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Lenten dumplings with potatoes
Which family is not familiar with dumplings and ravioli? – Probably, each of us has at some point cooked this dish together with parents, children, and other relatives. And how nice and convenient it is to take them out of the freezer, boil them, and eat together as a family. Today we offer to make lentil dumplings with potatoes. This recipe is accessible, simple, and the finished dish turns out so delicious that even a gourmet can't resist it.
History of the dish
If you look a little into the history of the dish's origin, you will easily find that dumplings rightly belong to the Ukrainian national cuisine. Although the homeland of this dish is Turkey. In other words, dumplings, in essence, are small unleavened boiled pies with filling, which were once beloved by the Ukrainian people. Historically, their name transformed from "basurmanskikh dyush-vara" to "vara-niki," and later to the well-known "dumplings."
Ingredients
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- whole grain wheat flour – (+/-)500 g;
- water – (+/-)400 ml;
- flaxseed meal – 2 tbsp;
- salt – 1 tbsp;
- vegetable oil – 2 tbsp;
- mashed potatoes with herbs – 700 g.
The filling will be something else like soy mince or berries, although this time we will use previously prepared mashed potatoes. If you want to repeat, then:
- Boil the potatoes in salted water with a bay leaf.
- Drain the water, remove the bay leaf.
- Turn the boiled potatoes into mashed potatoes, crushing them in a convenient way.
- Add spices, herbs to taste.
This amount of ingredients yields about 36 lentil dumplings with potato filling. If you want to change the yield of the finished dish, adjust the quantity of the ingredients proportionally in the recipe.
Preparation
1. We start the preparation by kneading the lenten dough from whole grain flour. First, we pour the flaxseed meal into a deep container. And pour warm water over it to release the colloidal solution. It will serve as a substitute for eggs, making the dough more elastic and moist. Moreover, flaxseed meal is beneficial for intestinal peristalsis.
2. Add salt and vegetable oil to the solution. Mix. Wait for about 5 minutes.
3. In the same bowl, add half of the flour.
4. Mix thoroughly using a spoon or spatula.
5. Bring the lenten dough to a pliable state, where it practically does not stick to hands and surfaces, constantly adding the remaining whole grain flour to the mass, kneading and forming a small ball from it.
6. Prepare the utensils with the products for shaping the dumplings. Specifically: a surface for rolling (this can be a table, silicone mat, or board), rolling pin, mold for shaping (if you don’t have one, a cup or a medium-sized mug works well), filling (in our case, mashed potatoes with herbs), lenten dough for dumplings made from whole grain flour (prepared earlier), flour for dusting the surface for rolling and hands to prevent the dough from sticking.
7. Dust our surface by sprinkling a small amount of flour, spreading it into a thin layer, and removing the excess.
8. Tear off a small piece of lenten dough for the potato dumplings. Form it first into a ball by rolling the mass between your palms. Then, shape it into a disk, which we roll out into a thin layer on the floured surface. To prevent the dough from sticking to hands and the rolling pin, dust them with flour as well.
9. Cut out circles using an available utensil like a glass.
10. In the center of the circle, place a teaspoon of filling. If using a dumpling mold, place the resulting circles into it beforehand, and add the filling afterward.
11. Shape the lentil dumplings with potatoes, pinching them using a convenient method. A good option is to gather all edges to one point and form a resemblance of khinkali. It is practical, convenient, and beautiful.
12. If there is leftover dough, form it into a ball, place it in a plastic bag, container, or bowl with a lid. Put it in the refrigerator. Such a preparation can be stored for quite a long time, and the lean dough is suitable for other dishes like homemade noodles, cookies, thin crust pizza. And if there is leftover filling, we can make a lean potato casserole or dumplings for lean borscht.
13. Place the formed dumplings on a hard surface like a board or metal tray with a small gap between them, so the preparations don’t stick together. Put them in the freezer for a few hours. After that, they can be transferred to a bag.
14. If you want to taste the potato dumplings, cook them without freezing or take the necessary quantity from the freezer.
15. For boiling, pour clean water into a deep pot. Add salt to taste and bay leaf. The latter ingredient adds spice to the broth dish. However, if someone doesn’t like it, it can be excluded. The salt will add strength to the dough. Place the pot of water on medium heat, using the lid. Wait for it to boil.
16. When the liquid has boiled and the broth has started bubbling actively, drop the dumplings one by one into the pot. Cook until the dumplings float to the surface of the pot, gently stirring with a slotted spoon.
17. The lean potato dumplings are ready. Serve hot with broth or without, depending on personal preference. Season with fresh herbs, lean sour cream, lean mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, or something else to taste. Enjoy your meal!
