabbage”. Then I knew that Pierogi was one of the most representative Polish dishes and that there are multiple ways to prepare them. For example there is pierogi filled with: meat, cabbage, cheese or mushrooms.
When I tried Pierogi, I knew my life in Poland would be easier, and with this food I would not miss Tacos a lot. That’s why I decided after 4 long years of living in this country, that it was time to ask an expert on this subject so she could teach me how to prepare proper Polish Pierogi! Many thanks once again to Babcia Ania.
Recipe to prepare Polish Pierogi With Meat and Cabbage
Ingredients:
- 1 egg
- About 300 gr of Flour
- About 300 gr of Ground Meat (mixed with cabbage, salt and pepper)
- 1 spoon of Oil
- 1 Pierogi Maker or 1 Fork (to ‘close’ the Pierogi, I will explain it later)
- Water
- And the secret ingredient: the help of Babcia Ania
Time to prepare:
- 15-20 minutes
Steps to follow:
Here are all the steps you need to follow, don’t worry I made a cool video about it, explaining everything step by step.
- Put the egg and the flour in a bowl and mixed them well.
- Add one spoon of oil and continue mixing for about 2 minutes.
- Add warm water till the dough consistency is good enough (when all the ingredients are well mixed).
- Put some flour on a pastry board or on a wooden cut board, and then place the dough on it.
- Then you need to start to knead it! Strong, my friend!
- Use a rolling pin to stretch the dough – remember that you need to make it really thin.
- Use a glass to cut out circles from that dough – with that quantity of ingredients you would be able to get around 20 circles.
- Fill each circle with prepared meat, and fold them into the form of a pierogi.
- Use the pierogi maker or a fork to ‘close’ the pierogi – the edge of the pierogi is normally decorated with a few lines, if you don’t have a pierogi maker don’t worry, you can just use a fork.
- Once you fill all of the circles and you don’t have any more dough or meat we are ready to continue.
- Now it’s time to boil water.
- When it’s ready put all of the pierogi into boiling water.
- Wait 2-3 minutes and check if the dough is not raw anymore.
- When you think they are ready, take them out from the water and put them on a plate.
- Enjoy! Smacznego!
Video Tutorial Polish Pierogi Recipe
In case my instructions were not clear enough (I’m not a cooking expert), or you prefer to watch someone prepare it (just like me), check this awesome video I made with a guest expert in Polish pierogi:
Please let me know if you enjoyed the video and of course if you want me to continue making recipes about Polish food! :)
3 Comments
Hello David :) First few paragraphs of your post reminded me of my Mexican colleague – he had exactly the same concerns when he came to Poland and, similar like you, he loves Mexican cuisine! I just hope he likes pierogi as much as you do ;)
Hi David..Enjoyed your pierogi story and recipe. I am a 1st generation Pole, so I enjoyed pierogi the many years that I lived in Chicago, and missed them after moving to AZ, however I got to love Mexican food..never tire of the taste and variety offered.
One of my problems with the recipe you provided is “grams” I need to know TSPS tsps , Cups!!! Can you
suggest how to convert these. I realize that in many parts of the world grams are their method of measuring,
I am glad you love Poland and the variety of Polish food, It is just plain fun to learn the foods from other countries and how people used what natural ingredients were available around them.
Thank You…and looking forward to hearing from you.
Hi Dolores! Thank you so much for your comments, and I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe! To convert grams to tablespoon I guess the best thing to do is to look for ‘Convert grams to tablespoons’ in Google, and that will do the trick :)
And it’s so cool that you love Mexican food as well! :D