It's so great to have members in our group from such a variety of nationalities! In June, our member Magda and her son Louis talked about their country of origin - Poland! Have you been to Poland? I went to Warsaw, its capital, about 10 years ago (wow! didn't realise was this long!!) when I was living in London with my husband Robert and I was pregnant with my first child, Ben. It was such an amazing trip! I still remember the beautiful old buildings and walking down Castle Square looking for nice restaurants and we found a great one where we tried the real beef stroganoff. Yum! Great memories!
We started our meeting with a new game where the kids had to talk in their chosen language introducing themselves and throwing the ball to the next person. It was a great way to "break the ice" and have fun at the same time! Then we followed with Magda's presentation about Poland. So nice to see the place where they come from and the beautiful photos from the country. Magda is also a photographer so the photos were really amazing! We also learned some words in Polish! Yep, that was quite a challenge! A real "Tongue Twister". After the presentation the kids did some colouring in of traditional Polish costumes and some of them also joined in to finish our World Map Puzzle!
While the kids were having fun at the Art Table the parents were busy at the kitchen cooking some Pierogi. Do you know what this is? I'm sure you have seen it before but didn't know it is actually a very tradition food in Poland - it is a dumpling! It is boiled and served with melted butter and various fillings and toppings (meat, potatoes, cheese etc). Then we had Chrust for dessert - a Polish pastry dessert light and airy and usually sprinkled with powered sugar. Yum!
Thank you Magda and Louis for such a great presentation and bringing this amazing food to share with us!! Check out the recipes in the end of this blog!
I believe that understanding other people's language, culture, habits and traditions is of great value for us as adults and extremely essential for our children to grow up respecting cultural differences and similarities.
Here are some pictures of the day! Enjoy!
Magda and Louis presentation
Kids Colouring In
Our World Map!! Great way to learn while playing!
Parents having a cuppa
Magda rocking in the kitchen!
Yummie Lunch!!
World Map all finished! Well Done!
Pierogi ruskie (cheese and potatoe dumplings)
Filling
- 2 potatoes, cooked & mashed (1/2 cup instant or leftover mashed potatoes is fine too)
- 1 cup cottage cheese, drained (I used feta cheese)
- 1 onion, minced & sauteed in butter until cleare
- 1⁄4 teaspoon salt (I didn't added it as feta was very salty)
- pepper, to taste
Dough
- 2 1⁄4 cups flour
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons butter, cut in pieces
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 1⁄2 cup reduced-fat milk, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons sour cream, at room temperature
(or you can use pre made dumpling skins)
Directions
- Combine all of the ingredients listed under filling and refrigerate until ready to assemble pierogi.
- Combine flour, salt and butter in food processor.
- In a separate bowl, blend together egg, egg yolk, milk and sour cream.
- Add egg mixture to flour mixture and process until dough cleans sides of bowl and sticks together (the dough will be slightly sticky).
- Remove from processor, shape into a ball, wrap in plastic and chill for 3 hours or overnight.
- Cut dough into thirds; roll each section out on floured surface
- Cut each round into (using a glass works well).
- Place about 2 tsp filling on each dough circle.
- Moisten outer edges with water and fold dough over to close.
- Seal edges by pressing gently with the back of a fork or pinching together with your fingers.
- In large pot, bring salted water to boil.
- Cook 12 pierogi at a time, reducing heat to a gentle boil; boil until pierogi float to the surface (about 5 minutes).
- Remove with a slotted spoon, drain on paper towel and transfer to serving dish.
- Repeat with remaining pierogi.
- At this point you can serve them warm, freeze them for later use or fry them in butter over medium heat, lightly browning both sides before serving.
CHRUST (twigs)
450 g of wheat flour
5 egg yolks
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon 90% alcohol (or 2 tablespoons rum)
3/4 cup thick sour cream
fat for deep frying (e.g. canola oil, coconut)
icing sugar to farrowing
Sift the flour, add egg yolks, a pinch of salt, alcohol and cream. Knead well to obtain a smooth dough ball. Replace wrapped in foil for 30 minutes to relaxed and rested (at room temperature).
After this time the dough roller well block to appear in the dough bubbles (15 - 30 minutes); strategic projections may also use the sheeter. All of this is aimed at injecting into the cake as much air - rool batter, folding, rolling Whip etc. After finishing the dough wrap with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
Roll out chilled dough (thinly), cut out rectangles measuring about 12 x 3 cm. Each strip cut along the middle and threaded through the hole.
Fry in hot oil (175ºC) on both sides until golden brown. Drain on kitchen towel
Sprinkle with icing sugar.
5 egg yolks
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon 90% alcohol (or 2 tablespoons rum)
3/4 cup thick sour cream
fat for deep frying (e.g. canola oil, coconut)
icing sugar to farrowing
Sift the flour, add egg yolks, a pinch of salt, alcohol and cream. Knead well to obtain a smooth dough ball. Replace wrapped in foil for 30 minutes to relaxed and rested (at room temperature).
After this time the dough roller well block to appear in the dough bubbles (15 - 30 minutes); strategic projections may also use the sheeter. All of this is aimed at injecting into the cake as much air - rool batter, folding, rolling Whip etc. After finishing the dough wrap with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
Roll out chilled dough (thinly), cut out rectangles measuring about 12 x 3 cm. Each strip cut along the middle and threaded through the hole.
Fry in hot oil (175ºC) on both sides until golden brown. Drain on kitchen towel
Sprinkle with icing sugar.
