34 1/ Mix plain flour with salt, butter and sour cream, add 2 tablespoons of water and knead gently for a couple of minutes until it comes together into a dough – if it feels too sticky, just add a tiny bit more flour. Leave this to rest in a ball for 20 minutes. 2/ Meanwhile, to make the filling, heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a pan over medium heat, then add the onions and fry for 3 minutes, stirring until softened. Next add the mushrooms and cook for a further 5 minutes, then add sauerkraut and cook for a minute more, and finally add two-thirds of the pine nuts off the heat. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. Mushroom & Sauerkraut Pierogi I’ve yet to meet a dumpling I don’t like, and Poland’s pierogi are no exception. Sauerkraut makes an excellent filling and foil against a range of autumnal flavours. My favourite way to serve these is to make three different filling varieties and have them as an autumnal pierogi ‘salad’ with a bit of sour cream or kefir mixed with dill. It may sound as much like I’m a glutton for punishment as a garden variety glutton, but once you’ve made the dough, the fillings come together in a trice. If you find yourself in some kind of dumpling desert island scenario, and must choose just one type though, I’d go with the mushrooms – truffle oil works well with these, as the primary chemical which imparts its scent (dimethyl sulphide) is also present in cabbage. Time / 40 minutes Yield / 15–20 pierogi (dinner for 2 or starter for 4) For the Dough 145g plain flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 tablespoon butter, melted 60g sour cream For the Filling 1/2 an onion, finely diced 100g mushrooms, finely diced 75g sauerkraut, drained and finely chopped 30g pine nuts, chopped Truffle oil, to finish (optional) CABBAGES AND KIMCHI v28.indd 34CABBAGES AND KIMCHI v28.indd 3401/12/2022 14:2001/12/2022 14:20Sauerkraut / 35 3/ Roll the dough to 1mm thickness and cut using a circular cutter around 5cm in diameter, or a glass. 4/ Fill with about 1 teaspoon of mushroom mixture (err towards under rather than overfilling) and seal, pinching the edges together starting from the centre and moving your fingers outwards as you crimp the edges. Make sure to close the edges tightly, or they’ll burst in the pan. 5/ Bring a large pot of water to the boil, and drop in the pierogis. They should be done after 3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon to a plate smeared with butter. Avoid the temptation to drain them in a colander – your pierogi will stick together. Scatter with pine nuts (and truffle oil, if you wish) and serve. Some more fillings: Blue Cheese & Walnut Mix 130g drained, finely chopped sauerkraut with 50g crumbled blue cheese, 15g sour cream and 70g finely chopped walnuts and proceed to fill the pierogi as above. Beetroot & Horseradish In a blender blitz together 130g drained, finely chopped sauerkraut with 130g cooked beetroot, 1 tablespoon horseradish sauce and ¼ teaspoon paprika into a rough paste and proceed to fill the pierogi as above. CABBAGES AND KIMCHI v28.indd 35CABBAGES AND KIMCHI v28.indd 3501/12/2022 14:2001/12/2022 14:20190 1/ Heat 1.2 litres of water in a pan with the sugar until it’s dissolved, then leave it to cool until it’s just lukewarm. 2/ Remove the leaves and base from the pineapple, then peel it, keeping its rind in long strips, and remove the core. Wedge the core and strips of rind into the jar so they’ll stay submerged – arranging them in horizontal stripes around the sides of the jar works well. (Keep the pineapple for another use.) Add the spices, then pour over the sugar water, making sure all the fruit is fully covered in liquid, and seal the jar. 3/ Leave to ferment in a warm spot (around 22°C) for 2–6 days, checking once a day until you see evidence of fizzing (be careful on opening, it can be very vigorous). Once fermentation is under way, try the tepache daily until it is to your liking (it’s likely to take around 3–4 days total unless it’s <18°C), and then strain into the bottle, being sure to leave a couple of centimetres at the top, and refrigerate. It will keep in the fridge for a week or so, but open it every so often (over a sink!) to stop it getting too fizzy. Pineapple & Cinnamon Tepache Every time I have a bottle of tepache ready, I become a little sad, as I know I’ll drink it all before I realize I must start making another bottle, and then I’ll have to wait for it to be ready. Cutting it with beer (see page 198) makes it last twice as long, but maybe you should just make a double batch. You can make a banana version by substituting the cinnamon and cloves with a tablespoon of dried tamarind pulp (mash this in with the sugar water while it’s warm) and a thoroughly washed ripe banana skin (without the stem). Time / 3–7 days Yield / 1.25 litres tepache Kit / A large (minimum 1.5 litre) jar A large (minimum 1.5 litre) bottle Ingredients 100g panela/piloncillo (or dark brown sugar) 1 ripe pineapple 4 cloves 1 cinnamon stick CABBAGES AND KIMCHI v28.indd 190CABBAGES AND KIMCHI v28.indd 19001/12/2022 14:2001/12/2022 14:20Tepache & Ginger Beer / 191 Not fermenting Foamy at the top Going mouldy Smelling like acetone Too fizzy If your tepache doesn’t taste sour at all after a week, something hasn’t worked. First check that your sugar water isn’t too hot when adding to the pineapple (this will kill the bacteria and yeasts). Otherwise, I’ve heard reports of some pineapple growers using chemicals which may kill off the surface yeasts, so try buying your pineapple elsewhere, and consider an organic option if available. This is the result of a type of yeast called ‘top- fermenting’. It’s not a problem at all, despite being a little less attractive. Likely the fruit became exposed to air. Start again and make sure you keep it submerged under the liquid, either by wedging the pieces or using a weight. This can happen occasionally when fermenting at higher temperatures – find a cooler spot if you can. Tepache (and the other ferments in this chapter) can be wildly, violently fizzy. Do take care when opening bottles (and indeed storing them before they go into the fridge). Try fermenting in a cooler spot for less time before refrigerating, and opening bottles very gently over the sink. TROUBLESHOOTING / If your Tepache is... CABBAGES AND KIMCHI v28.indd 191CABBAGES AND KIMCHI v28.indd 19101/12/2022 14:2001/12/2022 14:20Next >