Savory Sweet Potato Pierogi
What can I say…. we still have sweet potatoes from last year’s harvest so it was an experiment waiting to happen. It was Geoff’s idea. He’s been wanting to learn how to make pierogi. There are lots of traditional fillings that can be used but he thought it appropriate for our CobraHead blog post that we fill them with sweet potatoes.
I admit that I haven’t made pierogi in years. The first time I ever had them was back in Detroit (just before we were married) when Noel’s mother made them with various fillings (cottage cheese, cabbage, sauerkraut, mushrooms, mashed potatoes, prunes) for Easter dinner.
I found the following dough recipe from a cookbook that Mrs. Valdes used – Treasured Polish Recipes for Americans, Published by Polanie Club – Minneapolis, MN in 1948. The book is an excellent compilation of recipes put together by Polish immigrants seeking to preserve their heritage through food. Give the following recipe a try and add to your traditions.
Dough Recipe
2 eggs
½ cup water
2 cups flour
½ t salt
Mound flour on kneading board and make a hole in center. Drop eggs into hole and cut into flour with knife. Add salt and water and knead until firm. Let rest for 10 minutes covered with a warm bowl. Divide dough in halves and roll thin. Cut circles with large biscuit cutter or a glass with a diameter of 2 ½ to 3 inches. Place a small spoonful of filling a little to one side on each round of dough. Moisten edge with water, fold over and press edges together firmly. Be sure they are well sealed to prevent the filling from running out. Drop pierogi into salted boiling water. Cook gently for 3 to 5 minutes. Lift out of water carefully with perforated spoon.
Never crowd or pile pierogi. The uncooked will stick and the cooked will lose shape and lightness.
Pierogi in Progress
Savory Sweet Potato Filling – a CobraHead Original
2 cups roasted sweet potato, mashed/sieved
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 T. Butter – may be half olive oil
2 tsp. cumin
½ tsp. chile powder
½ tsp. oregano
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. ground pepper
Cook the sweet potato earlier in the day or the day before, or even make the filling the day before you’re ready to make the pierogi.
Sauté the onion in the butter for about 10 minutes until softened. Add to the mashed sweet potatoes along with the spices and mix very well. Follow instructions above for filling and cooking the pierogi.
When ready to serve gently sauté the pierogi in butter until heated through. Best served with sour cream. Delicious!
Sounds familiar, Judy- my husband’s mother made the Lithuanian version, filled with ham & onion for Easter every year and quite frequently she’d also make them for Christmas. For a large family they were really labor intensive. I followed her lead while other people in the extended family filled their dumplings with white potatoes, saurkraut or something called “farmer’s cheese’. The sour cream went on top of the kugelis… melted butter was poured over the pierogi!
I haven’t made a pierogi in years, but this sweet potato version is quite tempting. Congrats on having such a good harvest.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
BTW, my DH is using his Cobrahead right now – straightening out a fencepost.
Thanks for the note, Annie. I wish I had more time to spend in the kitchen. Some of the really good dishes are worth the effort. By the way, ‘farmer’s cheese’ is like a dry cottage cheese similar to ricotta in style. It can be mashed in with the potatoes or used in the sweetened pierogi.
I am going to try this recipe. I would love a copy of the saurkraught filling.
I am Lithuanian, and love pierogies, Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Ona
You’re welcome, Ona.
Here is the sauerkraut filling recipe from that same Polish cookbook:
2 cups sauerkraut, rinsed and chopped, 2 cups chopped mushrooms, 2 T. sour cream, 1 small onion, chopped fine, butter, salt & pepper. – Saute onion in butter, add chopped mushrooms and fry 5 minutes. Add chopped sauerkraut and continue to fry until the flavors blend. Add sour cream and cool. (or use cooked cabbage) Enjoy!