Knishes - cute packets of potatoes in dough - gluten-free and vegetarian - warm and delicious!
Knishes are beautiful packets of dough filled with your choice of mashed potatoes, cheesy filling, or anything else. People are always impressed when they see these. And, they are gluten-free!
Prep Time50 minutesmins
Cook Time17 minutesmins
Total Time1 hourhr7 minutesmins
Course: Dinner
Cuisine: Jewish
Servings: 12knishes
Author: Valerie Mates
Ingredients
Dough:
4 1/2cups-OR- 3 packets All-Purpose Chebe Mix
6eggs
6tablespoonsoilI use canola and/or olive oil
1/2cupwatermilk, or vegan milk
Potato Filling: (I like to make lots of extra to eat as a side dish for days afterward)
3cupsfresh red chard or spinachwashed, stems removed, and chopped, OR 1 cup defrosted frozen kale
3large baking potatoes
1/4cupoilcanola and/or olive
1 1/2teaspoonssalt
1 1/2teaspoonspepperoptional -- I leave it out
Cheesy Vegan Filling:
3/4poundfirm tofu OR a combination of 3/4 cup cashews3/4 cup sunflower seeds, and 6 tablespoons of water
1/4cupolive oil
1 1/2teaspoonsdried herbssuch as basil and oregano
3tablespoonsapple cider vinegar
1/2box frozen spinachdefrosted
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
If you are making the potato filling, cut the potatoes into one-inch cubes and put them in a pot. Add enough cold water to cover them. Heat to a boil, then lower the heat to medium and boil for 10-12 minutes, until the potatoes are easy to pierce with a fork. Drain and return them to the pot. Add all the other ingredients for the potato filling except for the greens. Mash the potatoes. Then stir in the greens.
If you are making the cheesy vegan filling, mix all ingredients in a food processor or a big blender.
To make the dough, mix all of the dough ingredients and knead them together into a soft dough. If the dough is dry and not cohesive, you may need to add water -- just a teaspoon at a time, because it can go from too dry to too sticky very quickly. I use the dough kneading attachment on my food processor to do the kneading -- it works well for this.
Divide the dough into twelve equal pieces. (I like to roll it into a log, then cut the log into quarters, then cut each quarter into thirds. But you can divide it any way that works for you.) Pick up each piece to check its size, and pinch small blobs off the biggest pieces and add them to the smallest pieces, to even out the sizes.
Use a rolling pin on a nonstick surface to roll out the dough into a 6 or 7 inch circle. Avoid making the circle bigger than that, because the dough will get holes in the middle. Check that the circle can be lifted off the surface, then add 2-4 tablespoons of filling in the middle. When in doubt about how much filling to put in, use less filling, so that it doesn't squirt out the sides. Fold the circle in half, with the filling inside. Use a fork to crimp around the edges and make evenly spaced fork-lines that go about from the edge about 1/4 inch inward. Gently press on the top of the knish to distribute the filling inside the sealed-in area. Repeat for the remaining pieces of dough.
Place each knish on a baking sheet, leaving some space between them for expansion during baking.
Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
Eat them carefully -- the filling gets incredibly hot.