Koldunai

Koldunai are filled dumplings from Lithuania that are boiled in salted water. This Lithuanian form of ravioli, traditionally filled with minced pork, beef, chicken, curd cheese, or mushrooms, provides a fantastic lunch choice and can be eaten with a range of garnishes, ranging from butter and black pepper to mayonnaise, sour cream, crispy bacon, or spirguiais (a type of pork rind). These dumplings are also popular in Poland and Belarus under the names kalduny or kolduny.

Ingredients:

300-350 g (2 1/3 cup) all purpose flour,1/2 cup water,2 eggs,¼ tsp. salt,400 g (0.9 lb) ground pork (higher in fat),1 small onion,2 tbsp. oil,2/3 tsp. salt,1/3 tbsp. black pepper,¼ tsp. sugar

Instructions:

• Mix the egg with salt and water. Then slowly add flour and mix. When it becomes hard to mix the dough, then knead by hand. Add the flour little by little and knead the dough well (about 5-7 minutes). Add as much flour so that the dough doesn’t stick to the hands, but still is elastic and soft. Then wrap the dough in plastic wrap and leave to rest for about 15 minutes at room temperature.
• Filling – peel the onion and dice it. Preheat oil in a pan, add the onion, and fry until soft. Leave to cool. Then mix all the ingredients for the filling in one bowl.
• Take a small piece of the dough, roll out a thin sheet, then squeeze desired size circles using a glass. Placing about half a teaspoon of filling in the center of each circle. Fold the circles in half, squeeze the edges and twist them into a string. In this way prepare all the dumplings.
• Bring water to a boil in a large pot, add the dumplings and boil them for 5 minutes from the time they rise to the surface. Serve dumplings with fried bacon and sour cream.