How to cook Moldavian pies. Moldavian pies with cabbage
I came across the recipe for Moldovan verzere pies on one of the culinary sites, as a dish that took first place in a competition. The recipe attracted me because it was easy to prepare the dough, so I decided to bake these pies, but I made the filling at my own discretion. I want to say right away that making Moldavian pies is really very simple, they turn out flaky and soft, but the fact that one of the components of the dough is vegetable oil makes the dough quite greasy. And, for example, I made the filling with fried white cabbage and also potatoes, I liked it less with cabbage, since the dough is fatty plus cabbage fried in oil - it turns out to be too much. But in general, baking is easy to prepare and the pies turn out delicious and don’t go stale if you don’t eat them right away.
The peculiarity of the dough is that only three components are required (water, oil, flour) and water and vegetable oil are taken in equal proportions. It is very easy to remember and easy to regulate the amount of dough that needs to be obtained at the end; there is no need to calculate the number of ingredients in grams.
Ingredients:
- refined sunflower oil - 1 cup (0.5 cup)
- water - 1 cup (0.5 cups)
- salt 0.5 teaspoon
- flour - approximately 1 to 3, i.e. for 1 cup oil and water - 3 cups flour
How to cook Moldavian pies:
Mix oil with water, add salt, stir.
Gradually adding flour, stir first with a spoon, then when the dough becomes thick, knead with your hands. The dough does not need to be kneaded for a long time, the main thing is that all the flour disperses and the dough becomes elastic. Leave the dough to rest.
Prepare the filling for the pies:
- I prepared two fillings for Moldavian pies: fried cabbage and mashed potatoes with mushrooms. The classic filling for pies is fried sauerkraut; pies can also be made with a sweet filling.
- Fry the white cabbage as directed, without adding tomatoes and bell peppers. Cool the filling and place in a colander to drain off excess oil.
- Peel the potatoes, boil them, add salt, make a puree with added butter, I used frozen white mushrooms (any kind), boil them, then finely chop and fry in vegetable oil, combine with mashed potatoes. Let the filling cool.
 fried cabbage |
 mashed potatoes |
 fried mushrooms |
How to fry pies:
- Cut the dough into small rectangles (from the amount of ingredients in the picture, you get 14 pies).
- Roll out each piece very thinly; there is no need to sprinkle flour on the table first, since the dough does not stick and does not tear.
- Place the filling on the edge of the rolled out dough, wrap it on both sides along the entire length and roll it into a tube.
- Place baking paper on a baking sheet, fold the pies and bake in the oven preheated to 180° for 25-35 minutes.
 dough, filling, pie |
 pies on a baking sheet |
 pies from the oven |
Bon appetit!
A wonderful national dish, I don’t know how reliably I was able to repeat it, but these pies are absolutely wonderful - the thinnest layer of delicate crispy dough and a lot of juicy filling. See for yourself:
In general, the dough for verzere is just a fairy tale, for the first time in my life I made dough that can be rolled out to a millimeter thickness and it will not tear or stick, it is a pleasure to work with it. And this magnificence is created from flour, oil and water! Truly, everything ingenious is simple :)
And the shape of the pies themselves is very cute - such pretty envelopes, some people make them bigger, but I preferred to make them small.
I feel like I’m done with yeast pies, I’ll experiment with fillings for this dough.
And now the recipe (I borrowed it from the Eat at Home website), I am bringing it here with my own small changes.
Ingredients:
For the test:
vegetable oil - 1 cup
water - 1 glass
flour - 4 cups
salt - 1/2 tsp.
For filling:
The original was sauerkraut, but I used fresh cabbage - ok. 1/2 head of cabbage
carrots - 1 pc.
onion - 1 head
freshly ground black pepper - to taste
vegetable oil for frying the filling
egg for brushing pies
First, let's prepare the dough: pour water and oil into a deep bowl and gradually, in portions, add flour, sifted with salt, stirring with a paddle (at this moment the dough looks like choux, it is so tender and plastic). Finally, lightly knead the dough with your hands (it does not stick at all and is very soft and tender), cover with a towel and leave to “rest” for 20-30 minutes.
In the meantime, let's start with the filling: chop the cabbage and squeeze together with salt so that it releases a little juice and decreases in volume.
In a preheated frying pan, fry the onion in vegetable oil until transparent, then add the carrots to it, fry until half cooked and finally add the cabbage, simmer with the lid closed until soft, at the final stage sprinkle the cabbage with ground pepper (this is optional, but personally I think that cabbage and pepper go very well together)
Divide the dough into 30 parts (I first divided it in half, rolled two long thick logs and divided each into 15 parts), roll out each part thinly in the form of a rectangle (the dough is rolled out straight until transparent and does not tear), place it with the short side facing you , lay out, retreating 1 cm from the short edge and a slightly larger distance from the sides, the filling (approx. 1 heaped tablespoon), then fold the sides of our rectangle inward along the entire length, and now simply roll the pie into a roll.
Place the pies on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and brush with beaten egg (usually it is recommended to brush with yolk, but it only gives color, and the white, in addition, also gives a light crunch, so my choice is a whole egg, combined).
Bake in an oven preheated to 175C for 20 minutes (we use your oven as a guide; if you have a “softer” oven, you can increase the temperature to 200C).
Remove the pies from the oven, wait until they cool slightly and enjoy :) 
These are the envelopes you get. 
Wonderful pies, I highly recommend trying them! And it is quite possible that later you will want to bake these pies with other fillings, especially since the ingredients are so simple, cheap and always at hand that you can bake such pies no matter how full the refrigerator is.
What do you think about pies made from unleavened dough (although this dough is probably closer to puff pastry)? Do you like to bake?
Having become accustomed to rich yeast dough, I never believed that the prepared pies were actually “from an axe.” You remember the old Russian fairy tale. How did the soldier cook porridge? So these pies, which come from Moldova, are prepared without sugar, eggs or baked goods.
The recipe is simple and the pies are prepared quickly. But the result is amazing. I think this dish goes very well with any breakfast.
So, don’t delay, but write down:
Recipe for Moldovan pies “Verzere”
Ingredients:
– water – ½ cup
– vegetable oil – ½ cup
- salt - ½ teaspoon
– flour – 2 ½ cups
Filling:
– apples – 1 kg
- sugar - to taste
– cinnamon – ½ teaspoon
– butter – 50 g
– eggs – 1 pc. (for lubrication)
Preparation of Moldavian pies “Verzere”:
Step 1.
The recipe for pies is unique.
The dough is very simple, prepared without butter or margarine, does not contain eggs or sugar, and without baking powder, soda or yeast.
It would seem, what could be delicious? And you try it.
First we prepare the dough.
Pour warm water into a glass, stir salt in it and add sunflower oil, preferably refined, until the glass is full.
Step 2.
Pour the contents of the glass into a bowl and sift two glasses of flour into it.
Knead the dough. While kneading, add more flour,
Step 3.
Moldavian pies are baked with any filling, it can be a salty filling from cabbage, potatoes, meat, as well as any sweet one.
Today we are making apple pies.
Peel the apples, cut them into four parts and cut out the head. Cut into small cubes.
Step 4.
Place the butter in a frying pan; when it melts, add the apple pieces. Add sugar and simmer until the apples acquire a soft, uniform consistency.
Step 5.
Divide the dough into flat cakes. Roll out the balls. Using a rolling pin, roll out thin oblong cakes.
Step 6
Grease each flatbread with butter and place the prepared apple filling closer to the edge.
Step 7
Fold the dough into an envelope so that the filling does not fall out, and roll it up.
Step 8
Place the pies on a baking sheet.
Brush with beaten egg.
Bake in a hot oven for up to half an hour.
I think you will like these pies, good morning and delicious breakfast!
Bon appetit!
Verzere are national Moldovan pies filled with sauerkraut. The dough is prepared on the basis of water and vegetable oil, the dough is very manageable and elastic when working, and after baking you get crispy pies with a tasty filling. This version of Lenten pies is very relevant right now. Some housewives prepare Moldovan verzare pies from fresh cabbage, which is also delicious.
Let's start by preparing the dough. Mix warm water, salt and vegetable oil in a bowl.
Add sifted flour in parts.
Knead a soft, elastic dough. Wrap it in film and leave to “rest” for 30 minutes.
While our dough is resting, let's make the filling. Fry finely chopped onion and sauerkraut in vegetable oil.
Finely chop the dill and green onions.
Add greens to the cabbage and season to taste. I didn’t add salt, there is enough of it in the cabbage, you can add it to your taste.
Divide the “rested” dough into small pieces and roll into balls.
Roll out the buns into a rectangle. The dough is elastic and does not tear; we will not need more flour.
Place the filling in the middle.
Connect opposite corners and pinch at the seams. Form an envelope.
Or you can prepare another type of molding, which, in my opinion, is more successful and looks more impressive. To do this, roll “sausages” from our koloboks.
Roll out into a rectangle.
Place the filling on the edge and roll it up.
Place on a baking sheet and bake at 180 degrees for about 30 minutes.
Serve ready-made Moldavian Verzere pies immediately hot.
Bon appetit!
Calories: Not specified
Cooking time: Not indicated
I can’t even believe that the most delicious dough is made from a minimum of ingredients! Tender, crumbly, crispy, very pleasant and easy to work with, suitable for any filling. Simply fantastic! After all, the dough contains no yeast, no eggs, no sugar - in general, no baking, and the result is delicious. Another huge advantage of this recipe is that the dough does not need to be kept warm for hours like yeast dough, and it does not need to be kept in the cold for several hours like puff pastry. About 20 minutes after kneading, you can already make pies out of it and immediately put them in the oven. While the dough is resting, it will be time to prepare the filling. By the way, it can be anything - from fresh or sauerkraut, potatoes with meat or onions, apples, rice with eggs, liver - in general, from any products from which the filling is made.
Ingredients for the dough:
- water at room temperature – 0.5 cups;
- vegetable oil – 0.5 cups;
- salt – 0.5 tsp;
- flour – 2-2.5 cups.
Filling:
- fresh apples – about 1 kg;
- sugar - to taste;
- cinnamon – 0.5 tsp;
- butter – 50 gr.
How to cook with photos step by step
First, knead the dough, and while it is resting, prepare the apple filling for the Moldavian pies. Pour half a glass of lukewarm water, add salt and stir. 
Add vegetable oil to a full glass. 
Sift 2 cups of wheat flour into water with oil. First, we will knead the dough with a spoon, it will turn out flaky, buttery and very soft. 
Place it on the table and continue kneading until the dough becomes homogeneous. If it remains loose and does not hold its shape, add a little flour. Cover the kneaded dough with cling film and leave for half an hour at room temperature. 
Cut out the center of the apples. Cut the pulp into small cubes and place in a frying pan with melted butter. When the apples become soft, add sugar to taste and ground cinnamon. Simmer the apples until tender (they can be either very soft or a bit dense). Let the filling cool.
If you love homemade sweets made from apples, then be sure to prepare yourself and your family - a natural delicacy for the whole family.
Divide the dough for Moldavian pies "Verzere" with apples into 15-17 pieces. Using a rolling pin, roll out each piece quite thinly, no thicker than 1 mm, giving it a rectangular shape. If the dough does not roll out well, grease the surface with oil. 
We step back a little from the edge so that the dough can be wrapped over the filling. We put 1-1.5 tbsp. l. stewed apples. 
Cover the filling with dough and fold the edges of the dough as shown in the photo. 
Roll the rolls (do not pinch or press the edges). Immediately transfer to a baking sheet (place seam side down), brush with beaten egg or egg yolk and place in the oven preheated to 180 degrees. 
Moldavian pies "Verzere" with apples are baked for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. They can remain soft for 2-3 days, but usually disappear the same day - the pies turn out to be incredibly tasty!
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