Pumpkin Vareniki
Half-moon dumplings filled with pumpkin cooked down with onion. The filling is savory, with only the sweetness the squash already has.
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 2/3 cup cold water
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Filling
- 1 lb pumpkin, peeled and cut in small dice
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons butter
- Salt and black pepper
- Small handful of chopped parsley
- Pinch of sugar, optional
To serve
- Butter
- Sour cream
- Chopped parsley
Instructions
Stir the flour and salt. Beat the egg with the cold water and olive oil, pour into the flour, and mix to a shaggy dough. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Cover and rest 30 minutes.
Melt the butter in a skillet and cook the onion until soft. Add the pumpkin, a pinch of salt, and a splash of water. Cover and cook until the pumpkin collapses, 10 to 12 minutes, uncovering at the end so the filling is not watery. Season with pepper and parsley. A pinch of sugar only if the pumpkin is bland. Cool.
Roll the dough thin, about 1/16 inch. Cut 3 inch circles. Place a heaping teaspoon of filling in the center, fold into a half-moon, and pinch the seam shut. Press out air as you seal.
To freeze, set them in one layer on a floured tray until firm, then bag. Do not thaw before boiling.
Boil in salted water, stirring once so they do not stick. When they float, cook 3 minutes more. Frozen ones go in still frozen and need a minute or two longer.
Toss with butter and serve with sour cream and parsley.
Notes
Do not overfill or the seam splits in the pot. If the filling is wet, the dough goes slack — cook it down until it holds on a spoon. Orthodox fasting: skip the egg and the butter. Use the water-and-flour dough from the lenten potato and mushroom vareniki, cook the onion and pumpkin in olive oil, and serve without sour cream.