ukrainian food, ancestors, stories

I posted this earlier in the week in my own journal, but wanted to share the recipe here as well...I would love to hear from others about your ancestor's traditional foods (thanks Jackie for posting the quinoa recipe..haven't tried it yet, but will...)
enjoy! it sounds like a lot maybe, but worth it...

Baba’s Perogies

Pastry:
5 cups flour
2 cups lukewarm water
Filling:
5 cups potatoes, peeled, cut into chunks and boiled until soft
¾ of 500mL container of cottage cheese
salt & pepper, to taste

Measure 5 cups of flour into large bowl. Add 2 Cups lukewarm water and stir to mix, forming soft dough. Transfer to counter covered lightly with flour. Knead briefly, adding more flour as necessary to make soft dough that is not too sticky. Set aside to rest while you make the filling.
When the filling is ready, roll out to ¼ inch thick and cut out circles with round cutter (I use a glass) that is approximately 3 inches round. Stretch the dough out a little to make a pocket for the filling. Add about one tablespoon of the potato and cheese filling into the center, and pinch dough together to make a seam around the filling (it helps to put a little flour on your fingers first). Set aside until ready to boil. Put a dusting of flour on the counter top or on a large towel where the uncooked perogies will be until they are going to be boiled. Do NOT let them touch or they will stick together and it will rip the dough (I have learned the hard way…)
When all of the perogies have been made, they can either be frozen on a cookie sheet to be cooked later, or can be boiled all at the same time for a big meal of perogies.
To cook, fill a dutch oven ¾ full of water and place over high heat until boiling. Turn heat to medium-high and add about one tablespoon of salt (if desired) into boiling water. Add 5-8 perogies at a time into boiling water. When the perogies are cooked, they will begin to float.

We cut up an onion and cook it slowly in oil in a cast-iron pan, until they are golden brown. They are delicious and sweet over the perogies. Our family is divided on toppings. Half of us are all about ketchup on them, and my dad thinks we are crazy and won’t add anything but onions and sour cream.
If there are any leftovers, they are absolutely delicious when you reheat them in a frying pan with some butter or oil.

Making these has been trial & error for me. I LOVE to cook and try new recipes, but I am no cookbook author, so I hope these instructions are okay!!! You can never have enough flour around to make sure they don’t stick to things, because a perogie that opens up when you are cooking it is just way too disappointing! Play with the ingredients- you may want more cottage cheese, and my Baba used to add crumbled up bacon sometimes to the mixture. Enjoy.