Pelmeni

For some reason most of us think that pelmeny (a dish of small pockets of dough filled with seasoned, minced beef, lamb, or pork and served boiled, fried, or in a soup) is originally a Russian dish. Nevertheless it is far from truth, friendly speaking that is not truth at all. Many people of different nations like this dish and so almost each of these nations try take the invention of this dish for their own. According to different legends in most cases the history of invention of pelmeny is connected to poor people, their resourcefulness and inventiveness. They made different dishes with dough and various fillings, so that was the way out from difficult situations. Sometimes even pagan deities were engaged in making so-called 'dough ears'.

For example in some remote villages of Finland even nowadays exists a popular belief that long ago one of deities decided to cook a mixture of dough and lamb meet and that was resemblance of modern pelmeny. Finish deity only laughed at his own invention and threw it to poor people and that was enough to feed half of the village that was near his dwelling. One more legend exists in Western Europe: pelmeny were invented by some unknown monk during the time of Thirteen Years'War. During those years of starvation he managed to get a huge piece of meet. Te feed as much people as possible he cut the meet to a very small pieces, added spices and fresh herbs and wrapped it in dough.

Tatars and Udmurts people even consider this dish a ritual. That was a symbolic embodiment of sacrificing of different kinds of cattle which were in men's disposal. That's why traditional Ural meet filling consists beef, lambt and pork which are added in certain proportions.

Pelmeny were to be discovered in Russia and included in Russian recipes at the beginning of the 15th century when occupation of trans-Ural territory started.

According to another version of pelmeny's origin, this dish was imported to Russia by Mongolians. This theory is based on the fact that pelmeny are cooked according to rules of Japanese cuisine - long lasting preparation and quick cooking, usage of spices that are not typical for Russian dining traditions. Besides that pelmeny are extremely popular in part of China with continental type of climate. Because of that pelmeny are matching for a weather conditions in Eastern Siberia. Very cold climate of this territory allows keep pelmeny during the whole winter frozen. Pelmeny in such conditions don't lose their flavoring and nourishing substances.

Pelmeny became very popular and widely spread in Russian menu only at the end of the 19th century.

Those days we have chance to try traditional Russian food in Russian cafe in Brookline. Russian cafe is very popular and well known for its delicious and tasty Russian food Boston: Traditional Russian cuisine will impress you greatly and you will have a perfect time tasting a real Russian food and experience Russian hospitality.

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