Romanian Cabbage Pies – Placinte cu varza

5 from 2 votes

Typical Romanian cabbage pies or placinte cu varza, filled with cabbage, lots of dill, and served with smetana or sour cream.

Prep Time1 45

Cook Time30

Total Time2 15

Course: Romanian Cooking

Cuisine: Romanian

Servings:

Calories: 259kcal

Author: Adina

Mix and knead: In a large bowl, mix the flour, instant dry yeast, sugar, and salt. Then, slowly start adding the lukewarm water, mixing with a spoon until the flour is incorporated. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes or until it stops sticking too much to the bowl, flouring your hands from time to time, if necessary.
Let rise: Cover the bowl with a kitchen cloth and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until doubled in size. Alternatively, you can prepare your yeast dough in a food processor/stand mixer using the appropriate kneading accessories and kneading for about 4-5 minutes.

Prepare cabbage: In the meanwhile, prepare the stewed cabbage. Grate the cabbage roughly or process it in the food processor to obtain a similar result to grating it manually. Add some salt (be generous) and pepper and leave for about 15 minutes.
Stew cabbage: Heat the oil in a large non-stick pot or Dutch oven and stew the cabbage until soft, about 15-20 minutes. Adjust the taste, generously, with salt and pepper, and stir in the finely chopped dill. Leave to cool slightly until you prepare the rest.

Roll dough: Knead the risen dough shortly to bring it in shape again. Divide it into 10 parts and form 10 balls. Roll each ball into a thin circle. I did not require extra flour for rolling but sprinkle the working surface and the rolling pin lightly with flour if the dough sticks.
Form pies: Place some filling in the middle of the circle and form a pocket by bringing together all the sides of the circle and pressing lightly to seal the pocket. Roll the pocket again to make it flat. See the pictures above!
Rest: Place the pies on baking paper and let rest for 10 minutes.

Fry: Heat 1 tablespoon oil a large non-stick pan. Fry the pies about 2-3 minutes on each side. You will have to work in two or three batches. Add some more oil between the batches, if necessary.
Keep the pies warm in the lightly heated oven. Serve immediately with tomato and onion salad or eat cold as a snack.

Use a digital kitchen scale to measure the ingredients when baking; it guarantees for best results.
You can use active dry yeast instead. Sprinkle it in 5 tablespoons of the lukewarm water you've measured already and let it stand for 5 minutes until foamy. Mix with the rest of the ingredients and proceed with the recipe.