Treats at "Dzyady": learning to cook dumplings with a "soul", which have become a historical and cultural value

We chose Vitebsk region for the culinary expedition not by chance. No joke, potato dumplings are as popular here as khachapuri in Georgia or pasta in Italy. Not a single feast is complete without them, not to mention the menu for every day. And dumplings "with souls" are a special brand of the region. Lyudmila Lapatskaya, a resident of the agricultural town of Velikie Doltsy, Ushachsky district, told us about all the intricacies of preparing this unique dish.

Village Chefs

Since potatoes are the second bread for Belarusians, our ancestors learned how to cook a lot of dishes from them. Dumplings are one of them. The secret of their preparation was passed on to Lyudmila Viktorovna by her grandmother. Our heroine immediately warns: real dumplings "with souls" from her childhood are prepared exclusively by hand. No juicers, MEAT grinders or other modern devices are used. To feed a family with delicious dumplings, you need 12-15 medium-sized potatoes.

“We rub the potatoes on a fine grater, squeeze them through cheesecloth. Do not pour out the resulting juice: when it settles, starch will settle on the bottom of the bowl, which we will add to the “shingles” so that the dumplings do not stick in boiling water, - step by step teaches us the tricks of cooking Ushachi dumpling grandma Luda. - Roll out the resulting dough in the palm of your hand into a flat cake and stuff it with "soul" - minced pork with fried onions, season with crushed caraway seeds and roll into a bun. The minced meat must be pork, but fatter. When the potato dough is well saturated with fat, it becomes delicate in taste."

A few more life hacks from Viktorovna: if you add a little onion to the dough, it will not darken quickly, and if you mix boiled potatoes with the dough, the dumplings will turn out soft and will not fall apart in boiling water.

“We cook them for 30-40 minutes. An experienced housewife will immediately understand when the dumplings are ready. They surfaced - count to 20 and turn off,” she says and continues: “Dumplings“ with souls ”were still considered a festive dish, because you can’t get enough meat to cook them every day. They experimented with the filling. For example, they stuffed a potato cake with bacon, sausage or mushrooms. "

Ordinary dumplings were cooked without a soul at all. Potato balls were boiled in water and finished with MILK. They were also seasoned with fried onions and lard. According to Lyudmila Lapatskaya, the cooking method is, in fact, the same, but each hostess gets a unique dish.

“If you give one recipe for dumplings with “souls” to 10 housewives, you will end up with 10 dishes of different taste, albeit with a common name,” the woman is sure. “I remember my grandmother made dumplings with lard, it was such an everyday dish. holidays - always with minced meat. And she always taught me: for food to be tasty, you need to put your soul into it and never cook in a bad mood. I passed these commandments to my daughter. "

In 2017, dumplings "with souls" were included in the State List of Historical and Cultural Values. This dish is typical for the western part of the Vitebsk region. "Soul" refers to the filling in the middle of the potato dough balls. Previously, dumplings were a ritual dish of the funeral table, over time they began to be cooked on weekends and holidays.

Ritual dish on "Dzyady"

In Veliki Doltsy, old-timers still consider dumplings to be one of the important ritual dishes prepared for religious holidays. The main one is the day of commemoration of the dead ("Dzyady").

“Now, of course, young people rarely follow traditions. But according to the rules, the whole family gathers on this day. In the morning you need to go to the cemetery, be sure to go to the temple. After that, a memorial dinner is prepared: kutya, watering, dumplings, pancakes. stuffing, that is, "with a soul", - lists Lyudmila Viktorovna. - Before you sit down to have dinner, you need to put a little of all the dishes on a plate, leave it on the windowsill next to a lit candle and say: grandfathers, great-grandfathers, come eat kutya with us.

People believed that the souls of the dead would come for dinner, so often one of the windows was left ajar and nothing was removed from the table until tomorrow morning. The deceased ancestors were remembered only with a kind word.

The ritual meal ended with a prayer, the candle on the window was extinguished with a piece of bread. The owner of the house escorted the souls of the dead ancestors with the words: "Holy dzyads, eat, drink, honor and glory to you. Tell me what you need, but rather fly to heaven." Traditionally, the oldest members of the family were the first to rise from the table.

“I remember my mother told me that on that day a grandfather came to them and took all the grandchildren to his hut. The older ones followed him themselves, and he carried the younger ones in his arms. At home he treated them and told interesting stories from his life , - recalls Lyudmila Lapatskaya. - Another custom from childhood: all the dishes that were left on the table, the parents gave to the cattle in the morning. So that good things were done in the house and everyone was healthy. "

Dumplings "with soul"

Ingredients

1-1.5 kg of potatoes, 0.5 kg of minced pork, large onion, ground black pepper, cumin, SALT - to taste.

Cooking

Grate potatoes and squeeze through cheesecloth. Roll out a cake from the resulting dough in the palm of your hand, stuff it with meat and onions, add salt and seasonings. Roll into a ball and dip into boiling water. Cook for 30-40 minutes.

Can be served with sour cream or cracklings and fried onions.

Enjoy your meal!

The word "dumpling" is of German origin and means "ball of dough". It is still unknown in which country this dish was cooked for the first time.

Marina VALAKH, photo by the author,

newspaper.