Kalduny or kolduny (, , ) are dumplings stuffed with meat, mushrooms or other ingredients, made in Belarusian, Lithuanian, and Polish cuisines, akin to the Polish

pierogi Pierogi ( ; ) are filled dumplings made by wrapping Leavening, unleavened dough around a Stuffing, filling and cooked in boiling water. They are occasionally flavored with a savory or sweet garnish. Typical fillings include potato, cheese, ...

, Russian pelmeni and the Ukrainian varenyky. In

Slavic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavs, Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic language, Proto- ...

the word means “ magicians” or “ sorcerers”, but it is unclear how the word became associated with the dish.

Description

Kalduny, dumplings of unleavened

dough Dough is a malleable, sometimes elastic paste made from flour (which itself is made from grains or from leguminous or chestnut crops). Dough is typically made by mixing flour with a small amount of water or other liquid and sometimes includes ...

filled with

meat Meat is animal Tissue (biology), tissue, often muscle, that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted and farmed other animals for meat since prehistory. The Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of vertebrates, including chickens, sheep, ...

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom. The standard for the n ...

s, or other stuffings, are related to similar dishes in the West and in the East alike, from Italian ravioli, Hungarian derelye, and Ashkenazi Jewish pirogen to Russian pelmeni and Central Asian manti or chuchvara. Kalduny made with a stuffing of smoked ham and mushrooms (''Kalduny Count Tyshkevich'', named after a Belarusian noble family from Lahojsk near

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

) were long considered Belarus's “visiting card”, although decades of

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

rule almost erased their trace from public memory and now they are only served in a few local restaurants. Currently the Russian pelmeni and the Ukrainian vareniki are served in more restaurants. The simplest dough for kalduny is made of

flour Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...

mixed with tepid

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

, eggs, and some

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

. In some recipes the dough for kalduny is mixed with

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classifie ...

juice, not water. Kalduny dough should be soft but elastic, easy to stretch and to seal into a pocket around a dollop of filling. Like other pastry doughs it has to be allowed to rest, covered with a dish towel or a cloth so as not to dry out. Kalduny are usually boiled in a big shallow casserole at low heat, in well-salted water. Instead of boiling in water, kalduny may be boiled directly in a soup, in which they are then served. Some varieties are baked or fried. Polesie-style kalduny, with a stuffing of boiled river fish and hard-boiled eggs, are fried. A variety known in Russian cuisine as ''kundyumy'' () is never boiled: the mushroom-filled dumplings are baked in a crock pot in the oven or fried. Kalduny may be served as a

main course A main course is the featured or primary dish in a meal consisting of several courses. It usually follows the entrée () course. Usage In the United States and Canada (except Quebec), the main course is traditionally called an "entrée". En ...

or a dessert, depending on the stuffing. For the former, meat, mushrooms, farmer cheese, or

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

are used; for the latter, fresh

berries A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone fruit, stone or pit (fruit), pit although many wikt:pip#Etymology 2, pips or seeds may be p ...

or sometimes dried fruits may be used. The sauce or topping for kalduny also depends on the stuffing. Kalduny with Vilnius stuffing (mushrooms and smoked

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig animal husbandry, husbandry dating back to 8000–9000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooke ...

, as in ''Kalduny Count Tyshkevich'') are topped with melted butter, while those filled with Russian stuffing (farmer cheese or mashed potatoes) are usually paired with thick sour cream. Dessert kalduny are powdered with

cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, biscuits, b ...

or topped with fruit syrups. Kalduny are often served in a

soup Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot – though it is sometimes served chilled – made by cooking or otherwise combining meat or vegetables with Stock (food), stock, milk, or water. According to ''The Oxford Compan ...

(beef broth or borsht),Kalduny boiled and served i
beef broth
o

. similarly to

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

kreplach. The numerous combinations of dough, stuffing, and sauce provide a great potential for variation. Large kalduny ( manti) are prepared for the major Muslim feasts, which are celebrated by the Tatar population that has lived continuously in Belarus since the end of the 14th century.Belarusian Tatars
. This variety of kalduny are made with spiced mutton or veal stuffing and are eaten by spoon, so that the

wrapping doesn't tear and the juice from inside is not lost.

Varieties of kalduny

Kalduny come with a variety of fillings:Varieties of kalduny in Belarusian cuisine
(go to section ''Колдуны и пирожки'') . *Meat (ground or chopped) *Mushrooms (fresh or dried) *Mushrooms and smoked pork, mixed in equal proportions (Vilnius stuffing, ''Kalduny Count Tyshkevich'') *White rice and hard-boiled eggs * Sautéed sauerkraut with mushrooms *Fish (freshwater fish, such as pike or pike-perch, boned and chopped, mixed with hard-boiled or fried eggs) *

Bilberry Bilberries () are Eurasian low-growing shrubs in the genus ''Vaccinium'' in the flowering plant family Ericaceae that bear edible, dark blue berries. They resemble but are distinct from North American blueberries. The species most often referre ...

(whole) * Cherry (stoned)

References

External links

* Kalduny in Wiki Cookbook:Cuisine of Belarus.
Kalduny on Russian food site eda-server.ru
.

. * Szymanderska H. Encyclopedia polskiej sztuki kulinarnej. RRA, Warszawa, 2003. * Barbara Holub. Przy wilenskim stole. Warszawa, Ksiazka i Wiedza, 1992. {{Dumplings Belarusian cuisine Lithuanian cuisine Polish cuisine Dumplings

Description

Varieties of kalduny

See also

References

External links