How To Cook Polish Borscht and Corned Beef Dumplings

January 7, 2021

Ingredients

For the Borsch:
2 kg of beetroot, cooked (baked in foil on 180°C for 1½ hours until tender) peeled & sliced
2 litres of poultry or beef stock (see tips)
1 large onion, chopped and sautéed in 1 tbls. butter
1 bay leaf, 3 to 4 allspice berries, a few grinds of black pepper
1 tbls. red wine vinegar
For the Dumpling:
300 g Plain flour
Pinch of salt
200 ml of boiling water
30 g of butter
Finely shredded F&Co corned beef mixed with the remaining onion & a tablespoon of smooth mustard.

Put the cooked, peeled and sliced beetroots into the hot broth and simmer for 15 minutes. 5 minutes before the end of cooking, add the bay leaf, allspice, black pepper and the half the onion.
Remove from heat and leave overnight or at least 6 hours.
Bring the borscht to the boil (from this point on, the borscht can not be fully boiled, because it will start to turn darker).
Set aside from heat then add the vinegar and strain.
Season with salt and pepper.

Sift the flour into a bowl with the salt.
Put the butter in hot water and melt. Gradually pour it into the flour, stirring everything with a spoon.
Combine the ingredients and place them on a floured board, then knead the dough for 5 minutes until it is smooth and soft (the dough will be very soft, so it's easy to knead it, but you can also knead with a mixer).
Put the dough into a bowl and cover with film. Set aside for 30 minutes.
Divide into 3 equal pieces.
Roll the dough out thinly, 2 to 3 mm thick.
Cut into round discs then place a teaspoon of the filling on the centre of the disc leaving a edge around to seal.
Fold over into a half circle, seal and crimp, then twist over finger to create a dumpling. The most important aspect is to fully seal the edges so they don't burst when cooking.
Using lightly floured hands pop the dumplings in a pan of salted boiling water for 2 minutes or until they float.