Cottage Cheese Vareniki Recipe 45

Steps:

• Dough: First mix flour with the salt. Combine the egg, milk and cottage cheese in blender. Stir combination into the flour and salt and knead to make a soft dough. Cover and let the dough stand for 10 minutes. Filling: In a bowl, combine the cottage cheese with the egg, and season to taste with salt. The filling should be thick enough to hold its shape in a spoon. Roll the dough quite thin on a floured board. Cut rounds with a large biscuit cutter. Put a round of dough on the palm of your hand. Place a spoonful of the cheese filling on the dough, fold it over to form a half circle, and press the edges together with your fingers. The edges should be free of filling. Be sure that the edges are sealed well to prevent the filling from running out. Place the vareniki on a floured board or a kitchen towel (don't crowd them), and cover with a kitchen towel to prevent drying. Drop a few vareniki at a time into a large quantity of rapidly boiling salted water. Stir very gently with a wooden spoon to separate the vareniki and to prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Continue boiling for 3 or 4 minutes. Vareniki are ready when they are well puffed. Remove them with a slotted spoon. Place in a deep dish, sprinkle generously with melted butter, and toss very gently to coat them evenly with butter. Serve in a large dish without piling or crowding them. The traditional accompaniment is sour cream. Sour cream, may be used in the filling if the cottage cheese is very dry.

Steps:

• In a blender, combine cottage cheese, 2 eggs and ground black pepper to taste. Cover and blend until smooth, or beat with an electric mixer until smooth; Set aside.
• In a large bowl, stir together flour, milk powder, baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt. In a small bowl, beat together 2 eggs, water and oil; combine with flour mixture.
• On a floured surface, knead dough about 10 times or until smooth. Divide dough in half and roll out each portion to a 1/8 inch thickness. Using a 4 inch round cutter, cut out rounds of dough.
• Place 1 tablespoon of filling in the center of each circle. Moisten the edge and fold over to form a half moon shape; pinch to seal.
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add half of the dumplings and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender; remove with a slotted spoon and drain. Repeat with remaining dumplings.
• While the dumplings are cooking, prepare the gravy. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Stir in ham, and cook until ham is light brown. Add 3 tablespoons flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper. Stir. Pour in milk all at once, stirring constantly; cook and stir until thick and bubbly. Serve over the dumplings.