A delicious vegan pastry with cabbage. Legend has it that these are Moldovan hand pies, and their name comes from the word "varză," which means cabbage — though I've also come across claims that Moldovans themselves have never heard of such pies, so I can't say for certain either way. :) Regardless, that won't stop us from making this wonderful pastry, because it's incredibly simple to prepare and requires just a handful of ingredients. With nothing more than flour, vegetable oil, carrots, and onion you can make hand pies — and not just any hand pies, but really delicious ones. And if you happen to be out of carrots and onion, you can skip them; flour, vegetable oil, and cabbage are things I'd guess most households always have on hand. This recipe is simply a gem! The pies come out with an incredibly tasty, crispy, lightly flaky crust that pairs perfectly with the cabbage filling. I'll also suggest some other filling ideas throughout the recipe!
Ingredients:
- Dough:
- 120 ml water
- 120 ml vegetable oil
- 300–350 g flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Filling:
- 450 g cabbage (fresh or sauerkraut)
- 50 g carrots
- 50 g onion
- 1–2 tbsp vegetable oil
- salt, pepper
How to cook verzere
Add almost all of the flour and mix with a spoon. Then knead the dough by hand, adding the remaining flour as needed — you may need a little more or less. The dough should be soft and non-sticky; it will feel oily to the touch, which is normal. I used 320 g of flour.
Prepare the filling. Heat the oil in a skillet, add the finely chopped onion and grated carrots, and sauté until soft and lightly golden.
Add the shredded cabbage and cook until it reaches your desired tenderness. Season with salt and pepper. If you are using sauerkraut, squeeze out the brine first and then cook it until soft as well. Let the filling cool completely. If you're not fasting, you can use a wide variety of fillings — ground meat sautéed with cheese, green onion with hard-boiled eggs, or apples stewed with sugar. The main thing is that the filling should be as dry as possible so the dough bakes through properly and doesn't get soggy.
Shape the pies. Divide the dough into 16 balls. Roll each one out very thin — thin enough that you can almost see the surface underneath. The dough is soft and rolls out very easily.
Place the rolls seam-side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Dissolve 1 tsp (level) of sugar in 2 tsp of hot water and brush it over the pastries. Normally pastries are brushed with egg yolk or whole egg to get a golden color, but since this is a fasting recipe, egg is off the table — so sugar water it is for browning. That said, if you're not strictly observing the fast, you can — and probably should — brush them with egg yolk instead.
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