When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th, 2022, Anastasia Shcherbakova awoke to explosions outside her Kharkiv home. “In the first hours of shelling, we were confused ... Everything around us exploded and burned.” The family decided to move to Poland. “While driving, I got a call from friends already in Ireland, telling us how much the Irish love children, so it was decided to go [there].”
Together with her daughter, Lydia, and mother, Nina, Anastasia arrived in 2022, to begin a new life in Carndonagh, Co Donegal.
“This recipe, Vareniki, combines all that is best and delicious in dumplings – cottage cheese and cherries.”
Choux dumplings with cherry juice
- Serves: 4-5
- Prep time: 10 minutes
- Cooking time: 40-50 minutes
Ingredients
To make the dough:
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- 160g cherry juice (400g frozen cherries yielded 160g juice)
- 175g flour
- 25g sugar
- 20g butter
- Salt
To make the filling:
- 300g cottage cheese
- 2 egg yolks
- 20g butter
- 50g sugar
For the cherry sauce:
- Leftover cherries
- 50g sugar
- 20g oil
Method
- Mix juice, sugar and butter in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Add 100g of flour, remove from heat and knead hot dough. Let it cool down a little and add the remaining 75g of flour. Let the dough rest for 20 minutes under a towel. While the dough is resting, let’s make the filling.
- Put all the ingredients for the filling in a bowl (the butter should be soft). Mix everything until smooth, then place in a pan and heat to a boil. Roll out the dough thinly and cut out circles, put the filling inside and fold the circle into a semicircle, closing the edges. Boil the finished dumplings in boiling, salted water for 2-3 minutes. Serve hot with cherry sauce. Bon appetit!
Recipe taken from Food Without Borders: Home Cooking From Ordinary People with Extraordinary Stories (Tusla Education Support Service)
