The first time I ever tried Russian Pelmeni was in Melbourne, with a homeless guy named Uncle Unknown.
You might be wondering how and why? And boy is it a story. One morning I was getting breakfast at a place called Lentil As Anything, for all my Melbournites reading this you know what’s up. For those that don’t, it’s a pay as you feel non for profit organisation serving vegetarian/vegan food around Melbourne and Sydney. Whilst there a gentleman sat across from me started telling stories. His stories were about his life, especially about how he was in Berlin when the wall came down. After sitting there for hours getting lost in his words it was decided that this conversation needed to continue.
Later that afternoon around 5 pm I saw him hobbling down the street with all his bags, there were at least 5 massive ones. How did this guy do this every day? We then spent the night taking shots (lots) of flavoured vodka, eating Russian Pelmeni and Borsch with Black Bread, listening to the stories of a man who couldn’t remember his name. To this day it was one of the best nights of my life.
That night I also fell in love with Russian Pelmeni.
Making Russian Pelmeni can look like a daunting task so grab a friend, put on some of your favourite tunes and get to work or you can buy this pelmeni mould. The reward for an hour give or take, of work is massive, you can stock up your freezer full of Russian Pelmeni for the next 6 months. The next time you need a hit, you’ll be 5 minutes away from bite-sized deliciousness (unless you eat them all in one sitting, guiltyy :/ ).
There’s a lot of debate on what Russian Pelmeni should be served with. There are those that swear by mayo, mustard only fans, sour cream devotees and those who enjoy simply with butter. Whatever you choose, I won’t judge!
Chopsticks might also be a big no-no in Russia buuuuut I’m eating these in Vietnam so they seemed fitting #rebel
Other Dumpling Recipes you should try:
– Wonton Soup: juicy pork wontons in a Chinese chicken soup
– Nepalese Momos: chicken dumplings flavoured with indian style spices and served with a tomato chutney. Unlike any dumpling you’ve had before!
– Japanese Pork Gyozas: Japanese flavoured pork dumplings that are pan fried till crispy on one side.

Russian Pelmeni are little pork dumplings flavoured with dill and cooked in an egg dough. Served best with vinegar and sour cream.
- 3 cups flour
- pinch of salt
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3/4 cups cold water
- 500 grams pork mince
- 1 onion, diced
- 5 cloves of garlic, diced
- 2 tbsp chopped dill
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp salt
- fresh dill
- white vinegar
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Place the flour in a mound on your workspace, sprinkle over the salt and make a well in the centre. Crack the egg inside and use a fork to break up the egg and begin to bring the flour into the egg.
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Add olive oil and the cold water a little a time, bringing and kneading everything together as you go. When a dough starts to form knead for 10 minutes or until soft and elastic. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.
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For the filling add the pork, onion, garlic, dill and seasoning into a bowl. Mix it all together.
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Once the dough has rested roll out until 4x larger and cut out your wrappers using a glass or cookie cutter.
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To shape the dumplings add a teaspoon of filling in the centre, fold the dough in half to make a half moon shape, pinch the edges together to seal. Grab the two corners and pull them towards each other, pinch together to seal. Repeat until you run out of filling and dough.
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Bring a pot of water to boil, drop Pelmeni into rapidly boiling water and cook for 5 minutes.
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To serve sprinkle with some freshly chopped dill and white vinegar.
Watch the video for Russian Pelmeni here:
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NOTE: All images and text on this website are protected by copyright. Please do not post or republish this recipe/images without permission from me -Tilly. If you want to share this recipe, please share the link rather than the whole recipe. Thank you so much!
Diana
I’m Russian and my 2 favourite ways to eat pelmeni is either with dollop of Smetana (Russian sour cream), or cooked in potato carrot onion soup! I loooove Pelmeni, great food!
Tilly
I love them with sour cream to! I’m currently in Vietnam and all the stores I tried didn’t sell it 🙁
Felesha Bell
Lovin’ how cute these little dumplings are!!! Such a great idea!!
Tilly
Eating cute things gives me some kind of satisfaction haha!
David @ Cooking Chat
sounds like quite an adventure! Now this is a dish I’ve never heard of before, sounds tasty!
Tilly
One I won’t forget anytime soon ;). You should give them a try!
Priya
these Russian Pelmeni look so delicious! I’m glad you have shared a recipe as I would love to try it out..
Tilly
I hope you do 🙂
Danielle
I love the sound of this and it looks similar to something we had in Poland. Sounds very comforting.
Tilly
What do you have in Poland, is it Pierogi?
Wajeeha
Such a lovely story! I’ve never had pelmeni, but it looks super delicious!
Tilly
You should definitely try it! Kind of like ravioli
Marisa Moore
Loved seeing your process. I’ve never made any type of pasta on my own but would love to try.
Tilly
You should, it’s easier than you think! 🙂