Pierogi with barley sausage and sauerkraut filling

Ingredients for 12 servings:

• 2 eggs
• 1 jar water, warm
• 750 g wheat flour
• some salt
• 1 tbsp butter, soft
• 600 g sausage (pearl sausage)
• 2 onions
• 300 g sauerkraut
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 grains allspice
• 150 g bacon
• 1 tbsp oil
• some salt and pepper
• marjoram
• Flour for the work surface
• salt water

Instructions

Working time approx. 2 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 40 minutes; Total time approx. 2 hours 40 minutes

Pierogi z kaszanka and kiszona kapusta

For the filling, chop the sauerkraut and cook with the bay leaves and allspice berries until soft. Then drain and remove the bay leaves and allspice berries. Finely dice the bacon and onion and fry lightly in oil until crisp. Remove the barley sausage from its skin and fry with the bacon and onions. Season with salt, pepper, and marjoram to taste. When the sauerkraut has cooled, squeeze out any remaining juice with your hands. Mix the barley sausage mixture and the sauerkraut together. For the dough, put the eggs, wheat flour, softened butter, salt, and 200 ml water in a bowl and knead with your hands like grandma used to. The dough should be smooth and no longer sticky; it’s ready. If the dough is too stiff, add a little water and knead again until smooth. Divide the dough into quarters. Roll out one quarter evenly and thinly on a clean, floured surface. Use a glass to cut out circles (approx. 10 cm in diameter). Place a good teaspoon of the barley sausage and sauerkraut mixture into the center of the cut-out dough circle. Fold it together and press the edges of the pierogi together on both sides using a fork or the handle of a teaspoon (make sure there is no filling on the edges, otherwise the dumplings will open during cooking). Repeat the same process with the remaining pierogi. If the pierogi are to be eaten immediately, place them in boiling salted water. Once the pierogi float to the top, let them sit in the water for about 3-5 minutes, stirring gently occasionally. (Just remove one and check if they are soft.) The cooked pierogi can then be pan-fried until golden brown. If you don’t want to eat them all, freeze the raw pierogi individually.