Darling dumplings – Alla’s Yummy Food

I am a big foodie and love learning new techniques and cooking dishes that I have unlikely done before. I was invited down by Alla on a courtesy basis to learn with some other tastemakers from TimeOut how to make and cook dumplings the Russian way.

Alla’s Yummy Food

Alla is a Russian/Latvian TV chef and food blogger. She is passionate about food and creating unique food experiences for people who have never tried Russian and Eastern European Food. She particularly loves how food brings different cultures together.

She graduated as a professional chef and intermediate pastry chef from Westminster College in London. Since then she has appeared on television such as the National Russian TV and British TV. Some of her food videos have even been featured on Tastemade and Insider Food with over 5 million views on Facebook.

She believes food is a great way to bring everyone together, no matter what culture or where you’re from. With her love of cooking and food this is why she decided to hold supper clubs, and teach cooking to others within her home.

Dumplings with Alla of Yummy Food

As mentioned earlier I had was invited down to attend one of Alla’s cookery classes on 16 March along with some others to learn how to make traditional Russian dumplings and to give her some exposure in forms of reviews.

Dumpling history

Dumplings are dough which is wrapped around a filling usually. The dough is usually wrapped around meat, fish, cheese, vegetables, fruits or sweets. Dumplings can also be prepared using a variety of methods from baking, boiling, frying, simmering or steaming.

There is a debate about the exact place of origin of where the dumpling came from with Ural and Siberia both maintaining strong claims that it came from them.

However Russian are considered the heart of dumplings and they call them pelmeni’s. Pelmeni is what Russians call their dumplings. They use thin unleavened dough (flour, water and egg) for their dumplings and usually use minced meat plus it is popular in Russia to mix different kinds of meat together. The traditional Udmurt recipe uses a mix of 45% beef, 35% mutton and 20% pork along with various spices, such as black pepper and diced onions as well as garlic, are mixed into the filling.

Alla’s home

Alla made me and everyone else feel very welcome as soon as we stepped in within her house, even her French Bulldog Milo.

After acquainting with all other tastemakers of TimeOut with some of us already knowing each other, and then paired off, it was then time to learn how to make and cook Russian Pelmenis. I paired up with Laura of @laurageats.

Pelmeni (dumpling) time

Before we could all start getting our hands sticky Alla told us a little background into the love for food, and why she decided to start teaching others in how to cook.

Pelmeni’s is a Russian favourite and the recipe which she uses is from her grandmother who she loved cooking along with when she was growing up.

Then after a very well executed demo talked through by Alla it was time for us to make our own pelmeni’s.

Upon the table was an instruction sheet and all the ingredients we needed to make the perfect pelmeni dough.

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After a stir, squish and roll here and there followed by cutting the dough into circles it was time to fill with either a minced pork filling or cheesy filling (feta, mozzarella, Cheddar).

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Then with a press here and there they were done.

In the end we must of all made together in total over 300 at least I would imagine.

Alla then cooked them all for us from boiling the meat ones to frying the cheese ones.

We all sat around a table at tucked into these delightful pelmenis, with us all end up saying YUMMY.

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The boiled pork pelmenis were a delight which was served within a broth and a dollop of sour cream. Even though some were slightly different thicknesses it did not make a difference to the texture or flavour really. They were truly yummy.

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The cheese ones though were my favourite as they were deep fried and the three mixed cheeses melted well together so when bit into them the cheese came oozing out. A cheese delight. I will certainly be trying to make these ones at home that is for sure.

“Which pelmeni appeals to you?”

How to make

Want to know the recipe and how to make them? Here are two step by step videos by Alla on how to make the meat and cheese pelmenis.

фантастика (fantastic)

I highly recommend booking a cookery class with Alla as she really made the whole experience a pleasurable one and her teaching methods were easy to understand. Throughout the class as well though she came round to us all giving us each individual time if we needed it to help show us again how to make the perfect shaped pelmeni from a press to a twist.

Learning with others as well was a treat as not only did I come away learning how to make pelmenis but made some new friends too.

Discover more with Alla

Discover more about Alla via

www.facebook.com/allasyummyfood

www.youtube.com/allasyummyfood

https://www.instagram.com/allasyummyfood

Thank you to Alla of Allas Yummy Food Cookery for the invite. This experience was complimentary from Alla to me but all views are of my own honest opinion.