Springing forward, it’s time to start making more spring and Easter foods. Here’s a great filling for varenyky or pyrizhky. Pyrizhky? It’s a bread-based dumpling-bun.

This recipe uses the easy dry curd cottage cheese I made. The filling is full of spring green onions and fresh dill.

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Start by picking some big baking potatoes.

I think it’s better to steam them in the Instant Pot. Boiling peeled potatoes yields potatoes that are far too watery for our purposes here. Set the Instant Pot to Manual and High Pressure for 12 minutes. You can release the steam when that time is up.

When the potatoes come out, they’re hot. It’s easy to pull the skin off and save your hands if you have a heavy pair of silicon gloves. Mine have little bumps that make quick work of cleaning skins off potatoes.

I put my potatoes through a potato ricer.

The key here is that the potato is hot so that it goes through the ricer more easily. You could also mash the potatoes.

Combine the riced or mashed potatoes with dry curd cottage cheese. The ratio is roughly equal parts cheese to potato. Finely chopped green onion and fresh dill provide great colour. There’s about a cup of cooked onions for extra flavour.

Season with salt and pepper to taste. This filling holds together well so it’s easier to shape the dumplings or buns. Now, get started on the dough.

Special equipment

Instant Pot
Steamer rack insert
Silicon gloves
Potato ricer or a potato masher

Potato, cheese and dill filling inside a Pyrizhke

Instant Pot farm cheese and potato filling for varenyky or pyzirhky

A fresh filling for varenyky, pyrohe, pyrizhky or whatever dumpling you like.

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Prep Time 1

Cook Time 15

Total Time 1 15

Course Filling, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine Ukrainian-Canadian

Ingredients

2 pounds Russet or Idaho potatoes
1 pound dry curd cottage cheese
1 cup cooked chopped onions (optional)
1 cup fresh dill chopped
3 green onions finely chopped

Instructions

Poke holes in the potatoes with a fork and place the potatoes on the steamer rack insert in the Instant Pot. Add 2 cups of water.
Set the Instant Pot for 12 minutes on Manual at High Pressure.
Remove the potato skins and squeeze hot potato pieces through a potato ricer.
Combine the potatoes with dry curd cottage cheese, chopped dill and green onions. If you have cooked onions available, add them for extra flavour.