Meat Mixture:
1 pound ground pork or 1/3 pound pork, 1/3 pound beef, 1/3 pound veal
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 large beaten egg
PREPARATION:
In a large bowl, mix all the meat ingredients thoroughly. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Add a drop or two of lemon juice to the grated potatoes so they don't turn brown. Place them in a fine-mesh cheesecloth or cotton dish towel and twist over a large bowl to get rid of the excess water. Pour off the water, reserving the potato starch at the bottom of the bowl.
Unwrap the cheesecloth and place potatoes in bowl with the potato starch you reserved from the bottom of the bowl. Add the riced boiled potatoes, grated onion and salt. Mix well.Put a large stockpot of water on to boil. To form the zeppelins, take about 1 cup of dumpling mixture and pat it flat in the palm of the hand. Place 1/4 cup or more of meat mixture in the center and, using slightly dampened hands, fold the potato mixture around the meat into a football shape, sealing well. Continue until both mixtures are gone.
Carefully lower dumplings into salted, boiling water to which 1 tablespoon of cornstarch has been added (to prevent dumplings from falling apart). Make sure water returns to the boil and continue boiling for 25 minutes. Remove dumplings, drain briefly on a clean dish towel and place on a heated platter.
While dumplings are boiling, make the gravy. Fry the bacon and onion until tender. Drain and combine with sour cream and black pepper. Thin with 1-2 tablespoons milk if necessary. Drench dumplings with gravy or pass it in a gravy boat at the table.
.Cepelinai or didžkukuliai are a Lithuanian national dish, also very popular in the northeastern part of Poland. They are a type of dumpling made from grated and riced potatoes and usually stuffed with minced meat, although sometimes dry cottage cheese (curd) or mushrooms are used instead.
Poland: Borscht
INGREDIENTS:
1 pound peeled and cooked red peets (reserve the cooking liquid)
2 medium cucumbers, peeled, seeded and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 green onions, trimmed and sliced
2 peeled hard-cooked eggs
1 cup sour cream
4 cups buttermilk
Fresh chopped dill
Salt to taste
PREPARATION:
While the beets are cooking, chop the egg whites finely. Mash the egg yolks with 1/4 teaspoon salt and combine with sliced green onion, and reserve.
When the beets are tender, remove them from the cooking liquid (reserve the cooking liquid) and cool beets in the referigerator for at least 1 hour. When cool, grate them coarsely.
Strain beet cooking liquid and return it to the cooking pot. Add buttermilk and sour cream, blending well. Mix in grated beets, chopped cucumbers, chopped egg whites, and yolk-onion mixture. Stir until well blended. Adjust seasonings.Pour into a container and refrigerate until well chilled. Adjust seasonings, if necessary, and serve with chopped dill.
Borscht:it is made with beetroot as the main ingredient. In some regions, tomato is used as the main ingredient, while beetroot may act as a secondary ingredient. Other varieties that do not use beetroot also exist, such as green borscht and white borscht.
Czech: Svíčková na smetaně
It's typical czech food. It's based on rosted beef tenderloin with special sauce. As trimmings are typical czech dumplings (we call them knedlíky). The sauce is made out of cream and root vegetables. It's really sweet and also fat so damm good taste is guaranteed.