Vegetable Perogies

Posted 2014-01-28 by mandi ⇒ follow

A healthier, vegetable packed twist on the usually calorific favourite. This recipe encourages you to be creative and daring with the fillings of traditional perogies while baking ensures a healthier cooking method.

Preparation Time: 90 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Makes: 8 servings

General ingredients:
4.5 cups plain flour
4 eggs
¼ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons melted butter
1.5 cups Greek yoghurt
3 large potatoes
1 large sweet potato
2 carrots
2 finely diced small brown onions
1 small tub of low fat cottage cheese
½ cup of grated cheese (e.g. mozzarella, cheddar, feta or parmesan)

Additional vegetables (use a combination of these if available, keeping in mind the flavours that are appropriate to use with each vegetable):
1 cup frozen peas and corn
1 cup frozen or fresh spinach
1 cup chopped mushrooms
¼ cup chopped spring onions

Flavours:
You may wish to use a variety of ingredients you have on hand such as left over dips (I used a roasted capsicum dip as well as a basil pesto dip), worchestershire sauce, mustard, chutney, mayonnaise, crushed garlic, etc. Almost anything can be used in appropriate amounts to enhance the flavour of the perogies – get creative!

Method

Whisk eggs, oil, butter and Greek yoghurt together in a bowl. Add to the flour, season with a pinch of salt, and stir until well combined. The dough should be lightly sticky. Cover and sit for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile peel and chop the root vegetables. Place in a large pot of water and bring to the boil. Once soft, drain and mash until smooth. Add the diced onions to the vegetable mash. Add the grated cheese and/or the low fat cottage cheese.

Add the desired flavourings to the vegetable mixture and season each to taste with salt and pepper. Get creative with the mixtures! I made a few variations using different left over dips added to the divided mixture:

- potato, mozzarella, garlic
- potato, feta, basil pesto
- sweet potato carrot, mixed frozen veggies, roasted capsicum dip

On a large bench area dusted with flour, evenly roll out about a third of the batter until about 5mm thickness. Cut into medium sized circles using the edge of a small desert bowl; the shapes do not have to be perfect, which allows more flexibility in making the most of the batter. Carefully separate the circles from the scrap batter and roughen the circumference of the circles using the back of a fork.

Using a tablespoon, place portions of the vegetable mixture onto one half of each perogie circle. Fold over and seal the edges using a bit of water if necessary. Place completed perogies on a large plate, separating layers with baking paper. Place in the freezer for an hour.

There are a few different ways the perogies can be cooked:

- Boil a large pot of water and carefully drop them in 3 at a time. Once they are floating they will be cooked (about 5 minutes). Carefully take them out.

- After boiling, you may also wish to fry them up in some melted butter with chopped onion and bacon. This is the traditional method and tastes great when served with sour cream.

- Since I am interested in keeping this meal as healthy as possible, I baked the perogies in an oven at 180 degrees C for about 15 minutes. This makes the outer casing harden for a crunchy effect and is very different from traditional perogies.

Categories
#perogies
#root_vegetables
#creative_cooking
#vegetables

%recipeyum

224630 - 2023-07-17 08:20:47

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