Pelmeni are Russian dumplings made with ground beef and onion filling wrapped in thin dough. They originated in Siberia and were traditionally made by women for hunters on winter expeditions. The dough is made from flour, eggs, and water, and the filling includes minced meat and pork mixed with onions, salt, and pepper. Pelmeni are usually made in large batches and frozen for later use. Pre-made pelmeni are considered “bachelor food.”
Pelmeni are traditional Russian dumplings, said to have originated in Siberia. Similar to Chinese dumplings, pelmeni consist of ground beef and chopped onion wrapped in a thin dough. These dumplings are usually made from scratch in large batches and traditionally include the whole family in the making. Even though they can now be purchased frozen at local Russian grocery stores, pre-made pelmeni are considered “bachelor food.”
Originally, pelmeni were made by the women of the family, frozen and carried by hunters on winter expeditions. When hunters camped for the night, they melted snow over cooking fires and boiled some pelmeni for their nightly meals. Even in modern times, it is still a matter of pride for women from a Russian family to make pelmeni from scratch.
Pelmeni is made with minced meat and pork. The two meats are mixed together in equal parts and combined with diced or chopped onions. In Russia, beef and pork blends are sold in local grocery stores and are often easier to find than pure ground beef or ground pork. The filling mixture also includes salt and pepper. Some recipes may add garlic to the meat filling, but garlic is not a traditional ingredient.
The dough is made from flour, eggs and water. The flour is first sifted, then an indentation is made in the top of the flour mound, into which the eggs are cracked. The dough is kneaded as water is added gradually. After all the water has been added, the dough is covered and left to rest for half an hour. The dough can also be made in a bread machine.
Traditionally, the dough is rolled into a long tube, usually called a snake, that is approximately one inch in diameter. Then, inch-long pieces are cut from the snake and rolled into thin circles. Pelmeni molds are also available to speed up this process. When rolling the dough, both your work surface and rolling pin should be floured to prevent sticking.
Small portions of the meat filling are placed in the center of each dough circle and then the dough is folded and pinched together. Finally, the corners are turned inward until they overlap, creating a plump circle. To cook, the dumplings are placed in lightly salted water and boiled until they float to the top. Traditionally, 100-150 pelmeni are made at a time, but only a fraction of these are cooked. The rest is frozen for later use.
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