Cottage Cheese Dumplings - Pirhoy

To make the dough, break the eggs into a large bowl and add the water and salt.

Mix together with one hand then with the other hand slowly add the flour, mixing and kneading as you go. Add enough flour to achieve a soft and pliable dough. (In Turkish this dough consistency is referred to as feeling like an earlobe). 

Knead the dough very well adding just a little more flour if necessary as this recipe calls for a slightly more rigid dough. Cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes.

After resting divide the dough evenly into pieces about the size of an orange and roll out each piece to 20 - 23 cm rounds. Use flour as you roll them out so that they don't stick. Place the rounds separately onto floured cloths and leave them to rest for another 10 minutes.

Mix the cottage cheese and parsley together for the filling. Add a little salt and finely grated lemon rind to the filling if desired.

Cut the rolled-out dough into approximately 3cm x 3cm squares and put roughly one quarter of a teaspoon of the filling to the corner. Fold the square corner to corner to create a triangle and press to close. If the dough is too floury you may need a dab of water to keep them closed but as the cottage cheese is already watery it shouldn't be necessary.

Bring a large pot of water to the boil and add a teaspoon of salt.

Carefully add the dumplings and simmer gently until they are cooked el dente. Transfer from the pot to a serving plate or low sided bowl using a slotted spoon.

While the dumplings are cooking, melt the butter in a small pan and add the tomato paste and paprika flakes. Cook this for a few minutes and drizzle over the dumplings. If the sauce is too thick add a few spoons of the dumpling cooking water to thin it out.

Serve warm with garlic yogurt.

It is usual for the dumplings to be small in Turkish cooking but it is a little fiddly so feel free to make them bigger. It is common for the ladies of the village to get together and make this kind of meal together. I like to make it when family is visiting.

This is a version of Mantı from Çankırı.