KLEPE

KLEPE

#SIAintheKitchen

As I was writing my travel blog post on Sarajevo, I began to miss Bosnian food. Bosnia had some of the best food that I had on my entire month-long Europe trip, hands down. So well one, comforting, and homey - it was a like a warm hug on a very cold winter’s day (and it was fucking cold in Sarajevo).

I was writing the food portion out and I remembered when I had klepe. I was looking for a place to eat in the freezing cold and ducked into a small restaurant, Dzenita. Prices were insanely cheap (it was already super cheap in Sarajevo to begin with) so I decided to feast out and order a couple things. I ordered klepe after reading it on a few travel blogs because I wanted to discover what was described as “Bosnian ravioli”.

It was good! To me, it was a lot more similar to a dumpling or wonton with a slightly thicker skin. The klepe were filled with minced meat and served with sour cream, paprika-butter sauce and fresh garlic. Super yum. I had to somehow make this at home…and I finally did during one of my live shows!

I was surprised and how seriously easy it was! The klepe skin I was worried about the most as the recipe was rather simple but it was a complete no brainer that I already made this recipe twice. It’s totally fool-proof. And a breeze to make.

I froze my second batch after cooking and allowing for it to cool down. Makes for an easy meal later on in the year!

KLEPE - makes 2 servings

Dough

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 1/2 tbsp kosher salt

• 2 free-range eggs

• 2/3 cup warm water

Filling

• 375 g ground beef

• 1/4 spanish onion, finely diced

• 1 tbsp kosher salt

• freshly ground black pepper

Sauce and toppings

• 2 cups sour cream

• 1 cup heavy cream

• salt + pepper, to taste

• 1/4 unsalted butter

• 1 tbsp sweet paprika

• 1/2 head garlic, minced

1. In a medium mixing bowl, mix the flour, salt and egg together with your hand. Gradually add in the water, 1 tbsp at a time, until the dough comes together into a loose ball. There should be no dry bits left.

2. Divide dough into 2 balls. Place one ball onto a lightly floured surface and knead to activate the gluten. Re-flour the surface, ball of dough and rolling pin and begin to stretch and roll out your dough. Roll out the dough until 1/4” thick. With a pizza slicer, trace a grid out horizontally and then vertically. You’ll be placing bits of filling in-between each square. If you have enough space on your counter, you can do one entire sheet of dough; otherwise, you’ll have to repeat this process again.

3. In a small bowl, mix the ingredients together for the filling with your hands.

4. Begin to place small bits of filling in each square of dough. Carefully roll up each square and pinch each corner to seal off the dumpling. Continue until all of the dough and meet are used up.

5. Bring a pot of water to a boil, gently salted. In batches, drop the dumplings into the pot of water. The dumplings are finished when they float to the top, about 2 - 3 minutes depending on how big each dumpling is made. Strain the finished dumplings and transfer to a serving dish.

6. Mix the sour cream, salt and pepper and heavy cream together. Pour on top of the dumplings.

7. Melt the butter and paprika together and drizzle on top of the sour cream. Add the minced garlic on top and serve hot.