My mom and dad used to make those a lot when I was a kid. And I loved them, still do. Those delicious pastries can be made with any desired filling, sweet or sour. Some of the more popular ones in Russia are green onion and egg, apples, cabbage, potatoes, liver, cherries, etc. My favorite one is potatoes. 🙂
Here is the recipe as given to me by mom. Of course the dough might vary, as the sour milk (kefir in Russia) is not the same in all the countries. The dough can always be replaced with a yeast dough, and then you can also bake the pastries in the oven.
Start off by cooking and mashing the potatoes. Wash, peel and chop the potatoes. Place them in a large pot filled with salted water and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Cook the potatoes for about 12-15 minutes, depending on their type and size.
While the potatoes are cooking, peel and finely chop the onion. Preheat a frying pan, with a tablespoon of vegetable oil, over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and fry for about 4-5 minutes, until soft and translucent. Take off the heat.
When the potatoes are cooked, take the off the heat and drain the liquid.
Add about 1/2 cup of milk and mash the potatoes with a potato masher, until smooth and without lumps. Add a tablespoon of butter and mix through until butter is fully incorporated. Set aside until needed.
For this recipe I used two fillings, mashed potatoes and cherries, and I used cherries from compote, and just drained the liquid from them. But you can also use frozen (thawed) or fresh cherries. See recipe for more details on how to prepare them.
Once you are done preparing the fillings, you can start on the dough. This one is not yeast based, and is used for fried pastries. If you want to bake them, use yeast dough.
Start by whisking together egg, sour milk and oil. Add the flour, baking soda, salt and sugar. Mix well and then knead the dough on a floured work surface for about 2-3 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. It should not stick to your hands.
Place the dough back into the bowl, cover with a clean towel and allow to stand for about 15 minutes. This helps the gluten in the flour to activate.
Since I used two types of fillings, I split the dough into two parts. Then each part I split into two halves.
Take one of those halves and roll it into a sausage, about 4 cm in diameter. The rest of the dough cover with a clean towel, so it will not dry out.
Cut the sausage into 4-5 equal pieces. Dip each piece into some flour, to cover the sticky parts.
Roll out each pieces into a circle (sort of). Don’t make it too thin, otherwise the dough will break while frying and the filling will start popping out.
Place about 1 tablespoon of the prepared mashed potatoes that you prepared earlier.
With your fingers, take the sides of the dough and squeeze together to close the pie. Like in the picture bellow. Make sure that there are no openings.
Place the prepared pie onto a floured board and cover with a clean towel until ready to fry.
Repeat the process with the remaining dough and potatoes.
To make with cherry filling, repeat the steps for the dough rolling and then just place a tablespoon of cherries, sprinkle about 1/2 of a teaspoon of sugar on top and close the pie, same as you did with the potato ones.
In a large frying pan, heat up about 100 ml of oil over low-medium heat. Once the oil is hot, place the pastries with a stitching side down first. Fry until golden brown, this will take about 2-4 minutes each side.
If they turn golden faster than that, the oil might be too hot. Turn the oil to low and continue frying. The dough needs time to cook through.
Do not overcrowd the frying pan. Repeat the same for the cherry filled pastries. Careful not to break the dough, otherwise the juices might seep out.
Serve warm or cold. Delicious either way.
Enjoy!
If you made this recipe, please leave a comment and give it a rating. It is really important for us to know your opinion on the recipe. Thank you!
Russian Fried Pastries
Equipment
- Frying Pan
- Medium saucepan
- Rolling Pin
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 1 cup sour milk
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- â…“ teaspoon baking soda
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more if needed
For the potato filling:
- 1 kg potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 1 small onion, peeled and chopped
- pinch of salt
- ½ cup whole milk
- 1 tablespoon butter
For the cherry filling:
- 2 cups cherries, pitted (can be from a compote, or frozen or fresh)
- ½ cup sugar
- 200 ml vegetable oil, for frying
Instructions
Cook the potatoes:
- Wash, peel and chop the potatoes. Place them in a medium-large pot, filled with salted water. Bring to boil and cook for about 12-15 minutes, depending on the type of potato and how big the chunks are. Test with a knife or a fork, if the potato slides off easy, it is cooked.
- While the potatoes are cooking, chop the onion. Heat up a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a small frying pan, add the onions and fry them till soft and translucent, about 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- When the potatoes are cooked through, remove from heat and drain the water.Add the milk to the potatoes, and mash with a potato masher, until smooth and without lumps.Add the butter and mix through until butter is fully incorporated. Set aside until needed.
For the cherries:
- Here it depends on what kind of cherries you are using, if you are using from the cherry compote (like I had this time), just drain the liquid and that's all you have to do.If you are using fresh or frozen (thawed) cherries, you need to wash them, remove the pits. Place the pitted cherries into a frying pan or a pot and start warming them up over low-medium heat, no oil or butter needed. Cherries will start producing juice, once that happens start adding sugar, one tablespoon at the time. Cook the cherries, until they are soft and juicy and sour sweet. This will take about 10 minutes. Once they are cooked, drain the juice (you can drink the juice 🙂 if you want). Place in a bowl and set aside until needed.
Prepare the dough:
- In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, sour milk and oil. Add the flour, salt, sugar and baking soda. Make a dough. Knead the dough for about 2-3 minutes, until smooth and elastic.Place back into the bowl, cover with a clean towel and allow to stand for about 15 minutes.
Start assembling the pastries:
- If you are making two types of pastries or more, split the dough accordingly.For the two types, split the dough in two. Split the first half in two again, roll one half into a sausage shape about 4 cm in diameter.
- Cut the sausage into 4-5 pieces, and dip each piece into some flour on the sticky sides.
- Roll out each piece into a circle, not too thin.
- Into the center of each circle, place about 1 tablespoon of mashed potato mix. Take the sides of the dough circle and press together with your fingers, to close the pastry.
- Place the ready pastries on a floured board and cover with a clean towel until ready for frying.
- Repeat the process with the remaining dough.
- To make the cherry filled pastries, same process for the dough, then place about a tablespoon worth of cherries in the middle of the circle and sprinkle about ½ teaspoon of sugar on top. Close the pastry same as for the potato filled ones.
- Heat up a large flat frying pan with about 100 ml of vegetable oil on medium heat. When the oil is hot, place the prepared pastries with the stitching side down first. Fry for about 2-4 minutes each side, or until golden brown.If they turn golden brown faster than that or they start burning, lower the heat. Less cooking time, might result in under cooked dough.
- Serve warm or cold.Enjoy!
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