Fortune-Telling Varenyky
At a Ukrainian evening party varenyky were never only for eating: a few held a 'fortune', and whoever bit into one learned their year. We keep only edible surprises — a cherry for success, a walnut for health, buckwheat for wealth — because a coin or a button in a dumpling is scarier for your teeth than any spirit. The base is plain vegan potato and mushroom varenyky.
- Prep
- 1 h
- Cook
- 35 min
- Rest
- 30 min
- Total
- 2 h 5 min
- Servings
- 6
- Level
- Medium
- Per serving
- 520 kcal
Ingredients
Dough
Filling
Fortunes
To cook and serve
Makes: about 50 varenyky, 6 servings
Shopping list
The ingredients for the servings you chose — copy them or send them to a messenger. Tick what you already have at home: only the rest goes on the list.
Method
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Step 1: Make the dough
Mix the flour and salt, pour in the hot water and oil and knead for about 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
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Step 2: Boil the potatoes
Peel the potatoes, boil in salted water until soft, drain and mash.
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Step 3: Fry the mushrooms
Finely chop the mushrooms and onions and fry in the oil until the liquid has gone and the mushrooms brown. Mix into the potato, season with salt and pepper and cool.
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Step 4: Set out the fortunes
Lay the fortunes out on a plate in separate piles so you can keep track of how many are hidden.
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Step 5: Fill the varenyky
Roll the dough 2 mm thick and cut rounds with a glass. Put a spoonful of filling on each, and hide one fortune right in the middle of the filling in a few of them. Pinch the edges shut.
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Step 6: Boil with bay
Drop the varenyky into boiling salted water with the bay leaves and cook for 5 minutes after they float.
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Step 7: Serve
Fry the sliced onion in the oil until golden and pour over the varenyky. Before anyone eats, tell them what each fortune means.
Tips & variations
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Tip
Leave out the coins, buttons and threads of old recipes: people eat fast, and a hard fortune breaks teeth or gets stuck in a throat.
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Variation
Rewrite the meanings for your own crowd — dill for a journey, walnut for a new friend. Just announce them before the first bite.
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Storage
Freeze uncooked varenyky on a board, then bag them; cook from frozen for 2 minutes longer.
Nutrition
| 1 serving | Whole dish 6 servings | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 520 kcal | 3,120 kcal |
| Protein | 13 g | 78 g |
| Fat | 19 g | 114 g |
| Carbohydrates | 76 g | 456 g |
Approximate values calculated from standard ingredient data.
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