Lithuania

Creative eating
A great deal of creativity goes into preparing meals in Lithuania. The cake shaped like a Christmas tree is famous - although it is baked not for Christmas but for weddings. Traditionally, 12 different vegetarian dishes are served on Christmas Eve - one for each month, or one for each apostle. 'Marguciai', Easter eggs decorated with magnificent traditional designs, are common at Easter. The patterns are applied to the egg by engraving or batik. The Lithuanians' favourite dumplings are called 'cepelinai' - they take not only their name but also their shape from the zeppelin.

Cepelinai (potato dumplings with minced-meat filling)
Ingredients (Serves 4):
For the dumplings:
500 g raw potatoes
500 g boiled potatoes
1 tbsp potato starch
1 egg
salt
black pepper
nutmeg
For the filling:
40 g bacon
1 onion
150 g mince
salt
black pepper
marjoram
For the sauce:
75 g bacon
1 onion
1 cup soured cream
1 tbsp chopped dill

Method:

• To make the dumplings, peel, wash and finely grate the raw potatoes, and squeeze out the excess liquid thoroughly.
  
• Roughly grate the boiled potatoes and mix with the raw potatoes, the potato starch and the egg. Season with salt, black pepper and nutmeg.
  
• To make the filling, dice the bacon finely and brown in a frying pan.
  
• Peel and finely dice the onion, add to the bacon and fry until the onion is transparent and browned.
  
• Add the mince, mix thoroughly, fry until mince is crumbly and season with salt, black pepper and marjoram.
  
• Heat a pan of water, generously salted, for the dumplings.
  
• Meanwhile, make 8 dumplings. To do this, divide the potato dough into 8, flatten each dough piece, then distribute the filling between the pieces.
  
• Press the dough together over the filling and form an oblong dumpling (in the shape of a zeppelin).
  
• Lower the dumplings into the boiling water and simmer for about 15 minutes, until they rise to the surface.
  
• To make the sauce, finely dice the bacon and fry to render down. Peel and finely chop the onion and add to the bacon. Brown lightly. Finally, add soured cream, sprinkle with dill, and serve with the dumplings.