The Pirozh'ki' to my heart!

Behi -

Pirozhki, Pirashki, Piroshki, Pirizhky are all the same word for baked or fried pastries filled with a variety of ingredients.

The origin of this food may be from eastern Europe, however, this delicious meal has proven popular in many other regions of the world. This, in my opinion, is down to two reasons: the taste and how simple it is to make!

Let me go through the preparation and cooking methods for this famous type of pastry:

Ingredients (for the pastry):

  • Melted butter - 1/3 of a cup
  • Sourdough - 3 tbspn
  • Warm water - 1/2 a cup
  • Hot milk - 1/2 a cup
  • Sugar - 1/3 of a cup
  • Eggs - 2 large
  • Salt - 1/2 tsp
  • Flour - 3 1/2 cups

Preparation method:

  • Mix the sourdough and water together and leave for about 7 minutes until it has doubled in size
  • Add the sugar to the milk and rest aside to cool down before breaking the eggs into the mix and stirring
  • Mix in the oil, salt and a pinch of vanilla syrup before also adding the sourdough and water mix followed by the flour
  • Once fully kneaded, leave aside and cover for 20 minutes to allow for it to rise
  • Once risen and ready to be rolled, roll the dough to 0.5 cm thickness before cutting out glass-sized circles
  • The meat/vegetable stew that you choose to put in the middle of each cut-out dough will depend on your taste
  • In the pictures here you can see that I used a meatball stew mix to fill the pastries with (minced lamb, tomatoes, garlic, herbs, cinnamon, turmeric)
  • fill out the pastries with the meat mix and turn them into semi-lunar or boat-shaped pastries before frying them
  • You may use an oil fryer to fry these or alternatively use a pot and fill up with oil (take care not to have any splashed on you!) and ensure it is extremely hot before you throw in the pastries to be fried - if the oil is not hot enough the pastries won't puff up

I hope this has made you pi'rush'ki to make this yummy yummy recipe!