Well Christmas has come and gone, and it was a fury of activity for a few days. I worked my butt off on Christmas Eve, cooking and cleaning, so that the day itself was supremely relaxing – brekky with friends at the beach early on, and then presents, food, champers and more food at home. All I did on the day was roast the potatoes and carrots and steam some green veg – everything else I cooked or prepared the day before. Very casual indeed, but also very yummy – and I was thoroughly spoilt and received loads of fantastic presents!
I have taken lots of pictures of food over the last few days, as we also went to a housewarming bbq yesterday at the home of a friend who is a butcher – so you can imagine the quality of the meat we were served! I am flat out with visitors for a while yet though, as well as working a bit, so finding time to write is not easy at the moment. We are having a NYE party on the weekend, so I’ve been preparing for that as well…..hence these tiny baked dumplings, which are a little time-consuming, but well worth the effort. They freeze well and taste like miniature buns with a surprise filling inside.
I’ve listed the original ingredients and method for making the dough; however, for a few years now I’ve just been using my bread machine to make the dough instead – so if you don’t have a bread machine, follow the instructions below, and if you do have a machine, just use the Dough setting and any plain white bread recipe or bread mix.
Piroshki
For Dough:
2 tsp dried yeast
2 1/2 tbsp sugar
3 cups plain flour
1 1/4 cup milk
125 gms butter
2 tsp salt
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
OR – use your regular white bread recipe in bread machine
For Filling 1:
2 brown onions, finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
200 gms rindless bacon, finely chopped
1/2 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 tsp cracked pepper
OR
For Filling 2:
300 gms small prawns, cooked, peeled & finely chopped
6 spring onions, finely chopped
crushed garlic, to taste
fresh ginger, grated, to taste
4 tsp soy sauce
In a small bowl, combine yeast with bit of warm water and 1 tsp of the sugar; stir until yeast and sugar has dissolved. Sprinkle with a bit of flour and leave in a warm place. Place milk, butter, salt and remaining sugar in a saucepan; heat until lukewarm, stirring occasionally.
Place the remaining flour in large bowl. Make a well in centre and add the milk mixture, yeast mixture and egg yolk. Stir with a wooden spoon, gradually incorporating the flour. Blend with a spoon or your very clean hand for 3 minutes – it should be smooth and elastic. Sprinkle a little flour on top and place in warm place until doubled in size (about an hour).
Meanwhile, make your choice of filling:
1. Saute onion and bacon with olive oil and pepper until cooked.
OR
2. Mix all of prawn filling ingredients together in a bowl.
When the dough has risen, turn out onto a floured board and knead lightly. Take walnut-size pieces of the dough, put a tsp of filling in centre and enclose to make into a smooth ball.
Bake on a greased oven tray in 200ºC oven for about 10 mins or until puffed and slightly browned. (Keep an eye on them as they cook quite quickly).
Makes about 60.
Happy Fooding!