POTATO DUMPLINGS – ”ZEPPELINS”
Cepelinai – Didžkukuliai
3 lbs. raw potatoes, peeled and grated
4 cooked potatoes
2 eggs, beaten
Salt to taste
Put raw potato gratings in a double cheese cloth and squeeze dry. Save the potato liquid, let potato starch settle at the bottom, decant potato liquid and mix starch with dry potato gratings. Rice boiled potatoes and add to raw grated potatoes. Add eggs, salt, and mix well. This should be a fairly dry mixture. Take a handful of potato mixture and flatten, making a round form. Place a spoonful of filling in the center of each round, fold over, seal seam, make an oblong shape. Drop “zeppelins” into boiling water. Do dot crowd them too much. Cook in lightly salted water for about 25–30 minutes, stirring gently. Tip: Crush 2 vitamin C tablets into the potato mixture to keep it white. “Zeppelins” are a rather recent Lithuanian tradition. They were begun in the middle of the twentieth century but their fame spread all throughout the country. “Zeppelins” are very filling and for this reason they are eaten during days of hard work, especially during harvest time. The variety of fillings used makes “zeppe- lins” adaptable to different times of the year. Here are two of the fillings used. Others are smoked ham, mushroom, and herring.
Beef or pork filling
1 lb. ground meat, pork or beef, or a mixture of both
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 Tbsps. dry bread crumbs
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tsp. marjoram
Salt and pepper to taste Pork is the traditional meat filling for “zeppelins,” rather fat, cut from the shoulder. Fry onions and add to ground meat. Add egg, bread crumbs, and season with salt, pepper and marjoram. Mix well. Meat-filled “zeppelins” are served with fried bacon bits or with melted butter and sour cream.
Cottage cheese filling
1 lb. dry (farmers) cottage cheese
1 egg, beaten
1 Tbsp. sour cream
1 oz. bacon, finely chopped and fried
1 oz. butter
½ tsp. French tarragon or peppermint
Salt to taste
Blend cottage cheese with fried bacon. Add butter, sour cream, egg, salt, and herbs. Mix well. Cottage cheese “zeppelins” are eaten with melted butter, sour cream or fried bacon bits.
POTATO PANCAKES
Bulviniai blynai
2 lbs. raw potatoes
2 eggs, well-beaten
½ onion, grated
3 Tbsps. flour
1 tsp. salt
Oil for frying
Peel and grate potatoes; add remaining ingredients to the potato You say potato… …we say bulvė batter. Mix well. Heat a few table- spoons of oil in a skillet. Drop large tablespoons of batter into hot oil. Fry until golden brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels. Serve pancakes hot with sour cream, apple or cranberry sauce. This is also a very popular Lithuanian dish with many variations.
SAMOGITIAN PANCAKES
Žemaitiški blynai
6 cooked and riced potatoes
2 eggs
1 Tbsp. potato starch
¾ cup cooked pork, ground
1 tsp. caraway seed
3 oz. bacon
3 oz. sour cream
1 onion, finely chopped
3 Tbsps. flour
¼ tsp. pepper
Pinch of salt
Oil for frying
Beat 1 egg with salt and potato starch and add to riced potatoes. Mix well. Add caraway seed, salt, pepper and 1 beaten egg to ground meat. Mix well. Make flat rounds, about dough- nut size with potato mixture. Place 1 tablespoon of meat mixture in the center. Fold over, pinch edges, roll filled pancake in flour and fry in hot oil in a deep fryer. Fry both sides until crisp and nicely browned. Serve with fried bacon bits and onion, or sour cream.
BAKED POTATO CAKES
Kepti bulviniai pyragaičiai
Peel cooked potatoes, mash well. Add salt, a bit of flour and knead well, Roll the dough out, cut into diagonal pieces. Chop the surface of potato cakes lengthwise and across to decorate. Put on greased baking sheet, bake until browned. Serve hot with sour cream or with sauteed bacon.