Kaleenka Piroshky

Submitted by Julesong

"One of my favorite restaurants in Seattle was Kaleenka's on First Avenue. I loved their borshch and piroshky, and I always felt warm and comfortable in the restaurant. Kaleenka's has unfortunately closed, but I did find their recipe for piroshky in "Dining Ethnic Around Puget Sound" which was published in 1993. Kaleenka featured good Russian hearty fare, traditional cooking from the Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Georgia. The name "Kaleenka" was derived from a ubiquitous shrub that grows all across Russia, which is revered since ancient times as a symbol of the land and culture. The Kaleenka notes that "piroshky" is derived from a Russian word pronounced "peer," which means "feast." Many different fillings are common, including chicken, fish, and fruits, but this beef and cheese filling is the favorite. Prep includes time for the rising of the dough."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 50mins
• Ingredients: 15
• Serves: 4-6

ingredients

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 lbs lean ground beef
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 packages yeast
• 4 -5 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons additional vegetable oil
• 1⁄4 cup warm water
• 1 1⁄2 cups milk
• 1 lb cheddar cheese, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

directions

1. In a skillet, brown the onion in oil, about 7 minutes; remove and set aside.
2. Brown the ground beef in the skillet, drain the grease, then add in the cooked onion, garlic, salt, and pepper; set aside.
3. (The original recipe had you then chill the mixture to 40 degrees and"pick out solid fat," but that's a step I forgo).
4. In a small ceramic or glass bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water and let stand for 11 minutes.
5. In a large bowl or using a large stand mixer, place 4 cups of the flour, sugar, salt, egg, the remaining oil, water/yeast mixture, and the milk; mix together (use a dough hook attachment if you have one), adding additional flour as needed to make the dough soft but not sticky.
6. Knead, either for about 10 minutes by turning out onto a floured board and doing it by hand or by using a dough hook in a mixer on slow speed for about 6 to 7 minutes.
7. Place in a large bowl, cover with a towel, and let rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour; punch down.
8. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
9. To fill the piroshky, pinch off a piece of dough about the size of an egg and roll it out to 1/8-inch thick, then place a cube of cube of cheese and 2 tablespoons of meat filling in the center.
10. Lift up the edges of the dough and bring it up to the top, pinching together tightly to completely enclose the filling and so that the dough knits together.
11. Place the piroshky on a microwave-safe dish or tray, seam-side down, and microwave for 10 seconds; set aside and let rise for 10 minutes.
12. Repeat the piroshky construction, microwaving, and rising with remaining ingredients.
13. Place risen piroshky (all of them) on a non-stick baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees F until golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes depending on your oven; alternately, you can deep fry them at 300 degrees F until golden.
14. Note: you might also be able to run the dough ingredients through the initial preparation steps in your bread machine, to make it especially easy!

Reviews

[A P.8137]

This recipe turned out great, however there were quite a few hiccups along the way. The recipe says to use a whole pound of cheese which left me with around 3/4 of a pound unused. The two pounds of beef was also far too much, and I'd barely scraped the surface of it by the time I ran out of dough. I'd also recommend salting the beef a little extra, and extra garlic never hurt anyone. Also, if you *really* like onions then I do feel the need to remind you all that onions cook down to about 1/2 of what you originally had, and this threw me off. I thought to myself, well that was a lot of onion but now there's much less so maybe the proportions of the other aspects of the recipe will also turn out to be a reasonable amount. No, its not. I don't know if its just how I assembled them, but if you feel like there's too much or too little of something then don't blindly follow the recipe, go with your gut about how much you should use. Personally, in hindsight I should've used half the beef and cheese that I did. Other than the wasted food, this recipe turned out great! My family loved it, and its always nice to return to these simple comfort foods once in a while. Personally I like cooking, so this was a great use of my evening. TLDR: if you feel like it's too much, its too much.

 

[krabill3]

6 cloves garlic 1/2 t red pepper flakes 2 t Johnny's Seasoning with MSG Really amps up filling.

 

[Keremok]

Wonderful recipe! I've been making piroshki for years, but was usually lazy and used frozen dough. Now that I live in a country where frozen dough is not available, I had to find a recipe to make it from scratch, and this one was excellent! I agree with the other review that the dough was not difficult to prepare at all, and I also agree that adding a bit of butter at the end would not hurt, as the dough was a tiny bit dry. But overall, they had a great, soft texture, the dough was perfect to work with and they came out of the oven very smooth, round and uniform (unlike the lumpy, misshapen ones I used to make using frozen dough). Highly recommended!

 

[j-jitterbug]

This is delicious, and less difficult to prepare than I imagined. As my mother always rolls piroshky in butter as they come out of the oven, I add this to the recipe (but I definitely would not if I were deep-frying them, which is how I like them better, but not something I do at home.)