Thai Basil Pork Pierogi
Thai Basil Pork Pierogi
Yield 4
This year for his birthday my best friend asked for a recipe featuring jalapenos in Thai food. I decided to make a version of Thai Basil Pork using jalapenos and stuff it into pierogi and top them with sauteed onions and jalapenos.
Ingredients
Filling
- 5 Thai chilies, or to taste
- 5 cloves garlic
- 2 jalapenos
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1 Tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp fish sauce
- 1½ tsp dark soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp water
- 1 ½ tsp sugar
- 1 ½ cup holy basil leaves, loosely packed (or Italian basil)
- Vegetable oil, as needed
- 1 tbsp corn starch + 1 tbsp water slurry
Pierogi Dough
- 500g all-purpose flour
- 280g water
- 3 tablespoons butter(40g)
- 1 teaspoon salt
Garnish
- 5 jalapenos
- 1 large yellow onion
- 1 tbsp butter
Instructions
Filling
- Rough chop the basil and set aside.
- Rough chop Thai chilis, garlic, and 2 jalapenos.
- Pound Thai chilies into a fine paste with a mortar and pestle.
- Add garlic and jalapenos and pound into a rough paste.
- In a small bowl, combine oyster sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, dark soy sauce, water, and sugar; stir to dissolve the sugar.
- In a wok or a large sauté pan over high heat, add pork and spread out evenly to allow for some browning to occur. Stir occasionally for even browning. Once the water has cooked out of the pork and you are happy with the color, push all of the pork to one side.
- If the pork was lean and the pan fairly dry, add neutral oil as necessary. Add the garlic-chili paste and saute over medium high heat until the garlic starts to turn golden.
- Add the sauce and continue tossing until the pork is well coated and the sauce is starting to thicken. Add starch slurry and toss to coat. Remove from heat once thickened.
- Stir in the holy basil.
- Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
- Allow filling to cool to be used to stuff pierogi.
Pierogi Dough
- Add the flour and salt into a large bowl, and mix.
- In a small saucepan, warm the water with butter until they are very hot, but not boiling (temperature should be around 80-85 °C / 176-185 °F, that is when the water starts to move and steam).
- Pour hot water with butter into the bowl with flour, mix with a wooden spoon until roughly combined.
- Knead the dough using your hands or with a stand mixer fitted with a hook attachment for about 5 minutes. A food processor can also be used (fitted with the dough blade). The dough should be smooth, soft, and elastic, it shouldn’t stick to your hands. When you follow the recipe (especially if you weigh the ingredients, instead of using measuring cups), the dough should be perfect, but if for some reason it’s not, add some water if it’s too dry, or a little bit of flour if it’s too wet. If the dough already forms a ball, is relatively smooth, but still tough, it means that it’s not ready; it must be further kneaded until soft and elastic (after resting time, it will be even softer).
- Wrap the kneaded dough in plastic foil (so it doesn’t dry out), leave to rest for about 30 minutes (it will be easy to roll out).
Roll, Fill, and Shape Pierogi
- Divide the dough into 4 parts.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out thinly the first piece of the dough, to a thickness of approx. 2 mm / 1/16 inch. If the dough is hard to roll out, set it aside for about 5-10 minutes to rest.
- Use a cup or a pierogi/pastry cutter to cut out rounds. Place one ball of filling / 1 teaspoon of filling on each round.
- Gather scraps, cover with plastic wrap and set aside.
- Fold the dough over the filling to create a half-moon shape. Press edges together, sealing and crimping with your fingers. Do not leave any gaps or pierogi may open during cooking.
- Place the pierogi apart on a towel lightly sprinkled with flour (this is important, they can stick to the board), cover loosely with a kitchen cloth so that they don‘t dry out.
- Repeat with the remaining dough.
- Knead and reroll scraps.
Cook and Serve Pierogi
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- Cook the pierogi in batches, allowing enough space for one layer of pierogi in the pot. When they float to the water surface cook them for 1-2 minutes, then remove from the water with a slotted spoon. The cooking time will depend on the thickness of the dough.
- Drain well and transfer onto a plate.
- To serve: Saute onions and jalapenos in neutral oil in a non-stick skillet. Drop in a tablespoon of butter. Add a serving of pierogi to the pan once the onions have gotten some nice color. Saute and toss the pierogi until well coated and they have taken on some color. Plate and serve with a side of sour cream.