Kalduny /

Kalduny or kolduny (Belarusian: калдуны́, Russian: кoлдуны́, Polish: kołduny, Lithuanian: koldūnai, used in plural only) are stuffed dumplings made of unleavened dough in Belarusian, Lithuanian, and Polish cuisines, akin to the Russian pelmeni and the Ukrainian vareniki. In Slavic languages the word means “magicians” or “sorcerers”, but it is unclear how the word became associated with the dish. The origin of kalduny is uncertain: they may have originated with equal likelihood in the West (Germany or Czech lands) or in the East (brought by the Tatar-Mongols across Siberia and the Urals). Kalduny, dumplings of unleavened dough filled with meat, mushrooms, or other stuffings, are related to similar dishes in the West and in the East alike, from Italian ravioli, Hungarian derelye, and Ashkenazi Jewish pirogen to Russian pelmeni and Central Asian manti or chuchvara. Kalduny made with a stuffing of smoked ham and mushrooms (Kalduny Count Tyshkevich, named after a Belarusian noble family...