Pelmeni from the Tomb Raider Cookbook

Pelmeni are Russian dumplings that can be best compared to a Russian version of tortellini. They're wrapped in an unleavened dough, filled with meat and onions and boiled, then served with butter and sour cream or smetana, which is a Russian type of sour cream. The Tomb Raider Cookbook has a recipe for it, which I tried on another friends weekend along with 'Otai and Tanghulu.

Lara Croft has visited Russia multiple times in the Tomb Raider franchise. In Chronicles, she travels to Zapadnaya Litsa, a real naval base in Murmansk Oblast, in search of the Spear of Destiny. The entirety of Rise of the Tomb Raider (apart from the opening act in Syria) is set in Siberia, where Lara goes in search of the lost city of Kitezh and the Divine Source, an artifact said to grant immortality. She also visits Siberia in the first Angelina Jolie film, looking for the Triangle of Light, a relic that can control time.

I enjoy cooking, but I can't stand cleaning. When you're kneading dough, you need a clean surface like a kitchen counter, and since I didn't want to have to clean it, I tried to use a flat cutting board. Big mistake. For the Pelmeni dough, you have to mix in water and eggs, making a well in the center of some flour. Since I didn't make a deep enough well or go slow, water dripped out and down the side of my counter, forcing me to pivot.

I got another cutting board with legs and a semi-moat around it, which would help with the kneading process. There was still a bit of spillage at first, but nowhere near as severe. Once the dough is fully incorporated and kneaded, it has to chill in the fridge for half an hour. This hydrates the flour so it's easier to roll out.

While the dough is chilling, you can make your... filling (I hate when I rhyme). It's ground beef and pork, onions, garlic, salt and pepper. Pretty simple. I forgot to take a mise en place photo of the filling ingredients before I started mixing them, but you doubtless know what they look like. Then I took out the dough and started rolling it out. However, it wasn't rolling into a thin shape, only stretching out as far as I could get it, which gave me another idea.

As you can see above, I used a shot glass to cut out the individual circles (which left an imprint in my hand and hurt). Since I couldn't roll out a large mass of dough to be 1/8 inch thin, I cut out the circles and then rolled those. They were much easier to do. I then put my taste testers to work filling and sealing the Pelmeni for me. The recipe says you should end up with 100.

We ended up with 52, which was after I rolled out the scraps of leftover dough to try and get more. I didn't want to do that too much more in case the dough got tough. We still had some filling and dough leftover. I made a smash burger patty with the leftover filling, and with the dough scraps, I pan-fried them the way I like to, which makes them crispy and soft on the inside, like bannock bread.

Once your Pelmeni are all filled and formed, you need to flash freeze them for an hour. After that, you can put them into a bag to keep frozen, or cook them. I cooked eight per person, 20 in total, serving them with butter and sour cream. I put pats of butter on our plates and let the residual heat from the Pelmeni melt it, because every time I microwave butter, it explodes.

They were incredibly delicious! A lot of work for sure, but we greatly enjoyed the final result. If you want to make this recipe for Pelmeni yourself, you can find it in Tomb Raider: The Official Cookbook and Travel Guide.