“Palchiki” – Russian cooked Farmer’s cheese “Little Fingers”

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Heavenly tender, juicy and so delicious are the Russian “Little Fingers”. The hearty cooked Farmer’s cheese potato dumplings are ideal as a main dish for lunch or dinner. They are prepared quickly and with few ingredients. You can find a detailed “Palchiki” recipe with exact quantities and step-by-step instructions here at the very bottom.

What does “palchiki” mean?

“Palchiki” translated from Russian means “little fingers”. The dish got this name because of its shape.

It consists of elongated thin dumplings that remind you of “fingers”. The dough for it is prepared from Farmer’s cheese, potatoes, egg and flour.

Similarity with gnocchi and galushki

The Russian “Palchiki” can be compared with Italian gnocchi or Ukrainian galushki. Each of these dishes are dumplings.

The difference lies only in the doughs. The galushki dough is made of eggs, milk and flour. The gnocchi dough is a potato dough. While the dough for the “Little Fingers” is kneaded from tvorog, potatoes, egg and flour.

Farmer’s cheese or quark?

I recommend you to use Farmer’s cheese or tvorog for the “Palchiki” recipe, as well as for the no flour tvoroshniki or the goose feet cookies. You can make tvorog yourself.

Farmer’s cheese has a drier consistency and a different taste than German quark. With it you need only a little flour for the “Little Fingers” dough. As a result, the dumplings later taste really like tvorog as well as potatoes and not just like a simple dough made of flour.

If you use quark for the recipe, drain it thoroughly beforehand. In this case, you’ll need more flour for the dough than is specified in the recipe here below.

Correct dough consistency

In order for your “Palchiki” to taste very tender and juicy after cooking, you should not add too much flour to the tvorog potato mixture.

The dough must be very soft and slightly sticky. In no case should it be too firm or even dry. Therefore, you should add flour to the Farmer’s cheese potato mixture in batches until you get the right consistency of the dough.

Also, for the “Palchiki” it is best to use potatoes with little moisture and a lot of starch. Floury potato varieties are perfect for this.

Immediately after boiling and draining the water, leave the potatoes on the hot stove for a short time so that the excess liquid evaporates.

After mashing, let the cooked potatoes cool thoroughly. Then the mashed potatoes will be firm and will not absorb so much flour.

Refine with spices

I seasoned the tvorog potato mixture with salt only. Of course, you can add any other spices you like. For example, add some paprika powder** or black pepper.

How to serve Russian “Little Fingers”?

Serve the “Palchiki” warm right after cooking. They fill you up and are perfect as a main meal for lunch or dinner.

The Russian “Little Fingers” taste delicious with sour cream, similar to my vegetarian pelmeni. You can also serve them with a sauce.

Wild garlic butter or wild garlic pesto go ideally with the “Palchiki”. You can also serve them with fresh vegetables and herbs.

These “Palchiki” are

• tender,
• juicy,
• soft,
• savory,
• heavenly delicious,
• vegetarian,
• filling,
• easy and quick to make,
• ideal as a main dish for lunch or dinner.

Simple Russian tvorog dumplings recipe

The “Palchiki” recipe you’ll find in the recipe box here at the end of the post is pretty simple and quick. You’ll only need four ingredients for it, too.

First, boil potatoes and mash them. Then add Farmer’s cheese, egg, flour and salt to the mashed potatoes and knead it into a soft dough.

Form small “fingers” from the dough and boil them in salted water.

How to make “Palchiki”: tips and tricks

• If possible, use Farmer’s cheese or tvorog and not quark for the recipe.
• Floury potatoes are best suited for the Russian “Little Fingers”.
• You will get the most delicious “Palchiki” if you do not use too much flour for the dough.
• The amount of flour given in the recipe may vary. Add flour in portions to the tvorog potato mixture until you get a soft, slightly sticky dough.
• You can season the dough with different spices.
• Serve the “Palchiki” warm with sour cream directly after cooking.

Have you made “Palchiki” according to this recipe? I’m looking forward to your result, your star rating and your comment here below, how you succeeded and tasted the Russian “Little Fingers”.

Looking for more delicious main dish recipes? Try some more:

• Hearty rice casserole with zucchini and feta cheese – vegetarian recipe
• Pelmeni casserole vegetarian – Russian dumplings baked in the oven
• Piroshki with egg and leek filling – vegetarian recipe

 

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