You know sometimes when you’re just doing your thing, like sweeping the kitchen floor and singing “Love me like you do” into the tip of the broom, and a random taste appears in your mouth out of nowhere, and you’re like WHAT IS THAT. WHAT. IS. THAT. And it’s not an actual taste, but it’s the memory of a taste? Like a little piece of the tremendous nostalgic part of life magically comes out on your tongue, leaving you with nothing else to do but hyper focus on it and recognize the taste or else DAH? Know what I mean?
And then the memory slaps the broom right out of your grasp and you can’t even finish your #1 hit song. Belyashi, GAAAAAAH. And then, of course, once you pinpoint the taste, it’s all you can do, not to obsess over it, sending adorable texts to your husband. To which he responds, “Oh, yeah”.
Well and then you just gotta make it happen. So I made these easy beef belyashi because I am NOT ABOUT to disobey the great signs of life that appear as a memory on my tongue. Obviously.
So these are kind of the best. Eastern european classic – belyashi, also known as pirozhki. We love our dough stuffed with all kinds of fillings. Chebureki, dumplings, pierogies, manti are made with savory fillings. And bulochki – with sweet and they are baked instead of fried. I just love all of them so much, but I can’t TELL you how absurdly good these easy beef belyashi are. Very soft on the inside with a crispy outer shell and incredibly flavorful juicy meat filling. It’s total comfort food, but incredibly simple. It’s perfect on snow days, game days, Friday days. It’s kid-approved, husband-endorsed, dog-recommended and enthusiastically applauded by me. I realize that they are a little indulgent, but hey, isn’t that what Friday’s are for? I think so. We’ll get back to the healthy food on Monday, but for now let’s just live it up a little.
The recipe is so simple! It only has 4 ingredients. And the ingredients it takes to make the dough. Well, and the beer you’re drinking when you make this. It’s totally 4 ingredients! And this dough is epic, guys! There is no yeast, no rising time, it doesn’t take 465234 years to make. It’s soft and fluffy due to the secret ingredient kefir, which you can find in almost any grocery store in dairy department near yogurts or make it yourself. You can prepare the dough and filling in half an hour, quickly divide the dough into 14 parts and stuff it with 14 juicy beef meatballs. Fry on the skillet for a few minutes and enjoy hot dipped into your favorite sauce. I recommend sour cream. Because Ukrainian.
I’m just going to tell you this right now. If you make these easy beef belyashi, ok, realistically, WHEN you make these easy beef belyashi, like, tonight, you need to get a locked safe in your kitchen. Overnight it from Amazon or something. Because sometimes when you “sleepwalk”, you might find yourself in the kitchen eating one or five belyashi in the middle of the night. “Sleepwalking” can be really dangerous.
So what do you say? Since it’s Friday?? You definitely want to make these, right??
Trust me you do.
Dough Ingredients:
2 cups kefir
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
4 tbsp sunflower oil
Filling:
1 lb ground beef or lamb
2 medium onions, peeled and pureed
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1/3 tbsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
frying oil (I used sunflower oil)
To make the filling combine the ground beef with pureed onions, season with salt and pepper and add chopped cilantro. Mix everything well, cover and refrigerate for at least half an hour.
To make the dough combine all the ingredients except the oil in the mixer bowl and knead on low speed until everything is combined, about 5-7 minutes. Gradually add the oil tablespoon at a time, waiting between each addition until everything is incorporated. After last oil addition kneed the dough for 3 more minutes. Cover the dough and leave to rest for 20-30 minutes.
Then transfer the dough onto a well-oiled surface like baking sheet and divide the dough into 14 equal pieces, forming the dough balls. Keep the hands well-oiled as well to keep the dough from sticking.
Stretch each dough ball on the baking sheet using your hands to make 4,5 inch flat circles.
Divide the meat filling into 14 equal meat balls and place in the centre of each dough circle. Each meat ball should be about 1-2 tablespoons of filling.
Then gather up the sides of the circle, pinching them together. Leave the small hole in the centre. Press it slightly to release the air between the filling and dough.
Heat a large non-stick pan or dutch oven over medium high heat with enough oil to cover half of the belyashi.
Place 3-4 belyashi at a time in hot oil seam side down. It’s important not to overcrowd the pan, leaving some space between belyashi as they rise while frying.
Reduce the heat to medium and fry until deep golden brown. Flip belyashi to the other side, reduce the heat to low and fry for another 4-5 minutes.
Place on paper towels to cool slightly and enjoy! Try these easy beef belyashi with simple sour cream or your favorite garlic sauce and hot cup of tea.
- Dough Ingredients:
- 2 cups kefir
- 3 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 4 tbsp sunflower oil
- Filling:
- 1 lb ground beef or lamb
- 2 medium onions, peeled and pureed
- 2 tbsp fresh cilantro, finely chopped
- 1/3 tbsp salt
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- frying oil (I used sunflower oil)
- To make the filling combine the ground beef with pureed onions, season with salt and pepper and add chopped cilantro. Mix everything well, cover and refrigerate for at least half an hour.
- To make the dough combine all the ingredients except the oil in the mixer bowl and knead on low speed until everything is combined, about 5-7 minutes. Gradually add the oil tablespoon at a time, waiting between each addition until everything is incorporated. After last oil addition knead the dough for 3 more minutes. Cover the dough and leave to rest for 20-30 minutes.
- Then transfer the dough onto a well-oiled surface like baking sheet and divide the dough into 14 equal pieces, forming the dough balls. Keep the hands well-oiled as well to keep the dough from sticking.
- Stretch each dough ball on the baking sheet using your hands to make 4,5 inch flat circles.
- Divide the meat filling into 14 equal meat balls and place in the centre of each dough circle. Each dough meat ball should be about 1-2 tablespoons of filling.
- Then gather up the sides of the circle, pinching them together. Leave the small hole in the centre. Press it slightly to release the air between the filling and dough.
- Heat a large non-stick pan or dutch oven over medium high heat with enough oil to cover half of the belyashi.
- Place 3-4 belyashi at a time in hot oil seam side down. It’s important not to overcrowd the pan, leaving some space between belyashi as they rise while frying.
- Reduce the heat to medium and fry until deep golden brown. Flip belyashi to the other side, reduce the heat to low and fry for another 4-5 minutes.
- Place on paper towels to cool slightly and enjoy! Try these easy beef belyashi with simple sour cream or your favorite garlic sauce and hot cup of tea.
Oh, I totally know what you mean by those memories. I find that food is connected to our past in a way that nothing else is. Smells and tastes can transport us back to a well-forgotten place or time so suddenly that sometimes you just need to close your eyes to keep standing.
These Belyashi look amazing, and I love your dough! Do you think I could bake these instead of fry them? A. I actually never deep (or even half) fried anything in oil and I am incredibly scared of it. and B. My husband actually doesn’t eat fried foods much.
Thanks Julia! These type of belyashi with raw ground meat and this kind of dough would be best fried, unfortunately 🙂 But you know what? Theres is nothing to be afraid of! It’s like making pancakes stuffed with incredibly delicious juicy filling. The only reason for more oil is that the meat cooks through inside without burning the outer shell.
There is baked kind of belyashi, that I really like called vak belyash – traditional tatar dish. They are made with totally different kind of dough and the filling consist of chunks of meat with potatoes. My friend makes them the best in the world! I might have to ask her for the recipe and post it on the blog one day!
Hmm… Ok… I guess I have to get over my fear of deep frying one day, so I might as well try this.
I really like the idea of this dough. What else can you make with it? Would it be good for baked pirozhki with cabbage and egg maybe?
Mmm you’re making me hungry again. The ones with egg and spring onion are my favorite too, and I really like piroshki with cabbage, but it needs to be the right kind of cabbage – sautéed sour kraut with caramelized onions. Yum! Oh, and fried is the best of course :))
This sounds really yummy but I am one of those soapy cilantro people. So I was wondering if I could add something else like fresh parsley instead?
Wow. These look awwwwwwwesome. Seriously, they look dangerous — like you’d need to have friends over to avoid eating every last one of them in one go. It’s funny how much they look like a Chinese dish (pan-fried minced beef/pork/vegetable cakes). It makes me wonder how much you could play with the filling.
You’ve got a beautiful site.
Thank you Sean! I am so with you on how dangerous these are! I’ve tried them with lamb filling before and they are pretty amazing!
Wow these sound amazing. I have never had these before….but do enjoy “stuffed” foods. This is almost like a mini tourtiere. I also love pot pies….so this is something I will have to try.
Yum! Now I have to try making tourtiere, thanks Gloria!
Oh I totally have random nostalgia for things like this and your blog isn’t helping haha! I ended up making your oladi over the weekend which were so good and then improvised a version of sirnyiki this morning. I usually leave the Russian cooking to my mom (she just does it so well that I never bother), but I love having your blog as a resource now as well!
Aww, how sweet, thank you so much Sofia! I’m so happy you ended up making and liking oladi! The next stop – belyashi, but now you have to start making more kefir ha ha!
Oh my yes I do want to be indulgent this weekend!!! I’ve never heard of Balyashi but seem similar to Fatyre – a Lebanese treat which is sweet dough stuffed with ground meat. When I was growing up a neighbour would gift a batch to my family at Christmas and they never lasted long!! Sleep walking would have been a good excuse for sneaking the last one 😉
I am definitely going to be baking a batch of these in the very new future!
Oh wow, now I want to try Fatyre! Thanks for stopping by Meaghan!
I did try the recipe. Wonderful, but I had a hard time getting the inside cooked all the way. I placed them in my Steam oven for a few minutes and they were perfect. I also used whole grain flour and they turned out well. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks Bred! I’m so glad you enjoyed them as my as I do! Try frying them on the second size for a bit longer on low heat next time, but I like your alternative for steam oven too.
Can the dough be made by hand?
Certainly, although the dough is very sticky so oily hands is a must. Good luck!
Hi,
Your site and pictures are lovely! Would you recommend freezing them raw and frying as needed? I can’t wait to try them.
Thank you! I would recommend frying them fresh as the dough very sticky.
I really want to try this recipe but have no idea what kefir is. Is it something that is available in the store or should I make it? Would love to try this because it looks aamazing😁😁
Thanks Madiha! Yes, kefir is now everywhere in the dairy department of supermarkets.
Recipe looks amazing. Wondering if Kombucha could be used instead of keffir? THanks
Thanks Tracy! I haven’t tried making the dough with Kombucha, but would be curious to find out!
My mama used to make these! Sheer yumm heaven! I tried making them with yeast dough and lamb (po kavkazki) with lots of garlic and onion which makes the extra juicy. They were good but I found the dough fried quickly while the lamb was qestionable and I needed to bake them to finish the lamb. So it was a tedious process as you can imagine! Your recipe sounds so much easier for the dough so I am definitely making these . Do you have a recipe for ” postnie” for those special days’ of the year some of us observe? A non yeast dough and filling . Deep appreciation for your fantastic blog and recipes!
Hi Lydia! Thanks for stopping by! The trick with this dough is that you go nice and slow. The dough is much more wet than usual yeast dough therefore it fries longer giving enough time for the meat to cook as well. But you have to be careful with the heat as it might burn. I hope you give these belyashi a try soon!
I am going to try making these tonight .,., they sound so yummy. I don’t have fresh cilantro on hand but I do have some in a tube, or I can use parsley…..I hope it doesn’t change them too much!
Which side is the seem side?
They look so yummy, I’m even thinking about giving a try to this belyash beefi! I have bookmarked the recipe will definitely try it soon!
These look so fantastic! My only concern is how much is two onions worth of grated onion? Two large onions would be an awful lot for a pound of meat.
I made these last night. Use lots of oil on your hands to form.
What I found is the the dough cooks much to fast. I had to finish in the oven. The taste is great when you remove the burnt coating.
Next time a will partially cook the meat (maybe steam) and then fry.
Made these today – so freaking good. Shallow fried (enough oil to come 1/2 way up the side) and they came out perfectly. The pastry on these is luscious – slightly crisp and flaky on the outside, chewy and tender inside. The meat filling is plump and juicy – and surprisingly flavorful for the simplicity of the ingredients. 10/10, worth both the work and the frying. (!)