Cooking with Asia

Filling Ingredients:

3 red potatoes, peeled and diced

½ c. cheese, grated

Salt and pepper to taste

Filling Preparation:

1. Boil potatoes until soft.

2. Mash the potatoes with the grated cheese, adding salt and pepper to take.

3. You can also add some fresh parsley, bacon bits, chives, or other enhancements if you desire.

4. Let the potato mixture cool and refrigerate.

5. The next day, form the dough into 1” balls.

Dough Ingredients:

2 c. flour (approximately)

1 c. full fat sour cream

Dough Preparation:

1. Mix together the flour and sour cream and work until the dough loses most of its stickiness (about 5-7 minutes)

2. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate.

3. Using your hands, roll the dough into the shape of a log.

4. Roll out the dough on a floured countertop until 1/8” thick. Cut circles of dough with a cookie cutter or drinking glass. OR Roll the dough into a log. Slice the log into 12 equal pieces. Mold each piece into a circle using your hands.

5. Place a ball of filling onto the circle, fold the circle in half, and pinch the edges closed with your fingers.

6. Boil the pierogies a few at a time in a large pot of water.

7. Pierogies are done when they float to the top (about 8 – 10 minutes)

8. Remove the pierogies from the water using a slotted spoon. Place in strainer for a few minutes.

9. Place piergies in a bowl and cover with sauted onions to prevent the pierogies from sticking to each other.

Source: Miller Cafeteria

I was so excited to make these perogies because i've never made my own before. I really enjoy the taste of perogies and i’m glad now that I know how to make them. When we were making these I had a good time. I think we did pretty good because they tasted awesome and we worked good together. I think the best thing we did was making the perogies and shaping them. When I was sauteing the pierogies in butter I put the whole batch in and that was a mistake. Since I put them all in it was hard to turn and cook them properly and when I was struggling to move them around a couple of pierogies broke open. It was a mess but they still ended up tasting great. I used the knowledge that I learned in class to help me through this lab. The lesson that I applied to this cooking lab was how to tell if potatoes are cooked thoroughly enough. I want to make these at home over summer break since i'll have a lot of time on my hands I may as well put it to good use. I know my mom would like these, she likes pierogies like me and really enjoyed these so I think she would too. This time when I make them at home i'm going to make sure to be more delicate and careful with with the pierogies so that they don't break open.

Prep Time: 15 Minutes

Cook Time: 30 Minutes

Ready In: 45 Minutes

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

1 cup enriched white rice

2 cups water

1/3 cup chopped baby carrots

1/4 cup frozen green peas

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 egg

soy sauce to taste

sesame oil, to taste (optional)

Directions:

1. In a saucepan, combine rice and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

2. In a small saucepan, boil carrots in water about 3 to 5 minutes. Drop peas into boiling water, and drain.

3. Heat wok over high heat.

4. Pour in oil, then stir in carrots and peas; cook about 30 seconds.

5. Crack in eggs, stirring quickly to scramble eggs with vegetables.

6. Stir in cooked rice. Shake in soy sauce, and toss rice to coat.

7. Drizzle with sesame oil, and toss again.

Source: Allrecipes

I have always enjoyed fried rice from some asian restaurants in town. When we were making this I was very excited because I really enjoy fried rice. I'm glad this was an eating lab but at first when we finished sauteing the rice it was really plain. We needed to add a lot of soy sauce afterwards and then it was perfect. When making this, we cooked the rice perfectly and it had the right amount of vegetables. It was nicely browned and everything together tasted amazing. A setback that we came across was that when we boiled the rice some water boiled over the top because it was at too high of a temperature and we weren't watching it. That was easily fixed though because all that we had to do was turn down the heat. In this lab I knew what to do and I don't think that anything in class helped me with this lab. Everything we did in the lab was something that I already knew. I really like fried rice so I think that I would make this at home for my mom. Except this time I think that I will add in some shrimp or maybe chicken chunks to give it more flavour and be more filling.