Pirozhki with Cabbage
Small golden, soft bakers' buns filled with onion-braised cabbage, eaten warm or cold, on the go or standing up.
Small golden, soft bakers' buns filled with onion-braised cabbage, eaten warm or cold, on the go or standing up.
When you take the train to Moscow or Paris, you never leave empty-handed: you bring pirozhki, wrapped in a cloth, still warm. The cabbage melts long in the pan with onion, until it becomes soft as velvet, and you seal it in the leavened dough. It fits in the hollow of the hand, it stays in the belly for hours. In the lean days of the Civil War, it was sometimes the whole meal — but what a meal, crunchy outside, melting inside.
- •Flour, sourdough or yeast — for a leavened dough (soft wrapper)
- •Cabbage — half a head (filling)
- •Onion — one (sweetness)
- •Hard-boiled egg — one or two (optional) (richness)
- •Fat — a little (to wilt the cabbage)
Pirozhki with Cabbage
Small golden, soft bakers' buns filled with onion-braised cabbage, eaten warm or cold, on the go or standing up.
Why this dish? Pirozhki, small stuffed buns slipped into a pocket, accompanied journeys and long days — precious during Exter's travels between Kyiv, Moscow, and Paris, and in the uncertain times of the Civil War.
When you take the train to Moscow or Paris, you never leave empty-handed: you bring pirozhki, wrapped in a cloth, still warm. The cabbage melts long in the pan with onion, until it becomes soft as velvet, and you seal it in the leavened dough. It fits in the hollow of the hand, it stays in the belly for hours. In the lean days of the Civil War, it was sometimes the whole meal — but what a meal, crunchy outside, melting inside.
Ingredients (period version)
- Flour, sourdough or yeast — for a leavened dough (soft wrapper)
- Cabbage — half a head (filling)
- Onion — one (sweetness)
- Hard-boiled egg — one or two (optional) (richness)
- Fat — a little (to wilt the cabbage)
Ingredients
- Flour — 400 g (dough)
- Active dry yeast — 1 packet (leavening)
- Warm milk — 200 ml (hydration)
- Butter — 40 g (softness)
- White cabbage — 400 g, shredded (filling)
- Onion — 1 (sweetness)
- Hard-boiled eggs — 2, chopped (richness)
- Egg yolk — 1 for glazing (golden color)
Method
- Prepare a leavened dough with flour, yeast, warm milk, butter, and salt; let double in volume.
- Gently wilt the cabbage and onion in a pan until tender and golden; season with salt, add chopped hard-boiled eggs.
- Divide the dough, flatten into discs, fill with the mixture, and close into small buns.
- Brush with egg yolk and bake for 20 to 25 minutes in a medium oven until nicely colored.
- Let cool slightly: they are eaten by hand, hot or cold.
How it was made : Pirozhki could be baked or fried, and their filling varied according to what was available: cabbage, potato, buckwheat, liver. They were the quintessential travel and market food.
The contemporary twist : Shaped into angular forms rather than rounded, like little Constructivist sculptures to bite into.
Aleksandra Exter · Charactorium