Recipe: Zuza Zak’s Sweet Kasha and Twaróg Pierogi

Hosting your own book club? Take yourself on a journey to 1980s Poland while reading Swimming In The Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski – Dua’s Monthly Read for May – with chef Zuza Zak’s recipe for sweet kasha and twaróg pierogi, taken from her cookbook Pieorgi: Over 50 Recipes To Create Perfect Polish Dumplings.

Magdalena is my glamorous photographer friend who lives in Paris. She was born and raised in one of my favourite towns in Poland, charming Lublin, where this recipe is from. Magdalena lovingly called her grandma Janina, who she says should be a three-Michelin-star chef for this recipe; however, Janina only began to cook once she met her husband (Magdalena’s grandad).

The first meal Janina ever made for him was rosół with kluski lane (‘poured noodles’). She recalls how she carefully watched his face as he ate her dish to see how her food tasted. If these pierogi are anything to go by, I imagine that his expression must have been that of a the person who had happily landed in a bath of melted butter.

Ingredients

150g (51⁄2oz) kasha

A large pinch of salt

25g (1oz) salted butter

400g (14oz) twaróg or other soft white cheese, such as ricotta

3 tbsp golden caster (superfine) sugar

For the dough

300g (10 1⁄2oz or 2 1⁄4 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour, plus extra to dust

150–170ml (5-5 1⁄2fl oz or scant 2⁄3-3⁄4 cup) boiling water from a kettle

1 egg yolk

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp rapeseed (canola) oil

To serve

30g (1oz) melted butter

Soured cream

Soft brown sugar

Instructions

1. Put the kasha in a pan with a lid, pour over water to cover by about 1.5cm (5⁄8in).Then add the salt and the butter and bring it to the boil.
   
2. Turn the heat down, put on the lid and simmer for about 20 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed.
   
3. Turn the heat off and leave it covered to carry on steaming for a further 20 minutes.
   
4. To make the dough according to Janina’s method, put the flour in a large bowl and add some of the measured boiling water first so the flour is half wet and half dry.
   
5. Then add the yolk, salt and oil and bring it all together into a dough. If it feels a little dry, add a bit more hot water (you may not need it all).
   
6. Knead it for a moment in the bowl, then turn it out onto a floured work surface and knead for a further 6-7 minutes until the dough is elastic. Cover with a clean, damp dish towel and leave to rest for 20-30 minutes while you finish the filling.
   
7. Put the twaróg (or other cheese) in a bowl and mash with a fork. Add the kasha and the sugar and mix to combine.
   
8. Roll the dough out very thinly, ideally to about 0.5mm, and use your favourite method to shape, fill and seal the pierogi, placing each filled pierogi on a floured surface when finished.
   
9. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the pierogi in batches. When they float to the top, give them an extra minute or so.
   
10. Use a slotted spoon to transfer them to a frying pan (shake off any excess water) with the melted butter in it, spooning the butter over the top. Fry the buttered pierogi until golden on both sides before serving with soured cream and a little soft brown sugar on top.

Pieorgi: Over 50 Recipes To Create Perfect Polish Dumplings by Zuza Zak is out now