Pyzy are potato dumplings, usually stuffed with meat and then boiled.
Traditionally they are served with some skwarki – crispy smoked bacon bits or slightly charred onions, a mixture of the two or just melted butter poured over them.
There are many recipes, some made with raw potato, others with boiled or steamed potatoes and some using a mixture of the two.
I have found that using a 50:50 mixture of fine grated raw potatoes and boiled potatoes gives the best results.
You will need some flour, which can be wheat flour, potato flour or a mixture of the two (I prefer just wheat).
You also need eggs or egg yolks – around 1 egg to 1 kilo of potatoes.
For the filling you needs some cooked meat such as from a klops – meat loaf, cooked kotlety (meat balls/burgers) or meat filling for pierogi.
My mother never made pyzy and I must admit the first time I had them in Poland, I thought they were much too big & heavy! Since them I have tried out many different version and have liked them very much.
In Gvara, a restaurant in Gdańsk, I tried a soup with some pyzy in it. It was utterly delicious.
Dried mushroom consommé with thin sliced mushroom carpaccio* and pyzy filled with pork & shrimp.
* Usually thinly sliced raw meat or fish -named by Giuseppe Cipriani (1900 – 1980) bar owner in Venice, because of the colours used by the Venetian Painter Vittore Carpaccio.
Ingredients
750g of raw potatoes
750g of cold boiled potatoes
1 egg and 1 yolk
1-2 tablespoons of plain flour & extra for dusting
Salt
Method
Grate the raw potatoes using a fine grater.
Place the potatoes on a clean tea cloth.
Squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
Mash or use a ricer to get the boiled potatoes smooth and lump free.
Mix the two sorts of potato together in a large bowl.
Add the egg and the yolk and mix together.
Add enough flour to make a stiff dough.
Add some salt.
Ingredients – Filling
250g of cooked and then minced or finely chopped meat(usually pork)
such as from:
In the first year of writing this blog, I wrote a post – Poles love to eat cabbageand now as I am writing about soups I am going to write about a Polish classic – kapuśniak – cabbage soup.
There are two types – ones made with fresh cabbage (written about in my previous post) and ones made with sauerkraut.
Now I am going to write about ones made with sauerkraut and these are certainly soups that have the sour taste loved by Poles.
As half a large jar is enough for each of the soups, I often freeze the other half of the sauerkraut to use at a later date.
Kapuśniak – Version 1
Ingredients
400g sauerkraut
200g smoked Polish sausage
1.5 – 2 litres of vegetable stock (can be from powder or cubes)
3-4 peppercorns
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons of plain flour
1 large onion
Oil for frying (originally pork fat/lard would have been used)
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 tablespoon of granulated sugar
**
More sugar & lemon juice to adjust the sourness might be needed at the end.
Method
Chop the sauerkraut into shorter strands.
Chop the sausage into small pieces.
Into a large pot of vegetable stock add the sauerkraut, sausage, peppercorns and bay leaf
Bring to the boil, then cover the pan and allow it to simmer until the sauerkraut is tender.
Chop the onion into small pieces and fry up till nearly charred.
Stir in the flour and heat till well browned.
Add a couple of tablespoons of soup liquid and stir to get a thick roux.
Add this onion mixture to the soup, mixing it in well.
Add the sugar.
Add salt and pepper if necessary.
You might want to adjust the sourness which will depend on the sauerkraut used.
I rarely add more lemon juice but sometimes add a bit more sugar.
The soup is supposed to be a little sour!
Served here in Royal Doulton – Burgundy -1959 to 1981
Kapuśniak – Version 2
Ingredients
400g sauerkraut
1 onion chopped
100g chopped smoked bacon
2 litres of vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
3-4 peppercorns
2 large potatoes
1/2 teaspoon of caraway seeds
1 – 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
Salt & Pepper to taste
**
More sugar & lemon juice to adjust the sourness might be needed at the end.
Method
Chop the sauerkraut into shorter strands.
Chop the bacon into small pieces.
Chop the onion into small pieces
Into a large pot of vegetable stock add the sauerkraut, sausage, peppercorns and bay leaf
Bring to the boil, then cover the pan and allow it to simmer until the sauerkraut is tender.
Add the caraway seeds.
Chop the potatoes into small to medium chunks.
Add the potatoes to the cooked sauerkraut and simmer gently till cooked.
Add the sugar.
Add salt and pepper if necessary.
You might want to adjust the sourness which will depend on the sauerkraut used.
I rarely add more lemon juice but sometimes add a bit more sugar.
The soup is supposed to be a little sour!
Caraway Seeds
Served here in Royal Doulton – Tapestry -1966 to 1988
I recently returned from a trip to The Netherlands to visit my friend again.
I always have a great time visiting different parts of the country and enjoying the wonderful hospitality.
One dish I have had many times is Koudeschotel – this translates as Cold Dish.
I think it is a sort of “posh cousin” to several Polish cooked salads such as Potato Salad and Mixed Vegetable Salad.
It is often made in large quantities as the centrepiece in a buffet meal.
There is a central mound made with boiled potatoes mashed with mayonnaise, onions, peas, carrots and cooked meat like chicken, pork or beef.
This is then decorated with items such as hard boiled eggs, gherkins, silver-skin onions, prawns or shrimps, asparagus, tomatoes, cooked or smoked meats and dusted with a little sweet paprika.
The koudeschotel on my arrival from England this year.
If the central mound is made without meat it is sometimes called Huzarensalade – Huzar’s Salad.
Ingredients – for the central mound
The original recipe was for a large amount suitable for a big party – I have scaled it down.
1 Kg of cold boiled potatoes
Around 200ml of mayonnaise – real full fat is best
100g of cooked peas
1 large onion chopped fine
2 boiled carrots – diced
200g of cooked chicken, pork or beef – shredded (meat used to make soup or stock is good)
Salt & pepper to taste
Notes
Many supermarkets and delicatessens in The Netherlands sell this mixture ready made.
Method
Mash the potatoes with the mayonnaise.
Add the peas, carrots, onion and meat and mix well.
Season to taste.
Arrange the mixture in the centre of a serving plate.
Decorate with a selection of the following:
Hard boiled eggs – sliced or quartered
Gherkins – small or large ones sliced
Silver-skin onions
Cooked prawns or shrimps,
Cooked asparagus spears or slices
Tomatoes – quartered
Cooked or smoked meats – chopped or in little slices
Dusted with a little sweet paprika.
Now is the time to be a little creative with the decoration – I tend to do rows of the different ingredients and dust with sweet paprika at the end.
(For smaller gatherings sometimes the mixture is placed in a bowl and the eggs and gherkins etc are just placed on top)
Other Salads
One day we went to a neighbour’s house for a BBQ and koudeschotel was one of the dishes served with the grilled meats.
We were also served the following two lovely salads –
Cabbage & Pineapple Salad
Ingredients
Small white cabbage
8 rings of fresh or tinned in juice pineapple
50 – 80g of raisins
Method
Soak the raisins in pineapple juice for at least 30 minutes
Shred and chop the cabbage
Chop the pineapple rings into small pieces
Mix the cabbage, pineapple and the raisins in juice together
Salad with Smoked Salmon & Capers
Ingredients
Crunchy lettuce such as Cos or Little Gem – I used a Red Little Gem
100g Smoked Salmon
2 or 3 sticks of celery – finely sliced
1 tablespoon of capers
100g of cooked small sized pasta
Juice of half a lemon
Ground black pepper
Method
Hand tear the lettuce into medium sized pieces.
Chop the smoked salmon into small pieces.
Mix the smoked salmon, capers and pasta together and
Mix this with the lettuce.
Pour the lemon juice over this and mix.
Season with black pepper.
Extra salt should not be needed because of the capers & smoked salmon.
You could serve this as a starter using a few lettuce leaves as a bed on each plate with the smoked salmon mixture in the centre.
Journey From A Polish Kitchen 