Loveoli: From Russia With Love

My Russian husband loves Pelmini, the Russian style ravioli. 
It is something between ravioli and dumpings filled with seasoned minced pork. 
This time, I revived pelmini with some love infusion. 
The pink dough was made with beetroot to enhance Russian essence.  No artificial colouring was involved.
For the heart shape I crafted a ceramic mould and pressed the filling between two sheets of beetroot dough. 

Instead for minced pork, you can fill any such as cheese and spinach paste. 
By using the ceramic mould methodology, you can make any shape of ravioli such as Christmas trees and bells. 

Prepare two different sizes of heart template and clay that we can oven-make to set. 
Fill the larger template with clay and place the smaller template in the centre to make a heart-shaped pit where the stuffing will go. 

Make sure the surface of the outer heart shape is flat and level so it will seal two layers of dough completely when pressed.

Place the clay in oven and bake it as directed. 

FIMO clay requires baking for 30 mins at 110C.

Ingredients

• Medium sized eggs (3)
• Large cooked beetroot (1)
• All-purpose flour (4 cups)
• Some more flour to dust the dough

Required utensils 

• Blender
• Large bowl 

Directions

• Quarter the beetroot into four and put into a blender with eggs. Brend it until the paste smooth (about 10 seconds).
• Put the flour and the beetroot & egg paste in a bowl. Mix them well until the dough becomes unsticky.
• Knead the dough as long as possible (perhaps 10 mins). 
• Cover the dough with cling film and leave overnight.

Ingredients

• Pork mince (150g)
• Garlic (1/2 clove)
• Large round Onion (1/2)  
• Salt (1 teaspoon)
• Paprika powder (1/2 teaspoon)
• Corn flour (1 tablespoon)
• Olive oil (1 teaspoon)
• Chicken stock (1/2 cube)

Sorry, I forgot to show corn flour and olive oil in the photo

Required utensils

• Small frying pan
• Wooden spatula 
• Glass bowl
• Shallow tray
• Sheet of cling film large enough to wrap the tray

Directions

1. Chop the onion and garlic into tiny pieces
2. Fry onion and garlic in the pan over medium temperature until they become translucent. Put the onion and garlic in a bowl and allow them cool.
3. Add minced pork, chicken stock, salt, paprika powder and cornflour into the bowl. Mix all ingredients well in the bowl
4. Place the cling film over the bottom of the tray. Fill the stuffing in 1cm depth in the tray evenly
5. Cover the surface with cling film and store in the fridge

Ingredients

• Dough
• Stuffing
• One large egg, beaten
• Flour to dust 

Required utensils 
Knife
Two large flat boards (such as a cutting board)
Rolling pin
Brush
Large heat template (from step 1)
Small heart template (from step 1)

Directions

1. Cut the pink dough into half. Wrap the one half with a cling film
2. Dust the board with flour and roll out the dough with a rolling pin evenly to thickness of less than 1mm
3. Trace the Loveoli pieces with the large heart template over the flat dough
4. Take the stuffing out from the fridge and make the heart shapes with the small template. Place each filling piece in the centre of a traced Loveoli space
5. Apply beaten egg with a brush to fill the edges between filing and outer heart shape of Loveoli 
6. Roll out the other half dough with the rolling pin. Lay it on top of the layer with filling.

Required utensils

• Large heart template
• Clay mold manufactured in step 1

Directions

1. Cut out each Loveoli piece with the large heart template
2. Cover each piece of Loveoli with the clay mold and press to seal the two layers of dough

While rolling out the dough, bring a water in a large pan to boil.

1. Boil Loveoli for 5-6 mins until they rise to the surface of water
2. Serve it with sour cream and dill
3. Sprinkle pinches of salt and pepper