Step 1

Making the dough

Step 5

Crack eggs into a bowl and add oil.

Step 8

Add cold water to eggs and oil so that the total weight is 300g (2 eggs should take up approximately 100g + 10g for oil).

Step 11

Place sifted flour into a separate bowl and make a hole in the center. Pour egg mixture in.

Step 14

Mix the dough with a mixer for 10 minutes using dough hooks.

Step 17

When all the wet ingredients are mixed in and the dough forms a ball, place it on the table dusted with flour.

Step 20

Knead the dough with your hands until it stops sticking (shouldn't take more than a minute or two).

Step 23

Place the dough in a bowl, cover it with a damp towel and leave to rest for at least one hour. After resting the dough will become softer and easier to work with.

Step 26

Making the filling

Step 30

Chop onions and garlic cloves finely. Any big pieces might rip the dough.

Step 33

Mix ground meat with onions and garlic.

Step 36

Add salt and pepper and mix well.

Step 39

Assembling pelmeni

Step 43

Cut a strip of dough and roll it into a cylinder approximately 2 cm (1 inch) in diameter. Tip: keep the rest of the dough covered to prevent it from drying.

Step 46

Cut the cylinder into 2 cm (1 inch) pieces and place them on the table dusted with flour in front of you.

Step 49

Take one piece at a time, press it down and stretch with your fingers to make a round. Then roll it with a rolling pin to be about 7 cm (almost 3 inches) in diameter. You want it to be as thin as possible for better taste. Be careful not to roll it too thin, or the dough will break when you boil pelmeni.

Step 52

Hold the round in your left hand (shake off any execess flour) and place a teaspoon of filling in the center.

Step 55

Place the upper part of the round on top of the filling and start sealing edges. Start from the center and work your way down one side, then the other side.

Step 58

Seal the ends of pelmeni together.

Step 61

Repeat to the rest of the dough. Place pelmeni in rows on a board dusted with flour. Once the board is full, put it in the freezer until pelmeni are hardened. Then take it out, transfer pelmeni to a plastic bag. Put the bag back into the freezer.

Step 64

If you want to have your pelmeni right away, you can boil them fresh, without freezeing.

Step 67

Cooking pelmeni

Step 71

Fill a pan with water and bring it to boil.

Step 74

Add salt (1 tsp of salt for each 1 liter of water).

Step 77

Place desired amount of pelmeni into boiling water (about 10-12 per person). Don’t be tempted to put a lot at once. Keep it down to 25 pieces at a time. Immediately mix them with a slotted spoon to make sure they are not stuck to the bottom. After you add pelmeni to boiling water, the water will cool down and you will need to wait for it to boil again.

Step 80

Mix pelmeni carefully from time to time untill all of them come up to the surface. Then cook them for another 3 minutes,

Step 83

Take pelmeni out using a slotted spoon. You can add a few tablespoons of the water they were cooked in to the plate.

Step 86

Serve immediately. My go-to is a piece of butter with lots of freshly-ground black pepper on top of pelmeni. You can also serve them with sour cream, mayo or mustard.