pirogi, pierogi, perogi, perogy, piroghi, piroshki, pirozhki, pyragai, piroghi, pirogi, pyrohy, пирог and пирожок

while the classic pierogi are of eastern european origin these semi-circular dumplings are no strangers to the regional cuisine here in the bohemian forest in upper austria. there are some well known regional varieties in austria like the schlutzkrapfen in tirol or the kasnudeln in carinthia. in germany, or more specific in swabia, they have the famous maultaschen. that's what we call them too. pierogi are really big north america where immigrants added them to the cuisine. i did not know that either.

i don't make them that often and i never made them totally from scratch, but i mostly make them savory and stuff them with minced meat or cabbage. i also like to drown the pierogis in tomato sauce ... mmmmmmh ...

the other day i came across another interesting variation of the pierogi, the karjalanpiirakka from finland and i decided to give it a try. so here we go!

(makes 6 pierogi)

75 ml water
50 g rice (originally puuroriisi or grötris, i used risotto rice)
salt
150 ml milk

50 ml cold water
1/2 tsp salt
50 g flour (wheat)
25 g flour (rye)
12 g melted butter

butter
water

1/2 egg
25 g butter

1. boil the rice in water and a dash of salt until all the water has been absorbed
2. add milk and cook for another 30 minutes on low heat
3. mix water, salt, flour and butter until well blended
4. roll out the dough into circles on a lightly floured surface. make sure it is thin enough
5. place a spoon full of the rice on each circle and fold the edges up
6. bake 5-10 minutes at 275-300°c
7. melt a knob of butter in some water and brush the freshly baked perogies with the mixture
8. serve warm with an egg-butter mixture (dice one hard boiled egg and mix with butter)

actually, i have no idea how the karjalanpiirakka are supposed to taste and i can only imagine how they should look like ... well, my version seems to be totally bent out of shape *ggg*. making a dish you don't even know can be some sort of a blind flight, but this recipe just sounded too cool not to try. it tastes pretty good and bearing the fact in mind that i really have no idea about the real taste of this dish, i think i did a good job with this version of the pierogi.


ps: i have seen this picto broswer in a few blogs lately. i thought i'll try it too. if you want to know more just click here.