Hive Dumplings Machine

There are days when you rediscover things that have been hidden away long ago... This was my case when I got my hands on an old "Hive Dumplings Machine" :-) – a hexagon-shaped form for making dumplings more quickly. I inherited it from my grandma, who bought it in the late 80s/early 90s from USSR traders who were visiting Poland en masse back then to earn more valuable currency than the Russian ruble...

As I was staying in an old mountain cottage:

completely covered in snow, I didn't have much to fill them with – just... potatoes and onion. So everything matched the USSR-made tool perfectly: Russian dumplings (I've always thought the name pierogi ruskie – Russian dumplings – is well-deserved because, in my opinion, it suggests "cheated" or poor filling in the form of whatever's available).

This doesn't mean, however, that they will taste bad...

Most of the day I spent walking through the mountains:

to finally return home at sunset:

and start thinking about something to eat...

As I mentioned, the two main ingredients were quite basic, and preparing them was straightforward...

Once done, they were mixed and mashed together to create a filling for the dumplings:

So far, so good, but then came the real challenge: making the dumpling dough... So I got a little oil, some warm water, and flour, and started to knead the dough.

Now it was time to roll out the dough and form two fairly thin sheets.

Now our hero comes into play: the Hive Dumplings Machine (what anticipation: Hive had already been foreseen 35 years earlier)...

Next, we need to place one of the sheets on it, put the filling into the dumpling holes, and then cover it with the second sheet of dough.

Then, using a rolling pin, we need to firmly roll over these two layers of dough to cut out the dumplings from the form:

Next, flip it over to push the dumplings out of the holes:

In the meantime, it's worth starting to boil a pot of salted water to cook the dumplings in:

At the end, if you want, you can fry some bacon or onion and then just... eat!

Enjoy your meal!

From the leftover dough, you can make this: