Perogies!

Perogies have been a favourite of mine ever since I was just a little girl. My grandma made THE best perogies with tons of butter, and I would always look forward to eating dinner at her house :) I wanted to make a vegan version, and though they may or may not be quite as good (this I may never know), they are definitely super delicious!  You can pretty much add whatever you want to the filling, this is just one of my recipes. Fresh dill is one of my favorites! Even just plain potato are great. Use your imagination! The sky's the limit :)

You will need:

Dough:

3 cups all purpose flour

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup oil (i used grape seed)

1 cup water (room temp) 

Combine ingredients and knead dough until a smooth ball firms. Add more water, a tbsp at a time, if dough seems dry. You want it to be smooth and elastic, but not sticky. Place in covered container and let rest for 20 to 30 min. If at any time during the rolling process your dough seems tough (especially when rolling scraps etc), just let the dough rest (covered ) for 10 minutes or so.

In the meantime you can work on the filling. 

You will need:

6 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks 

2 tsp salt 

Bring to a boil and gently boil with the 2 tsp salt for 15 min or until potatoes are tender. Place in bowl and mash with the ingredients below.

1 tsp salt

3/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 to 1/2 tsp liquid smoke

1/3 cup vegan margarine

1 tbsp water or almond milk (unsweetened). 

Add salt, liquid smoke, onion powder margarine and water to potatoes and mix with an electric mixer until smooth. 

Next you will need: 

1 large onion, diced (sweet yellow if possible)

2 tbsp grapeseed oil

Heat oil in pan, add onion and cook on low/medium heat for about 30 min or until onions have caramelized. Place in bowl with mashed potatoes.

Next you will need: 

8 slices veggie ham

Lightly fry veggie ham for added texture. About 45 seconds to 1 min per side on medium heat. Chop into small pieces and add to bowl with potato and onion.

Now:

Fold in veggie ham and caramelized onions into your potato mixture with a spoon. Add more water or margarine in the mixture seems dry. 

Next: 

Roll dough out until it is about 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch thick. 

Cut dough out into 3.5 inch circles and place about 1/2 to 1 Tablespoon of filling in the middle of each circle.

Pick up each perogy as pictured below, and pinch together (pinch hard), and go back and forth about 3 or 4 times.

You basically want to meld the 2 pieces of dough back into one so that there will be no openings for water to get in when you cook the perogy. Your finished perogy should look something like this:

To cook perogies, bring salted water to a gentle boil and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. If desired, transfer to a frying pan and sauté with vegan margarine and onions. 

If you want to freeze your perogies, place on a parchment lined cookie sheet and place on the freezer for about 30 minutes. Then transfer to an airtight container or freezer bag and store in the freezer. To cook frozen perogies, bring salted water to a gentle boil and cook for about 7 minutes.