Coming from a Ukrainian and French Canadian family, the Christmas season involved a lot of food.
Friends and family would stop by to visit for days on end.
To prepare for this, my mom, sister, and I would make hundreds of perogies by hand every year.
We used the potatoes we grew in the garden during the summer.
It wasn’t just perogies… it was cabbage rolls, tortiere, pies, desserts… the list goes on.
It was the feast we would return to eat after attending Midnight Mass.
My Baba taught my mom, and my mom taught us how to make them.
We would spend hours in the kitchen together talking and listening and singing to whatever song was playing on the radio.
from Val van den Broek, Langley City councillor
Baba’s Traditional Ukrainian Pedaha
Makes 75-90 perogies
Dough:
• 4 cups flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 cup warm water
Filling:
• 8 large potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes
• 1/2 lb. bacon, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• Salt and pepper
Alternatives: You can add cheddar cheese and sauerkraut to above filling
Directions:
1. For the dough, combine flour, eggs, oil and water, and work until it has a smooth texture.
2. For the filling, fry the bacon until soft and brown. Remove from pan. Saute the onions and combine with bacon. Fry in butter.
3. Boil potatoes in salted water until tender. Mash potatoes, combine with bacon-onion mixture and add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Take a small amount of dough and roll out with rolling-pin until thin. Press a glass into rolled dough to make a circle. Place around 1 tbsp of filling onto rolled-out dough circle, fold in half, seal, and prick sides. Try to keep the filling away from the edges. Keep your dough and finished perogies moist by covering with a damp towel.
5. To cook the perogies, place them into a large pot of boiling water. When they float to the top, they are ready.
6. Serve boiled perogies with sour cream, add sauteed onions and bacon fried in butter. The boiled perogies can be fried for a more crispy taste.