- Hi, I'm Beryl and today, (soft upbeat music)
we are finally doing our first real dumpling episode.
To be specific,
I'm going to be making Ukrainian Vareniki.
I do wanna give a quick caveat.
I filmed this video back in the wintertime
before Russia had invaded Ukraine.
When I was actually ready to publish,
I didn't feel like it was appropriate so I waited.
And while the situation is still ongoing,
Russia is still occupying Ukraine,
I wanted to share the video,
because I feel like food is a great way to understand
a culture that you might not know too much about.
So with that, we are going to go a little bit back in time
and out of my living room.
(Ukrainian music)
So I have left the living room and I am outside of Streecha.
It is a Ukrainian dumpling or Vareniki shop
on 7th Street in Manhattan and it's super cold.
So we're gonna go in
because I've got a lot of learning to do.
Okay. It's literally in the basement
so you have to follow me. (laughing)
Here. It's over there.
Just because it says, "Private,"
look bigger at the sign that says, "Come in, we're open."
- My name is Dmytro Kovalenko.
We are a Streecha Ukrainian kitchen.
- Dmytro Kovalenko is the chef at Streecha.
He moved here from Ukraine to work around six years ago.
I'm here because I want to actually learn
how to make Vareniki and in order to do that,
I wanna understand a little bit about the dish, itself.
(music stops)
- I would say this one of the simplest dumplings to make.
It's very simple dough. (upbeat music)
It just water, flour and salt.
We roll it out thin.
Then we cut these circles out of it
and put a filling on it and close the door.
That's it. Vareniki is done.
Vareniki is, traditionally, eaten as a lunch or dinner food.
It's served with caramelized onion and sour cream.
I think Ukrainians,
they born knowing how to make Vareniki.
I learned it like from family and friends gathering
and making like Vareniki together,
which is Ukrainian tradition.
The history of cooking was tough.
We just used to utilize the products that we had,
like real simple products like potato and dough.
For us, we learn
how to make really delicious food out of it.
Vareniki is comfort food for me
and for every Ukrainian, I believe.
Sharing our culture through the food is very important
and that's why I'm liking what I'm doing here.
- Do you think that I can learn to make
Vareniki with you today?
- Eh, I'll teach you how to make Vareniki today.
- Okay, great. (both laughing)
(Ukrainian music)
I've made my way into the back of the kitchen
and now I'm going to try to make one myself.
Kind of, because it's mostly made,
but it's most about the folding,
or at least that's what I'm telling myself.
I'm ready. Right? I'm ready. (chuckling)
- I dunno if you're ready.
- I feel ready. - You're about to find out.
- Plus I get to use this.
- Not too fast. - Dun, dun, dun. (singing)
- Dun, dun, dun. (singing)
- So you put it in the middle.
And then like... - Mm.
- You hold this edges. - Ah.
- Push it inside so it's kind of stretching the dough
in the middle. - Okay.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. - You understand?
- Only a little bit of potato came out that time.
- Uh, this one for you. (both laughing)
It's good, but it's gonna fall apart when you boil it.
- What?
- Some potato between those layers of dough.
- For a beginner's dumpling,
I'm feeling a little disheartened.
- Yeah, 6 out of 10. (both laughing)
- Okay. This one.
- That looks good. - Yes!
- You cannot have the potato
touching on the sides where it's gonna seal,
otherwise when you boil it, it's gonna break.
And that's the hardest part,
is getting it to stay
in the center.
- I did it.
- Nothing got in the way. - That's good. That's good.
Now it's 8 out of 10. (chuckling)
- I went from 6 to 8 in just like two Vareniki.
- Mm-hmm (affirmative).
- Huh? There's a lot more here. (laughing)
Well I guess I'm going to work.
Yeah, actually it's fine.
- Okay. This one's also, this is going really well.
- It's perfect. Ha!
- Well, I'm done here.
Okay. The fruits of my labor, (acoustic guitar playing)
although not entirely of my labor,
but we'll see how it tastes.
Having a mashed potato as a dumpling is truly an experience
and it's delicious and kinda tastes like my childhood.
Mm. I think the hardest part is gonna be
rolling out the dough,
since I don't have that industrial dough roller,
but as far as everything else,
I think like I'll use a glass to cut everything.
I know how to make caramelized onions.
I know how to mash potatoes.
I know how to do the twist. ("The Twist")
This is like the kind of dumpling that sticks in your gut,
and on a cold day, like it is today,
it's exactly what you wanna be eating.
Okay. I'm gonna make this at home.
Before the next dish, (Ukrainian music)
thank you to Birch Living for sponsoring this video.
Birch is a premium mattress-in-a-box company.
They make non-toxic mattresses right here in America
that are crafted with organic (cutting box open)
and natural materials that have been sustainably sourced.
I actually got a Birch Luxe mattress for my parents
and so that's where I'm unboxing it.
Look at my mom.
Look! That's me and my mom when I was a baby.
So cute. (chuckling)
The Birch Luxe mattress is great because
it's specially created with breathability,
cooling and support in mind.
So in the summers, it's a very,
very lovely mattress to sleep on.
(laughing)
Birch works with ethical partners
that adhere to strict social,
environmental and economic standards.
If you're questioning getting a mattress in a box,
it really, really is comfortable.
My parents have had their Birch mattress
for around two months now
and they have really been enjoying it.
They said that they have definitely noticed a difference,
especially this summer with their new mattress
that they are actually cooler at night,
which is really awesome.
But if you do buy a mattress from them
and you don't like it,
you get a 100-night sleep trial.
And if you decide to return it,
Birch will come and remove the mattress for you.
If you order a mattress,
you will also get two of their Eco Pillows,
which are made from recycled plastic bottles.
Honestly, they were so soft. It was very surprising.
All pillows, I've decided,
should now be made with plastic bottles.
The mattress also comes with a 25-year warranty,
because mattresses are made to have for long a time.
If you are in the market for a new mattress,
I would definitely recommend Birch.
You can click the link in my description
or go to BirchLiving.com/beryl
and that will give you $400 off your order
plus those two free pillows.
(upbeat 50s music)
I am going to walk you through the process
of me making these Vareniki.
The dough is gonna be a little bit shaggy.
You wanna massage, not, not massage.
I mean, kneed, kneed the dough, (laughing)
until everything's mixed together,
and you wanna let it rest for at least 30 minutes.
I let my dough rest for one hour.
It went through a lot.
To make the filling, you're just going to peel,
chop and boil some potatoes.
Chop up some onion,
and you wanna cook the onion in butter.
You add that to your mashed potatoes
and that's all the butter you need.
Just add a little bit of salt and pepper
and the filling is good to go.
Like we learned back at Streecha,
you wanna be careful when folding
not to let the potato ooze into the seams
of where you're going to close your dumpling.
Put them into boiling water,
and when they pop to the surface, you are done.
Serve it with sour cream and caramelized onions,
which take forever,
and voila! (music stops)
To be fair, (soft string music)
I have made Vareniki since I filmed,
because I made strawberry Vareniki
for my strawberry episode.
So I did have a little practice,
but ta-da! They're perfect. (chuckling)
Before I toot my own horn,
I should try them. Ooh, hello.
(snickering)
If you have a mixer and a pasta roller,
this would be a lot simpler of a process,
but without them it's also quite simple.
It's a very forgiving dough.
The hardest part are the caramelized onions. (chuckling)
I think that the most important tip that I took away
and I was very successful with when I made them this time,
was that you don't want the potato to ooze out.
You need the seal to be clean,
otherwise these are going to open up.
But honestly, I think anybody could replicate these
and find success on their first try.
Mash potatoes put into a dumpling,
boiled and eaten with sour cream.
It's just a simple pleasure that everybody should try
one time in their life. (snickering)
I have to say, I had a really good time filming at Streecha.
I was a little bit nervous to be on camera,
like outside of my living room
cuz I've never really done that before,
but I don't know.
It was pretty fun, and full disclosure,
I did film a second episode, which,
I went from like the easiest type of dumpling
to one of the harder ones.
One more try! (chuckling)
It's a Nepalese Momo,
so I'm gonna release that one soon as well.
Before we head out,
I wanna mention two things.
One, the artist behind me, her name is Iryna Maksymova.
She is a Ukrainian artist who had to flee the country.
If you're interested in her art or wanna support her,
I am leaving all of her info in the description.
And secondly, because the occupation of Ukraine
is still ongoing,
I'm gonna be donating the ad revenue of this video
to a charity.
I'm still researching which one,
but by the time this video is live,
I will have decided and the link is in the description
if you also would like to donate.
I hope you enjoyed this new format.
Let me know what you think of it.
It's a work in progress.
I will see you in my next video.
You should definitely make these though.