On a Kick

« Pīrāgi, tasty pork, onion and caraway filled Latvian dumplings. »

I've suddenly found myself on a dumpling kick and am going around the Baltic for a variety of tasty examples. When we were in Latvia last year, we had a plate of these pīrāgi which were peppery and, surprisingly, contained caraway seed. I grew up with caraway since it is a regular feature in German foods like pumpernickel bread. Caraway, in spite of it being common in Latvian and Estonian dishes, is largely absent from Finnish and Swedish cooking. Also there is a bit of linguistic confusion in Swedish, which spread to Finnish, as the word 'kummin' in Swedish and 'kumina' in Finnish can be used for both caraway and cumin which are two different spices. Again, much linguistic comedy ensues as Jarkko says, "Cumin?", and I say, "No, caraway.", which leads to about 20 minutes of my finding pictures and descriptions on the net of caraway and trying to explain how it is different from cumin. As it happens, caraway is sold as 'kumina' and cumin is known as 'juustokumina' (cheese cumin/caraway) in Finland. Why there isn't a completely separate word for cumin is rather curious.

Although the filling is similar to the Swedish kroppkakor, but uses yeast dough instead of a potato dough. The dough is a really tight dough, meaning that the gluten makes it difficult to roll, cut and form the dough since it is constantly springing back. There are products that are called 'dough relaxers' or 'dough enhancers' that were made for just this kind of dough as they break down some of the gluten so that it's not so springy. Without dough relaxer you simply have to roll out the dough and leave it for a few minutes to relax before you cut the dough. Also use the egg wash to help seal the dumplings as they do tend to pop open if not firmly sealed.

Pīrāgi

Makes: about 24 dumplings
Time: about 2 hours
Source: Latvian Institute

Dough:

• 2.5dl or 1 cup whole milk
• 25g cake yeast
• 25g or .90oz sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 500g or 17.5oz all-purpose flour
• 75g or 5 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

Filling:

• 4 slices of bacon, diced
• 250g or 9oz ham, grated
• 1 large onion, diced
• black pepper
• 1 teaspoon caraway seed

1. For the filling: Chop onion and bacon and fry in a skillet with a tablespoon or two of olive oil or butter until the onions have softened. Grate ham into the skillet and continue to cook while adding black pepper and caraway seeds. Set aside and allow to cool.
2. For the dough: Warm milk in the microwave for about 1 minute until it reaches about 40C/105F. Crumble yeast into the milk and stir until dissolved. Add sugar, salt and egg, mixing well. Add flour gradually to milk until dough forms a soft ball. Knead in melted butter until it is absorbed into the dough. Place dough into a clean, lightly greased bowl and cover with a clean dishtowel or plastic wrap. Place in a warm spot until the dough has doubled in volume.
3. When the dough has doubled, remove it from the bowl and divide it into two pieces. Roll the dough thinly and use a 3.5-inch/9cm or 4-inch/10cm round biscuit cutter to cut the dough. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of filling into the center of each circle of dough, moisten one half of the dough edge with egg wash, fold the dough in half and seal it firmly with your fingers or by pressing it together with a fork. Place the dumplings on a greased or baking paper lined baking sheet, brush each with egg wash and bake in a 375F/190C oven for about 15 minutes. Cool and serve with mustard.