His Mom's Perogys

When my husband who is of Ukrainian decent was growing up he always looked forward to his mother's home style cooking. What man doesn't!  His mom made all the traditional Ukrainan meals including varenyky (small little pastries filled with fruit) head cheese, holubtsi/holubchi (cabbage rolls), lazy cabbage, halushki (sugared donut holes) and his favourite Sauerkraut Perogy. In fact everyone in the family was head over heels in love with her perogys.  Although his mother was English she learned the secret of making these and other traditional meals from her mother-in law, and she would lovingly make them for his father and siblings.  My husband loved these little fried dumplings served with sour cream, lots of fresh white onions and a big hunk of fried Ukrainian or kubasa sausage.  I never learned to make Ada's perogys when I first married my husband, and unfortunately she passed away in 1982.  I searched her cook book and bits and scraps of recipes she had but she never recorded her treasured recipes, she knew them by heart.

Some time after she passed away, I was reading a celebrity interview in the TV weekly with hockey great #99, Wayne Gretsky and he had given them his mom's recipe for perogys.  It sounded so similar to what my husband's mother made that I just had to try out this recipe, and lo and behold the family agreed with great glee that they were just like Ada's!  I've done some tweaking over the years and here is my recipe.  Hope you enjoy it:

1 ½ cups warm water
5 cups all purpose flour plus ¼ cup
1 tsp salt
4 tbsps oil
2 eggs well beaten
1 large can or jar of sauerkraut
1 large white onion chopped
Package of Crisco lard
Tin foil for freezing perogies
Butter and sour cream

1. Mix 5 cups flour and salt in a large bowl

.

 

2. Add the oil and eggs to 1 ½ cups of warm water, and mix well.



3. Stir the liquid into the flour and mix until smooth.

 

4. Cover and let stand for two hours.

5. Drain sauerkraut and put in frying pan. Add 1 cup of chopped onion and heat in frying pan until onions are transparent. Turn off heat.

6. Fill a large deep pot with water and bring to a boil.

7. Sprinkle dough with flour and roll out until about ¼ inch thick and cut into 3-inch circles.

8. Place a spoonful of sauerkraut and onion filling on one half of each round. Moisten the inside edge and fold over and seal edge securely all around.

 

9. Drop six perogies into boiling water. Stir occasionally to prevent from sticking. Cook for 3-4 minutes. They will float to the surface when they are done. Remove with a slotted spoon.

10. If serving immediately, fry in butter in a frying pan. Serve with sautéed onions and sour cream.

11. If freezing for future use, place boiled perogies on a sheet of tin foil. Coat with 1 tablespoon of the Crisco lard and sprinkle with fresh cut white onion. Fold the tin foil into packets and freeze for up to 3 months.

Potato Cheese filling:

Mix sautéed onions, dry curd cottage cheese, shredded cheddar cheese and bacon bits into mashed potatoes. Add a mashed clove of garlic if you fancy that flavour. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Hope you enjoy this recipe. As Easter approaches I plan on making this recipe for our big meal.