This is an authentic traditional Polish Pierogi recipe. Tasty and is an absolutely a must to try making. It takes some time to make all the pierogi dumplings, but well worth the effort. You can prepare these and freeze them, so that next time all you have to do is just stick them into a pot and fry them if you wish.

You can make these with any filling. We used mushroom and sauerkraut filling for most of pierogi, but we did also use cheese and cottage cheese and blueberry fillings.

So, feel free to use any filling that you like. We mainly focused on sauerkraut and mushroom filling, but also used mozzarella cheese and also cottage cheese mixed with crushed fresh blueberries. They all tasted equally tasty, so feel free to pick your filling.

So the general flow is as it is:

For making filling:
- Rinse the sauerkraut in a sieve under running water. Drain.
- Heat up a frying pan on medium, add butter, onion and a pinch of salt. Cook and stir often for approximately 4 minutes, add mushrooms and cook for a further 4 minutes, until they soften. Now add the drained sauerkraut and cook for another 10 minutes until soft. There should remain no liquid in the pan. Season to taste with some more salt and pepper as you like. Set aside and let it cool.

For making dough .. and to completion:
- Put the flour into a large bowl and make a well in the centre.
- Crack the egg into the well, then add water, salt and oil. Now stir in all the ingredients with a fork and then slowly incorporate the flour until soft dough forms. Then start kneading with your hands. The goal is to end up with a dough that does not stick. If it still sticks, then add a little more flour and knead some more. If you get the mixture right first time, then it should be approx. 10 minutes of kneading that you'll have to do. When done, divide the dough into 3 parts, this will be easier to roll it out. Cover the dough with cling film or foil, so it doesn't dry out.
- Take one of the three dough pieces and roll it out until it is approx 3mm thick, when you pick it up you should see the shape of your hand coming through it - see one of the photos in the recipe for how it should look like.
- Using a large cup, press in as many circles as it is possible. Take the leftovers, knead it back up and roll it out again and stamp out more circles.
- Now put the filling into the centre of all the circles, this should be approx 1 full teaspoon of filling of your choice.
- Wet the edges of each circle and press them together and twist the edges if you like to form a nice pattern
- Heat up a frying pan on medium and fry the 2 large onions in butter until translucent, approx 3 mins - 15 mins. If you cook longer, then they will be crispy, so now it will be down to what you would like here. We used 3 mins.
- To cook pierogies, bring a large pot of water to boil, salting the water slightly. Add pierogi stir occasionally making sure they don't stick to the edges or the bottom of the pan. Simmer for approx 3 mins, pierogi should rise to the top when they're done. Remove from pot using a slotted spoon/utensil and transfer to a plate.
- This step is now optional: if you'd like pierogi that is crispy, then heat up a frying pan on medium, add some oil (say rapeseed oil) and stick your pierogi in, fry until golden brown, 2 mins each side should do it.
- Serve pierogi with fried onion. You could also serve with sour cream or crème fraiche, it is entirely up to you.
- Enjoy.