Kurgyne pies with cottage cheese and potatoes
12 servings
150 minutes
These pies originate from Moksha folk cuisine, my grandmother often cooked them closer to autumn on rainy days in the oven, with a slight sourness, incredibly tender and satisfying pies now remind me of those cozy home evenings every time. They are best eaten with sweet tea and lemon in the circle of a large family.

1
Mix the yeast with sugar and pour in five tablespoons of water. Once all the granules dissolve, set the bowl in a warm place for ten to fifteen minutes.
- Dry yeast: 11 g
- Sugar: 1 tablespoon
- Water: 50 ml
2
Salt the melted butter and mix it with milk. This milk mixture should be warm. You can check its temperature by dropping a few drops of the liquid on your wrist.
- Melted butter: 180 g
- Salt: 1 teaspoon
- Milk: 230 ml
3
A decent-sized fluffy bubbly cap should appear on the yeast, indicating that the yeast is working well, and it's time to incorporate them into the liquid component of the dough.
4
When the yeast mixture is ready, stir the dough again and add the last ingredient - flour. It should be added gradually, sifting through a sieve. The dough is kneaded easily. It turns out very tender and soft. It does not stick to the hands at all. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 50-60 minutes.
- Rye flour: 150 g
- Wheat flour: 150 g
5
While the dough rises, prepare the filling: peel the potatoes, boil them, pass through a sieve twice with the cottage cheese, add 380 grams of sour cream, mix thoroughly, season with salt and add nutmeg to taste.
- Potato: 180 g
- Cottage cheese 9%: 280 g
- Sour cream 35%: 450 g
- Salt: 1 teaspoon
- Nutmeg: pinch
6
We grease our hands with oil, divide the dough, roll out medium circles, press them down, add the filling, and fold the edges, leaving the center open. They resemble cheesecakes in shape. We grease the open part with sour cream and place a small piece of butter in the center, while greasing the edges with egg yolk.
- Melted butter: 180 g
- Sour cream 35%: 450 g
- Melted butter: 180 g
- Egg yolk: 1 piece
7
The first batch of pies should be placed in a cold (!) oven; there's no need to preheat it! The pies are baked at a temperature of 180-200 degrees for about 20 minutes. As for the second batch of pies, they will rise in time, so a preheated oven is the best place for them.









