Pierogi Ruskie

Name: Pierogi Ruskie
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Polish
Ingredients: Plain flour for dough; Water for dough; Egg for dough; Floury potatoes; Butter for mash; Semi-skimmed milk for mash; Onion; Low-fat quark; Salt; Black pepper

571 kcal a serving, against 771 for the traditional version. That is 200 kcal off, or 26%, with 24.2g of protein. Serves 4. 1 hour 30 minutes.

What the traditional version is

Soft pasta dough, rolled thin and cut into circles, filled with a mixture of mashed potatoes, full-fat curd cheese, sautéed onions and butter. Shaped and sealed, then boiled and pan-fried in pork fat until crisp. Usually showered with fried onions or bacon to finish.

What changed, and what each change costs

Full-fat curd cheese for lean quark

The proper cheese for these dumplings is so rich you could spread it on bread and call it lunch. Going for a low-fat quark keeps the tang, keeps most of the texture, but ditches a big slab of fat.

What it costs you. You lose a lot of the richness. It's less creamy, and the filling can taste a little more on the potato side than the cheese side. The sharpness is still there, though.

Butter and double cream in mash swapped for a splash of semi-skimmed milk and just enough butter to keep it from tasting like repentance

Butter and double cream are the first and second things your arteries notice. A spoonful of butter is staying, but no cream. The mash is lighter, and so is your conscience.

What it costs you. The filling's a bit drier and doesn't have that slick, comforting mouthfeel. If you miss it desperately, eat them faster, before they cool.

Frying in pork fat skipped entirely

Frying in pork lard is the difference between lunch and full hibernation. Boiled-only pierogi are what most families eat at home anyway when time is tight.

What it costs you. This is the real loss. No golden edges, no crispy shell, and the onions on top are just onions, not a crown of crunchy bits. There's nothing to be done about it unless you want to use a whole tin of spray oil and lie to yourself.

Upped the onion

If you can't have the double hit of butter and lard, make the onions count for something. More onion means more savoury and just enough bite to keep all that potato interesting.

What it costs you. Nobody ever complained about extra onion unless they hated onions. In which case, why are you making Polish food?

What goes in it

The ingredients, without the quantities. The weights are what the figures below are computed from, and they are in the book.

Plain flour for dough
Water for dough
Egg for dough
Floury potatoes
Butter for mash
Semi-skimmed milk for mash
Onion
Low-fat quark
Salt
Black pepper

How it starts

Boil the potatoes in salted water until soft, about 20 minutes.
Let the mash cool to warm, then mix in the quark, black pepper and a good pinch of salt.
While the potatoes are cooking, gently fry the onion in a small pan with a touch of butter (if you want to stretch to it) or a splash of water, until soft and just turning golden.

The rest of the method, and every weight, is in Authentic-ish Polish.

The numbers

Per serving	Traditional	Lightened
Calories	771	571
Protein	24.4g	24.2g
Fat	29.2g	6.2g
Saturated fat	15.7g	3g
Carbohydrate	102.3g	103.6g
Protein per 100 kcal	3.2g	4.2g

Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Polish prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked. How every number is computed sets out the method.

Allergens. gluten, eggs, milk.

The method is in the book

Let's be honest. The fried, buttery original is king if you want that shatteringly crisp edge with creamy filling. This one keeps the soul - pillowy dough and savoury-sweet filling, with the right tang from the cheese - but it's not a festival pierogi. You get to eat three times as many and not spend the afternoon lying very still, which is something. If you really miss the golden crust, try pan-frying a few in a non-stick with a whisper of oil for science. Otherwise, embrace boiled pierogi for what they are: the reason Poland doesn't run out of potatoes.

The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Polish, along with 53 more. Buy the paperback