Dumplings with vegetarian potato filling are so delicious and a perfect recipe for weekend dinners. They are also suitable for freezing, so why not make a double portion and freeze them for next time? You can also change the filling and incorporate different vegetables depending on what’s in your fridge.
This is a familiar recipe for most Lithuanians. Every family has this dish in their freezer, ready-made and ready to go! These dumplings are like a less prestigious version of Italian tortellini. Just like Italian pasta however, you can easily swap the filling and make a different recipe every single time. Traditionally we’d have these dumplings with a pork filling, but to be honest, my favourite is a silky, smooth potato filling.
When I was a student, I lived on these dumplings. They were my go-to meal on a daily basis. Delicious, filling and easy to make – they were a dream dish. You just need to boil water, add the dumplings, wait for 5 minutes, serve them with sour cream or crème fraiche, freshly ground pepper and voila! Dinner is ready!
However, living in London means I can’t just go to the shop and grab a pack of these goodies. So, the ultimate easy and quick meal becomes a little bit tricky…
But don’t despair! It’s not actually that complicated, and just takes some time to prepare the dough and shape the dumplings. This process can actually be incredibly therapeutic. Also, my recommendation is to make a double portion of this recipe and leave half of prepared dumplings in the freezer – ready for next time.
Top tips for delicious dumplings
Like most Lithuanian cuisine, there are a couple of things that are important to absolutely nail it and create that perfect dish.
Here are the top tips and lookouts for this recipe:
- Boiling water – this is really important. You need to pour boiling water over the flour and quickly mix the dough. Make sure all the flour is mixed with the water. It gives an incredible texture. After a quick mix, you can leave the dough for a couple of minutes to cool down and after that properly knead it.
- Resting time – after kneading the dough, leave it for 30 minutes to rest. If you can, give an hour for the best result.
- Filling preparation – before you add the filling onto the dough sheets, make sure it’s completely cooled down. Due to this, I recommend making your filling before making the dough.
- Shape – I wrote down the steps on how to make traditional looking dumplings. However, you can simplify this process by making simple ravioli (cut them with the ravioli cutter and seal the edges).
I hope you enjoy this recipe!
Dumplings Recipe
Ingredients
Filling:
4 potatoes
50ml double cream
30g parmesan cheese
Fresh parsley
Salt and pepper
Dough:
300g plain flour
1 egg
Pinch of salt
100ml boiling water
To serve:
Crème Fraiche
Spring onions
Chili flakes
Method
Prepare the filling:
1. Peel the potatoes, cut them into small chunks and boil them until tender.
2. Drain the potatoes and return to the pan. Heat them on a low heat.
3. Add the double cream and mash the potatoes with a masher.
4. Take the potatoes off the heat, transfer them into a bowl. Add the grated parmesan cheese, finely chopped parsley, salt and pepper.
5. Leave the filling to cool down completely.
Prepare the dough:
6. Add the flour, egg and a pinch of salt to a bowl. Mix everything together.
7. Pour in the boiling water and quickly mix the dough. After that, leave the dough for a couple of minutes to cool down.
8. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes until it gets smooth and soft.
9. Leave it to rest for 30 minutes.
Assemble the dumplings:
10. Roll out the dough to a very thin sheet (I used a pasta maker on a 5th setting). The sheet should be fairly thin but not about to tear.
11. Take a teaspoon of the filling and place it in the middle of your dumpling sheet, ensuring it’s 3-5cm away from the next filling.
12. Fold the sheet in half and press the edges with your fingers.
13. Use a ravioli cutter (or a glass) to cut the dough in neat half circles around the filling (after you fold your pasta, the potato filling needs to be close to the edge, so you would need to cut just half of the circle with your cutter).
14. Take a dumpling, press the edges down firmly and squeeze out any trapped air. If the dough doesn’t stick that well, put a little water on the edges before trying to fold again. (To better understand the process, take a look at the video here).
Cook the dumplings:
15. Preheat the saucepan with salted water.
16. When the water is boiling, add the dumplings and cook for 3 minutes.
17. Serve the dumplings with crème fraiche and spring onions on top.
