CHRISTMAS IN POLAND
Dear Readers!
Christmas is one of the best times to visit Poland! All around the country, there are winter markets, ice rinks, and special events that put us all in the Christmas mood. Preparation for Christmas in many Polish households starts weeks before the 24th of December; families gather to start preparing
traditional Polish Christmas dishes such as pierogi, bigos, or makowiec.
The 24th of December is the most important day in Poland. This is the time families gather for Christmas dinner and kids open gifts that have been left under the Christmas Tree.
According to Polish tradition, there have to be twelve dishes on the Christmas table, all of which contein not meat.
Also, another tradition says to leave an empty seat at the table for any traveler who might wander to the house and join the
dinner. Before the dinner starts, all guests share “opłatek” – a special type of wafer.
Each person breaks off a piece of someone else’s wafer, wishing the person something for the new year to come.
We would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas, or as we say in Poland “Wesołych Świąt Bożego Narodzenia”!
Aldona, IWC Chariry Chair
RECIPE FOR PIEROGI WITH CABBAGE AND MUSHROOMS
(PIEROGI Z KAPUSTĄ I GRZYBAMI)
Dough:
- 600 g of all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon on salt
- 400 ml of hot water
Filling:
- 400g of mushrooms
- 600g of sauerkraut
- 3 spoons of oil
- 3 onions
Directions:
1. Chop up the mushrooms and add into a pot with saurekraut and water and let boil
2. In a pan, fry some onions and add into the pot;
3. After about 45 minutes, turn off the heat and lightly chop it up and set aside to cool down;
4. Prepare the dough: Add flour and salt and hot
water and knead the dough until it becomes uniform;
5. Roll out the dough and cut out circles (A glass for this works best);
6. Put some filling in the center and fold the circle in half, using a fork, press all around
the edges to seal the filling inside;
7. Boil some water with oil in a pot and
gently put the dumplings inside. Wait for
the dumplings to float to the top of the
water (about 3 minutes).