Dumplings
Cooking Skills: Potatoes 2
Chapter 3 · Dumplings
Skill goal
Make potato dumplings, with and without a filling, and cook them gently.
Shopping list for this chapter
The basics
A dumpling is dough that is cooked in water, sometimes with a filling. Potato dumplings fall into three groups: those where the potato is the dough (kopytka), those where the potato is a filling (pierogi), and those where it is a partner to something else (knödel with bread).
| Dumpling | Dough | Filling | Cooked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kopytka | Potato, flour, yolk | None | Simmered, tossed in crumbs |
| Pierogi | Flour, egg, water | Potato and cheese | Simmered, then optionally fried |
| Knödel | Bread, potato, egg | None | Simmered 18 to 20 minutes |
| Fried pierogi | As above | As above | Boiled, then pan-fried |
- Simmer, don't boil. A hard boil breaks dumplings up.
- Seal pierogi with no air inside and no filling on the edges.
- Dry fillings. Wet filling makes the dough soggy and bursts the seams.
- Do a test dumpling every time.
Try it
Level 1 · Start here
Kopytka (Polish potato dumplings)
Kopytka are 'little hooves', diagonal slices of potato dough. They are a cousin of the gnocchi in Cooking Skills: Pasta 2, but use more flour and an egg yolk, which makes them firmer and easy to handle.
Ingredients (3 portions)
- 400 g floury potatoes, peeled and cut up
- 1 tsp salt, for the water
- 120 g plain flour, plus more for dusting
- 1 Lion-marked egg yolk
- ½ tsp salt
- 20 g butter
- 2 tbsp dried breadcrumbs
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley
- Boil the potatoes in salted water for 15 to 20 minutes until soft. Drain, steam-dry for 3 minutes and mash or rice until perfectly smooth. Let them cool for 15 minutes.
- Add the flour, yolk and salt and mix to a soft dough. Don't knead more than needed: it should be soft and slightly tacky. Don't taste the raw dough, because it contains raw flour.
- Roll into ropes about 2 cm thick on a floured board and cut on the diagonal into 2 cm pieces. Dust with flour.
- Simmer in a large pan of salted water in 2 batches for 2 to 3 minutes after they float. Lift out with a slotted spoon.
- Melt the butter in a pan, add the breadcrumbs and fry for 2 minutes until golden. Toss the dumplings in it with the parsley.
Test dumpling
Cook one first. If it falls apart, add a spoonful more flour to the dough.
Level 2 · Filled
Pierogi with potato and cheese
Pierogi are dumplings of rolled dough filled with a savoury mixture. This is the classic potato and cheese filling, with fried onion for flavour.
Ingredients (4 portions)
- 250 g plain flour, plus more for dusting
- 1 Lion-marked egg
- 100 ml warm water
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- ½ tsp salt
- 250 g floury potatoes, peeled and cut up (for the filling)
- 100 g ricotta or cottage cheese, drained
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 tsp oil, for the onion
- 1 pinch salt and pepper
- Dough: mix the flour and salt, make a well and add the egg, oil and warm water. Mix, then knead for 5 minutes until smooth and soft. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
- Filling: boil the potatoes until soft, drain, steam-dry and mash smooth. Fry the onion in the oil for 8 to 10 minutes until soft and golden. Mix the mash, cheese and onion, season well and cool.
- Roll the dough thinly (2 mm) on a floured surface. Cut rounds with a 7 cm cutter or glass. Re-roll the scraps once.
- Put a level teaspoon of filling in the middle of each round. Fold over, and pinch the edges together firmly to seal, with no air inside.
- Cook in a large pan of gently simmering salted water in batches for 3 to 4 minutes after they float. Lift out with a slotted spoon.
Level 2 · German
Potato and bread knödel
Knödel are large round dumplings. The bread soaks up milk and holds the shape, while the potato keeps them light. They are usually served with a gravy or sautéed mushrooms.
Ingredients (4 portions)
- 150 g stale white bread, cut into 1 cm cubes
- 250 g floury potatoes, boiled and cooled completely, then riced or grated
- 100 ml warm milk
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 Lion-marked egg
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 2 tbsp chopped parsley
- 1 pinch nutmeg, salt and pepper
- Pour the warm milk over the bread cubes and leave for 15 minutes to soften.
- Fry the onion in the butter for 6 to 8 minutes until soft. Add to the bread with the potato, egg, flour, parsley and seasoning, and mix well with your hands. Don't taste the mixture, because it contains raw egg.
- With wet hands, shape into 8 balls the size of a small orange. Press firmly so they hold.
- Lower into a large pan of gently simmering (not boiling) salted water and cook for 18 to 20 minutes, covered, until firm. Lift out with a slotted spoon. Cut one open to check there's no raw, doughy centre.
Test one first
Cook one knödel. If it falls apart, add a spoonful more flour or a few breadcrumbs.
Level 3 · Finish
Pan-fried pierogi with onions
The traditional finish: boiled pierogi browned in butter with slowly cooked onions. A good way to use up leftovers (within 2 days).
Ingredients (3 portions)
- 12 cooked pierogi (from the previous recipe), boiled and drained
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- 15 g butter
- 2 onions, thinly sliced
- 1 pinch salt and pepper
- 4 tbsp soured cream or plain yoghurt, to serve
- 1 tbsp chopped chives or dill
- Melt the butter with half the oil in a large frying pan over a low heat. Add the onions with a pinch of salt and cook slowly for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring, until soft and golden. Take out and keep warm.
- Add the rest of the oil to the pan and raise the heat to medium. Fry the pierogi in a single layer for 2 to 3 minutes a side, until golden and crisp at the edges and hot all the way through.
- Serve with the onions, soured cream and herbs.
Experiments
Experiment
Dough thickness
How thin is the pierogi dough?
- Roll half the dough to 1 mm and half to 3 mm. Cut, fill and cook equal numbers.
- Compare.
Look for: The thin dough is delicate and may tear; the thick dough is chewy and doughy. About 2 mm is the compromise.
Experiment
Filling dryness
A wet filling or a dry one?
- Make two pierogi fillings, one with drained cheese and one with undrained cheese and a spoonful of milk.
- Fill, cook and check how many burst.
Look for: The wet filling leaks into the water and the seams open. The dry filling stays in.
Experiment
Boiled or fried
What does frying add?
- Serve half the pierogi plain after boiling, and fry the other half in butter for 2 to 3 minutes a side.
- Compare.
Look for: The fried ones have a crisp, golden outside and are richer. The boiled ones are softer and lighter.
Experiment
Resting the dough
Does a rest matter?
- Roll one portion of pierogi dough straight after kneading, and another after a 30-minute rest.
- Compare how easy it is to roll.
Look for: The unrested dough springs back and is hard to roll thin. The rested dough rolls easily.
Tasting notes
| What I tried | Method or amount | What I saw | What I thought | Will I do it again? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kopytka | ||||
| Pierogi | ||||
| Knödel | ||||
| Fried pierogi | ||||
| Dough thickness | ||||
| Dry vs wet filling | ||||
| Boiled vs fried | ||||
| Rested vs not |
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Dumplings fall apart | Too little flour, or boiling hard | Test dumpling; add flour; simmer gently |
| Pierogi burst | Air trapped, wet filling, or boiled hard | Press out the air; dry the filling; simmer |
| Pierogi seams open | Dough dry or filling on the edge | Keep dough covered; wet the edge; press firmly |
| Heavy dumplings | Too much flour or overworked | Mix lightly; use floury potatoes |
| Knödel doughy in the middle | Too large or simmered too briefly | Make smaller or simmer longer |
| Gluey kopytka | Potatoes wet or waxy | Steam-dry; use floury potatoes |
Food safety: dough, filling and freezing
Raw egg and raw flour: the Food Standards Agency advises against eating or tasting uncooked flour or dough, because raw flour is not treated to kill bacteria such as E. coli. Wash your hands, the board and your tools after handling raw dough or raw egg, and use Lion-marked eggs. Cook everything thoroughly. Pregnant women, children under 5, people aged 65 and over, and anyone with a weakened immune system should be especially careful.Fillings here are cooked before they go into the dough. Pierogi and kopytka can be frozen uncooked on a tray, then bagged, and cooked from frozen with 1 to 2 minutes added. Cooked potatoes and anything made from them: cool them quickly (spread out, within 1 to 2 hours), keep them covered in the fridge, and eat them within 2 days. Reheat until steaming hot all the way through, and only once. (This is the general chilled-leftovers advice relayed by local-authority food-safety pages; there is no potato-specific rule, but potatoes are starchy, so they get the same care as rice and pasta.)
Raw potatoes: keep them somewhere cool, dark and dry (above about 6°C), not in the fridge and not in the light. The Food Standards Agency advises against keeping raw potatoes in the fridge if you will roast or fry them, because the cold raises the amount of acrylamide that forms when they brown. Cut away sprouts and any green patches generously; if a potato is green all over, or tastes bitter, throw it away.
Checkpoint: can you do this now?
- I can make a potato dumpling dough and test one first.
- I can roll, fill and seal pierogi.
- I can simmer dumplings gently.
- I can make a bread and potato knödel.
- I can fry pierogi until golden.
Next chapter
Cooking Skills: Potatoes 2, chapter 4 is Potatoes in Pastry: pasties, a pie with a mash topping, and samosas.