Cepelinai
Strictly speaking, a zeppelin is a rigid airship. Due to a special shape these wonderful cutlets have got the name cepelinai. This is a national dish of Lithuanian cuisine. Essentially cepelinai are balls made of potato dough (mixed with raw and boiled potatoes) and stuffed with mince pork meat. When I started studying this question, I found out that it’s better to boil cepelinai first and then to bake with pork rinds in the oven. But here I am giving you the recipe which mu mum used to treat me in my childhood and all friends used to run to our house for her cepelinai.
By the way, if you replace mince pork meat with mushrooms and onion and put no egg then you will get absolutely Lenten dish!
5
portions 
Ingredients:
- Potatoes – 20 medium-size pc;
- Onion – 1 pc;
- Celery stalk – 1 pc;
- Mixed mincemeat (beef+pork) – 500 g;
- Refined olive oil – 7 tbsp;
- Egg – 1 pc;
- Salt, black ground pepper;
- Sour cream for serving.
Step 1
Peel 5 potatoes, cut into bog pieces and put on to cook. After boiling low down the fire and cook under closed cover for 20 minutes.
Step 2
Meanwhile, let’s prepare the stuffing. Finely chop onion.
Step 3
Put it into the frying pan pre-heated with 4 table spoons of olive oil on medium heat. Parboil for two minutes.
Step 4
Cut celery stalk into small cubes.
Step 5
Put it to the onion.
Step 6
Two minutes later put the mincemeat on the frying pan. Fry together on medium heat mixing up from time to time and thoroughly breaking mincemeat balls with a spatula until the mincemat ceases to be red. Avoid frying to the crust. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Step 7
Drain out boiled potatoes and mash it with a beetle adding 2 table spoons olive oil.
Step 8
Peel remaining 15 potatoes and grate on a small grater. Drain out the liquid (by hands or through sieve as you wish).
Step 9
Mix up grated and mashed potatoes.
Step 10
Add egg (avoid this step if following the Lent), sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Step 11
Mix up well with hands.
Step 12
Coat the baking pan with foil. Grease it with a brush and 1 table spoon oil.
Step 13
Finally, start making cepelinai. Out of potato dough make a ball on the palm.
Step 14
Put a full table spoon of mincemeat in the centre.
Step 15
Bend up the edges shaping a ball.
Step 16
Use another portion of potatoes to make a missing ‘cover’. Carefully make flat cepelin.
Step 17
Put them on our baking pan. Grease with remaining spoon of oil using a brush and put into the oven pre-heated until 180 degrees for 40 minutes.
Step 18
I turn them over after 20 minutes because I have an old oven. I guess you don’t need if using a modern one as it’s heated from top to bottom. Keep an eye on time – bake until golden colour.
Step 19
Put our beauty on a plate.
Step 20
Serve abundantly topping with sour cream.
Bon appetite!
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