Polish uszka dumplings with mushrooms
I suspect that making uszka dumplings in December could become a national sport in Poland, because there is probably no house in which they are not made during this period. Some people start making uszka dumplings at the beginning of the month and freeze them for the appropriate moment, which is usually Christmas Eve. Still others decide to prepare them the day before the Christmas Eve, or directly on its day. For me, uszka dumplings are more popular during the year, because I usually spend Christmas Eve with my parents or in-laws. In my family home, my mother is the one who prepares Christmas Eve dumplings, and this is mainly because she simply enjoys it. You can choose either dumplings with cabbage or dumplings with mushrooms, although those with mushrooms predominate because all the household members like their taste the most.
Uszka dumplings are nothing more than small dumplings whose shape resembles an ear, hence their name. This flour dish is made from dumpling dough, which is prepared using wheat flour and water. Additionally, you can also add butter or oil and a pinch of salt. After kneading, the dough is rolled out and small pieces are cut out and filled with your favourite stuffing. It can be mushroom, cabbage or meat stuffing. Next, the dough is glued together, enclosing the filling and giving each dumpling its shape. Apart from their appearance, another characteristic feature of the uszka is their size, as they are tiny. The smaller they are, the more labour-intensive and time-consuming their preparation. After cooking in salted water, the dumplings are served as an addition to red borscht. I encourage you to try the recipe for uszka dumplings with mushrooms below and enjoy.
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Ingredients for uszka dumplings.
Uszka dough:
- 350 g flour (type 500) + additional for dusting
- 190 ml hot water
- 20 g oil (2 tablespoons)
Mushroom filling:
- 600 ml water
- 100 g dried forest mushrooms
- 100 g onion
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 3/4 teaspoon of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tablespoons of breadcrumbs (10 g)
Additionally:
- water and salt for boiling the uszka dumplings
How to make uszka dumplings with mushrooms.
Mushroom filling preparation.
Start preparing the dumplings by making the mushroom stuffing. Put dried forest mushrooms into a bowl, pour cold water over them and leave to soak for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight. Then put them together with water into a pot, bring it to a boil and then simmer over a low heat for 30 minutes. Afterwards, pour off the water, let the mushrooms cool down, and when cold, thinly slice them into cubes.
Put the finely chopped onion with butter into a pan and fry it over a low heat for 3-4 minutes. After that, add chopped mushrooms, pepper, salt, bay leaf and fry over a low heat, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Then, remove it from the heat, let it cool, remove the bay leaf and chop them. Add breadcrumbs to the chopped mushrooms with onion, mix and put them in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Uszka dumplings dough preparation.
Now start preparing the dough for the dumplings by sifting wheat flour. Pour the sifted flour into a bowl, add oil and hot water. Using a mixer with a hook attachment, knead the dough for the dumplings for 10 minutes. Form the dough in the bowl into a ball without removing it from the bowl. Cover the bowl with the dough with a cloth and set it aside for 30 minutes to let the dough rest. After that time, divide it into 4 parts, work on only one of them at a time, and keep the remaining parts in a bowl covered with a cloth.
Place the dough on a floured board and roll out thinly. This dough for dumplings is elastic and soft, which makes it slightly sticky, but all you need is a little flour for rolling and it certainly won’t be sticky. The dough rolls out perfectly, and thanks to getting sprinkled with flour it is not sticky at all. Cut out small squares or circles from the rolled out dough – I cut out circles with a diameter of 5 centimetres each.
Assembly of uszka dumplings.
Remove the mushroom stuffing from the fridge, scoop it out with a spoon, form it into a ball and place it on the rolled out dough. Stick it together like a dumpling, enclosing the filling in the middle of the dough, then wrap it around your index finger or little finger and glue its ends together (see the video on my YouTube channel). Pour about 2.5 litres of water into a large pot, add a full teaspoon of salt and bring it to a boil. When the water in the pot begins to boil, add the uszka, not all at once, but about 25-30 pieces each. Reduce the heat to low (the water should continue to simmer slowly) and from the moment the dumplings float to the surface of the water, cook them for a little over a minute. Then, remove the cooked dumplings with a slotted spoon to a colander, pour cold water over them and let them cool. You can lightly sprinkle the uszka with oil to prevent them from sticking together.
Good to know when making uszka dumplings.
I make dumplings from a mixture of dried forest mushrooms, which often includes mushrooms such as butter mushrooms, boletes and bay boletes.
I cut out circles from the dough with a diameter of 5 centimetres each. Circles of this size give quite large dumplings. The best size will be from circles with a diameter of 4-4.5 to 5 centimetres maximum. With such a size, I can fill each piece of dough with 1/2 teaspoon of stuffing.
The given amounts of ingredients will yield approximately 90 pieces of dumplings.
The finished uszka dumplings can be frozen. After forming them, throw them into hot water and as soon as they float to the surface, put them in a colander, pour cold water over them, drizzle them with oil and let them cool. When cold, place them in tightly closed bags or plastic containers. I cool the dumplings by taking them out of the colander and placing them next to each other, not on top of each other. Before I put them in the bag, I first cool them in the fridge, always stacked next to each other.
Do you like dishes with mushrooms? If so, try our recipe for Wild mushroom risotto.
