Belarusian dumplings

Note that the weight of the peeled potatoes is specified in the ingredients for greater accuracy, as the waste with your potatoes is unknown. I always prepare the meat filling first so as not to be distracted by it later, as grated potato quickly darkens, and it is not worth delaying with it, in our case - it means being distracted by the minced meat. I will repeat it again - never buy ready-made minced meat. Take a piece of meat, and if the services of a store or market allow you to grind it, let them do it in front of you. That's it, you have fresh, really good minced meat in your hands. If such service is not available, grind it yourself at home. Peel the onion, garlic clove, and grind them together with the meat. If you already have ground meat, then grind the vegetables in a blender. I really like adding marjoram to the meat filling, and I take fresh marjoram that grows in a pot on my windowsill. You can replace it with dried marjoram (as I wrote) or add your favorite spices, but only a little, just for a light flavor. Finally, add salt, pepper, and mix well. That's it, the meat filling is ready, set it aside or put it in the refrigerator.

Next is the potato. It was already peeled in the morning, so the lunch was prepared quickly, especially since I have another advantage - a potato grater. I have already shown it in this recipe. What is it for? To make the next step as easy as possible - grate the potato on the finest grater called a hedgehog. With the potato grater, I grated it (the potato) in just a minute. If you do it by hand, it's better to take a large potato, it will be easier to hold and grate. And the time... By hand, it will take about 15-20 minutes, at best. Line a bowl with 2-4 layers of cheesecloth and pour the potato mixture into it. Immediately pour lemon juice over it to slightly delay the darkening.

Take hold of the ends of the cheesecloth, lift it up, and squeeze it with your hands. Now take hold of the ends of the cheesecloth and lift it up - we need to squeeze out our potato mixture. Of course, you can put it in a sieve and wait for it to drain on its own, but as I already said, potato darkens quickly, and squeezing is not a troublesome task. Do not pour out the resulting liquid, wait for a minute and carefully drain it - there will be potato starch left at the bottom of the bowl, which we will add to the dough.

The eternal question - how much should you squeeze? Just enough so that you can shape the dumplings with your hands. The more you squeeze, the denser the potato dough will be. In my opinion, no additions like eggs, flour, or dry starch are required, but you must definitely try different variations and decide which one you like the most. I only have squeezed potato, the starch formed after squeezing, salt, and black pepper.

Mix the potato filling and start shaping. They shape quickly, so I immediately put a frying pan on the heat, pour vegetable oil, and place each formed dumpling directly on it. The heat is medium. Take a small amount of potato filling in your hand and place it on top of the meat filling.

Then I take a bit more potato filling, put it over the meat filling, and shape the dumpling, joining the edges and making it as flat as possible.

By habit, I make them big. I can eat one myself, and my husband needs two. But! It's better to make them smaller - easier to flip. Divide everything into 6 parts - I think this is the optimal number of dumplings for this amount of ingredients. I sprinkle a little more on top directly in the pan.

Fry on low heat, almost minimal, for about 10 minutes on one side, covering with a lid, and then remove the lid, flip and another 10 minutes on the other side, without covering. I like when they are slightly crispy, but don't expect crispiness with the lid on. My large dumplings are perfectly cooked in 20 minutes. You can serve them simply with sour cream or with a sauce. I prefer the second option, if, of course, I don't feel lazy to make it :) Serve them hot and enjoy!