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Russian/Azerbaijani Pirojki

My family loves these soft and delicious buns and am sure they will be a HIT with your family too! The filling can be either potato or meat (or you can just adapt to your taste). In this case I made both potato and meat filling, then mixed the two together!
Print Recipe
Servings: 25 people
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

Ingredients for Dough
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour 15oz / 470g
  • 1 1/2 tsp. instant yeast
  • 1 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 2 tbsp. castor sugar
  • 1/2 cup warm milk 4fl oz. / 125ml
  • 1 egg + 1 egg white reserve the 2nd yolk for glazing
  • 10 tbsp. oil
  • warm water
Ingredients for Potato Filling
  • 3 tbsp. butter
  • 1 small onion chopped
  • 1/2 tsp garlic paste
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 4-5 medium potatoes boiled and peeled
  • 1/3 cup chopped fresh coriander
  • 1 chopped green chilli and or red chilli flakes
  • 1 tsp. red chilli powder
  • salt to taste
  • pepper to taste
Ingredients for Meat Filling
  • 3 tbsp. oil
  • 1 small onion chopped
  • 13 oz. ground beef 375gm
  • any spices of choice like cumin powder garam masala, garlic and ginger pastes
  • salt to taste
  • pepper to taste

Method
 

  1. Knead the dough adding warm water and mixing together until its smooth and elastic. Cover and set aside for about 30-40mins.
    In the meantime, prepare the filling. To prepare the potato filling, in a medium non-stick frying pan, heat the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for about 7 minutes, or until lightly brown. In a mixing bowl, mash the boiled potatoes. Add the fried onion, fresh herbs, chopped chilli, lemon juice season with salt, chili powder and pepper, and mix well.
    To prepare the meat filling, in a medium non-stick frying pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and ginger and sauté for about 5 minutes or until translucent. Add the meat and stir-fry together for about 10 minutes, or until the meat is brown. Season with salt and pepper and spices of your choice to taste.
    You can then mix the two fillings together if you want. That's what I did.
    Form the dough into 20-25 small balls. Shape each one of them either with a rolling pin or using your hand, into a small circle. Put the filling in the center and pinch the edges together at the top to seal. Turn the pockets over so the seam is underneath and then flatten them a little. Then place on a greased tray.
    Let them sit for about 15mins, then apply egg yolk and bake at 180 C for about 25mins or until golden.
    Enjoy!!