Cepelinai
Recipe
Ingredients
1 kg raw potatoes
3 or 4 boiled potatoes
minced beef, or a combination of minced beef and minced pork
Preparation
Peel and grate raw potatoes, then squeeze out excess liquid from them through a cheesecloth. Let the starch settle to the bottom of the liquid, then pour the liquid off and add the starch back to the potatoes. Peel and mash the boiled potatoes, then add them to the grated ones. Add a dash of salt and knead the mass well.
Take approximately egg-sized pieces of this mixture and form into patties. Place spoonfuls of the previously prepared filling into the center of the patties. Most often a filling is made from ground beef, dry cottage cheese or mushrooms with salt and spices. Close the patties around the filling and form them into oval shapes.
Place the cepelinai in salted boiling water and simmer for approximately 30 minutes. Carefully stir the pot so that the cepelinai do not adhere to the bottom. Cepelinai are eaten with bacon, or melted sour cream.
Challenges and Techniques
Grating the potatoes
Use the smallest side of the grater, i.e., the one which looks like circular metal dimples. This will result in a very even, consistent texture, which looks somewhat like applesauce before the potato liquid is removed.
Do not use the large shredder on a typical grater; the texture will not hold together during the cooking process.
Consider adding crushed vitamin C (ascorbic acid) tablets or vitamin C powder to the raw potato mixture early in the grating process to avoid darkening and inhibit oxidation.
Use a potato ricer to “mash” the boiled potatoes
Boiling the Cepelinai
One of the most common problems is the potato envelope dissolving once the cepelinai are added to the boiling water. Some or all of the following techniques can be combined to keep the potato wrapper together and obtain the proper result:
Make sure that as much liquid as possible has been squeezed out of the raw potato mixture.
Use potatoes that are high in starch, such as Russet or Idaho potatoes. Yellow (such as Bintje or Yukon Gold) may be acceptable. Waxy, low-starch potatoes (such as red potatoes) are not recommended. In general, large, older potatoes will contain more starch than small, young/new potatoes.
Add extra potato starch to the potato mixture. This may be necessary if you cannot find potatoes that are sufficiently high in starch. Other starches (such as cornstarch) may be used if potato starch is not available.
Add one egg as a binder to the potato mixture. This is non-traditional, but may help in certain cases.
Add all-purpose wheat flour as a binder to the potato mixture. This is non-traditional, but may help in certain cases.
Reduce the heat of the water just before adding the cepelinai from a rolling boil to a simmer.
Lower the cepelinai carefully into the boiling water using a slotted spoon or bamboo spider.
Keep the cepelinai cooking in the water at a simmer.
Stir the cepelinai very gently.
See also
Kroppkaka
Poutine rpe
Raspeball
External links
Potato Dishes of Lithuania
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Categories: Lithuanian cuisine | Potato dishes | Dumplings | Lithuania stubs | Cuisine stubs
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