National Dish Lithuania: Cepelinai (Recipe)
In this article
Cepelinai are named after zeppelins because of their shape, and they are heavy enough to justify it. Raw grated potato is squeezed dry, mixed with cooked potato, wrapped around a meat filling and boiled. Two per person is generous.
About Cepelinai
Cepelinai are Lithuania’s national dish. The dough is a mixture of raw grated potato, squeezed of its liquid, and boiled mashed potato, which is what stops them falling apart. The filling is minced pork with onion. They are served with soured cream and spirgučiai, fried bacon and onion.
The starch that settles out of the squeezed potato liquid is added back. That is not optional.
Ingredients (serves 1–2)
- 6 large potatoes
- 200 g minced meat (or a vegetarian alternative)
- 1 onion
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons starch
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 100 g bacon
- 100 ml sour cream
Shopping for the ingredients
Use starchy potatoes, the older the better. Waxy potatoes will not bind. Minced pork shoulder with some fat gives the right filling. Potato starch rather than cornflour, and a little extra as insurance.
Preparing the dish
Grate two thirds of the potatoes raw and squeeze them hard in a cloth. Let the liquid stand five minutes, pour off the water and keep the white starch at the bottom. Boil and mash the remaining third, then combine everything. Work quickly, because grated raw potato greys fast.
Step-by-step instructions
- Grate two thirds of the potatoes raw and squeeze them dry in a cloth, reserving the settled starch.
- Boil and mash the remaining potatoes, then mix with the squeezed potato, the reserved starch, the added starch, salt, pepper and the egg.
- Fry the chopped onion and the minced meat in a pan until cooked through, seasoning to taste.
- Shape palm-sized dumplings from the potato dough and press a hollow into the centre of each.
- Fill the hollow with the meat mixture, then carefully seal each dumpling around the filling.
- Cook the cepelinai in plenty of gently simmering salted water for about 25–30 minutes, until they rise to the surface.
- Meanwhile, fry the bacon until crisp and stir it through the sour cream.
- Serve the cepelinai piping hot, generously topped with the bacon and sour cream sauce.
Gluten-free / lactose-free version
Cepelinai are naturally gluten-free, since potato starch does the binding. The soured cream is dairy; use a plant version or serve them with the bacon and onion alone.
Tips for vegans and vegetarians
Curd cheese, varškė, is the traditional meat-free filling and is a real Lithuanian version. Mushrooms with onion work well too. For vegan, use a mushroom filling, skip the egg and rely on extra starch, and top with fried onion in oil.
More tips and tricks
Keep the settled starch. Squeezing the potato and throwing that liquid away is the mistake that makes cepelinai disintegrate. Simmer them gently and never at a rolling boil. And test one first: if it falls apart, add more starch to the remaining dough.
Adapting the recipe to your taste
Curd cheese filling is the summer version. A little grated onion in the potato dough keeps it from greying. Some households add a spoonful of milk to the sour cream sauce to loosen it.
Ingredient substitutions
Minced beef or a pork-beef mixture both work. Cornflour can replace potato starch, though it binds less well. Crème fraîche in place of soured cream.
Drink pairing ideas
A cold Lithuanian lager such as Švyturys. Rūgpienis, soured milk, is the traditional accompaniment. Gira, the local kvass, also works.
Serving and presentation ideas
Two per plate, split open, with the bacon and soured cream sauce poured over. Nothing else is needed and nothing else fits. It is a heavy dish and lunch is the right meal for it.
A bit of history
Potatoes arrived in Lithuania in the eighteenth century and reshaped the diet completely; the country now has a whole family of potato dishes. Cepelinai as such are twentieth-century and the name is recent, dating from the era of airships. They anchor Lithuanian cuisine.
More recipe ideas
Summary: Cepelinai
Cepelinai are potato dumplings stuffed with minced pork, boiled and served with bacon and soured cream. Keep the settled potato starch, simmer them gently, and test one before committing the batch.
