Cepelinai

Ingredients for 4

Potato dough

• 2000 gfloury potatoes (raw) (weight after peeling)
• 400 gfloury potatoes (boiled) (about 3 medium, boiled in their skins and cooled)
• 1 tbsppotato starch (only if the dough is too soft)
• 1.5 tspsalt
• 1 pinchascorbic acid (vitamin C powder) or lemon juice (optional, keeps the grated potato from greying)

Filling

• 400 gminced pork (not too lean)
• 1 onion (finely chopped)
• 1 clovegarlic (optional, crushed)
• 0.8 tspsalt
• 0.5 tspground black pepper
• 2 tbspcold water

Sauce

• 150 gsmoked bacon or pork belly (diced small)
• 2 onion (diced)
• 250 mlsmetana (sour cream)

To cook

• 1 tbspsalt (for the cooking water)

To serve

• dill (chopped, optional)

Method

1. Mix the pork, onion, garlic, salt, pepper and cold water. Chill the filling while you make the dough.
2. Finely grate the raw potatoes into a bowl, working fast. Stir in the vitamin C or a little lemon juice to slow greying.
3. Squeeze the grated potato hard in a cloth or fine bag over a bowl, a handful at a time, until it is quite dry. Keep the liquid.
4. Leave the squeezed liquid to stand so the starch settles at the bottom. · timer 10 min
5. Pour off the liquid carefully and keep the white starch in the bowl.
6. Peel and mash or finely grate the boiled potatoes.
7. Combine the squeezed potato, the settled starch, the boiled potato and the salt. Knead until it is smooth and holds together; add potato starch only if it is too wet.
8. Bring a large, wide pot of water to the boil and add the salt.
9. With wet hands, take a portion of dough about the size of a large egg (roughly 150 g) and flatten it into an oval in your palm, about 1 cm thick.
10. Put a walnut-sized piece of filling in the middle.
11. Close the dough over the filling, press the seam well and smooth it into a pointed oval like an airship, with no cracks.
12. Lower the dumplings one by one into the boiling water and stir gently so they don't stick to the bottom. Turn the heat down to a steady simmer.
13. Simmer until cooked through, stirring now and then. · timer 25 min
14. Meanwhile, fry the bacon in a pan until the fat runs and the pieces start to crisp. · timer 8 min
15. Add the onions and fry until golden, then take the pan off the heat and stir in the sour cream. · timer 8 min
16. Lift the cepelinai out with a slotted spoon, spoon over the sauce and scatter with dill.