Vegan pierogi with coconut bacon

Vegan pierogi with coconut bacon

vegan pierogi portion

I don’t know if you have ever had a chance to try Polish pierogi, but they are one of my favourite winter comfort foods, so I’ve decided that it is high time for this recipe. As I mentioned several times before, my Gran was a pierogi master in our house and, as she lived downstairs from us and looked after us when my parents were working, I ate heaps of delicious pierogi as a child. In fact, pierogi remind me of my Gran so much that whenever I make a batch myself I suddenly miss her a little bit more.

As they are perfect winter food, I ‘open’ a pop-up pierogarnia (a place that specialises in pierogi) in my kitchen every winter – something that makes Duncan super happy as he is a massive vegan pierogi fan too.

The Poles, as well as Russians (who call their dish pielmieni) and Italians (whose world famous ravioli needs no introduction) all ‘stole’ the idea of wrapping a filling in a piece of thin elastic dough and boiling it from the Chinese. It’s quite ironic as many Polish people consider pierogi to be a quintessentially Polish dish.

Pierogi proves that things get better when cultures collide, mingle and feed off each other and this notion of ‘traditional’ Polish (or any other country’s) cuisine is a bit of myth. Unless we build a wall (I know some people are dead set on this 😉 ) around ourselves and never leave the house, we are bound to be challenged and influenced by other peoples’ ideas, customs and habits and, in my humble opinion, this is what makes life truly interesting…

Anyway, I digress, my apologies. Back to pierogi, so traditionally Ruskie (which is what we call them in Poland) pierogi are topped with lardons and / or fried onion. I obviously always go for the latter, but recently a new idea struck me and I decided to see what they will taste like with…wait for it…coconut bacon 🙂 . I know, I know, it’s a little unorthodox of me, but hey, when you are vegan you are by definition not very traditional anyway, so the horse has already bolted on that one 🙂 . I think it really works well as coconut bacon doesn’t really taste of coconut at all. It tastes salty and smokey with a hint of sweetness, a perfect contrast to the savoury potato and ‘cheese’ filling. Smacznego!

vegan pierogi making

vegan pierogi making of

coconut bacon

vegan pierogi with coconut bacon

makes
about 70
PREP
90 min
COOKING
60 min
makes
about 70
PREPARATION
90 min
COOKING
60 min
INGREDIENTS

FILLING

  • 600 g / 1.2 lb potatoes (cooked the day before)
  • 1 cup vegan ricotta (made the day before)
  • 2-3 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1¼ tsp salt
  • 3 medium white onions, diced finely
  • ½ tsp freshly ground pepper
  • freshly grated nutmeg (optional), to taste

DOUGH

  • 500 g / 4 cups flour
  • 240 ml / 1 cup hot water
  • 60 ml / ¼ cup reduced aquafaba
  • 1½ level tsp sea salt
  • 30 ml / 2 tbsp olive oil

COCONUT BACON (optional)

  • 1½ cup (loosely packed) raw coconut flakes
  • 2 tsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup
  • ½ tsp liquid smoke (I use hickory flavour)
  • 3 tbsp soy sauce

METHOD
FILLING

  1. Heat up the olive oil in a medium pan. Gently fry diced onions until translucent and lightly caramelised. Some of them will go into the filling and the rest will be used as topping.
  2. Put cooked potatoes through a potato ricer. It is best to cook them the day before as it will make the filling hold together better.
  3. In a bowl, combine mashed potatoes, vegan ricotta and about a ½ cup of sauteed onions. Season with salt, pepper, lemon juice and nutmeg (if you like). Mix in very well and set aside.

DOUGH

  1. In a mixing bowl, combine flour and salt. Add ¼ cup of the aquafaba and 2 tbsp of olive oil. Mix well and add about 1 cup of hot water. Once combined roughly with a wooden spoon, start bringing the dough together with your hands. If after a little bit of kneading the dough isn’t holding together (initially it’s supposed to be a bit dry to the touch but hold together), it may need a bit more hot water. It is very important to add the water in very small amounts as too much water will negatively affect the dough. Knead it for about 5-10 minutes with your hands (after kneading the dough should become very smooth and elastic, but not sticky) and then set aside for 30 minutes under a damp kitchen towel so that the dough doesn’t dry up.
  2. Once the dough has had a chance to rest, grab 1/6 of the dough and roll it out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface. You want it to be about 1-2 mm thin; the thinner the dough, the tastier the dumplings. With a cookie cutter or an upside down glass, cut out circles in the dough. Place a heaped teaspoon of the filling in the centre of each circle, fold the circle in half and press the edges of the semi-circle together with your fingers. Go over each dumpling twice to make sure everything is sealed completely. Put the finished dumplings on a lightly floured surface and cover them with a damp kitchen towel while making the rest so that they don’t dry out. Continue in the same way until you’ve used up all of the dough or the filling.
  3. Bring a medium pot of water to boil. Once the water is boiling, throw in 10 dumplings at a time and from the moment the water comes to the boil again cook for 5 minutes (depending on how thick your dough is). Once the time is up, fish them out with a slotted spoon and place on a clean plate. Put a new batch in until you have cooked them all.
  4. OPTIONAL STEP: Heat up a little olive oil in a pan and place the cooled-down (they should be cold!) dumplings in the pan. Turn them after they’ve browned on one side. Make sure you don’t overcrowd the pan.
  5. Whilst you are frying your dumplings, warm up the rest of your sauteed onion, season it with salt and pepper and serve with your dumplings.

COCONUT BACON* (optional)

  1. Heat up the oven to 100° C / 210° F and line a baking tray with a piece of baking paper.
  2. In a bowl, mix olive oil, maple syrup, liquid smoke and soy sauce together.
  3. Coat coconut flakes in the marinade and marinate for 10-20 mins.
  4. Spread marinated coconut flakes on the prepared baking tray making sure individual pieces do not overlap or touch (as much as possible). I did them in two separate batches as the more room they have, the more crispy they will be.
  5. Bake for about 15-20 minutes. ‘Bacon’ flakes will get more crispy as they cool. Store in an air-tight container.

NOTES
*My coconut bacon flakes did not retain their crispiness for very long but I live by the sea, in a high humidity environment, so I’m hoping it is just me. They are still tasty even once they lose their crispiness.

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NUTRITIONAL INFO
calories
53
3%
sugars
1 g
1%
fats
2 g
2%
saturates
1 g
4%
proteins
1 g
2%
carbs
9 g
3%
*per pierog
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5.0
5 reviews, 29 comments
REVIEWS & QUESTIONS
Stefania:
Cześć Aniu! I love your blog and I am so excited to make these for Christmas Eve. Do you by any chance have ideas of how to make a sweet cheese filling? This was always my favorite for Wigilia. Dziękuję bardzo!! Wesołych świąt!
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Stefania :)
    Aw, thank you for your kind words, that's so nice to hear. I have made a sweet cheese filling for these sweet cheese rolls and I am pretty sure it would work, but you will need to make it a lot drier as it is designed to withstand high oven temperature (which causes it to dry out and shrink). I would add as little moisture as you can get away with and even then maybe drain overnight. Hope this helps and Wesolych Swiat to you too! x Ania
Gabriella Cassano:
In your recipe you state “1/4 cup reduced aquafaba”. Did you reduce 1/2 cup to start to a 1/4 cup? Or what do you mean by the “reduced”?
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi,
    In cooking, reduced means simmered without a lid so that excess water evaporates and the substance that is being reduced becomes thicker. I meant 60 ml / 1/4 cup after reduction. You can start off with 1/2 cup and reduce it by half, hope this helps! Ania
Stefania:
Cześć Ania! These look beautiful and I am excited to make them! On another note, do you have any recommendations for making a vegan sweet cheese filling? They were always my favorite and I cant find any recipes for them!
Dziękuję bardzo :)
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Stefania,
    Thank you, I hope you will enjoy these. I would recommend making a ricotta from cashews (recipe here), but instead of savoury seasonings, use sweet: maple syrup, orange zest etc. Hope that helps! Ania
Lisa:
Just wondering if you’ve tried making these with gluten free flour?
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Lisa,
    No, I haven't unfortunately. I have made gluten-free ravioli before though, here is the recipe for that dough. Hope that helps! Ania
VEronica:
What is Aquafaba? I’m a newer vegan and I’ve never heard or it. In the comments some talked about the consistency of egg whites- can I use Veganegg by follow your heart?
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Veronica, aquafaba is a fancy name for chickpea brine (what in which you cook chickpeas or which they are tinned in). I have never used Vegan Egg but if it has egg white consistency, it should work fine too. Hope that helps! Ania
Amanda:
Hi! I'm super excited to make these! I grew up eating pierogies but since becoming vegan haven't been able to have any. Can these be frozen in large batches?
    Ania
    Ania:
    That's great to hear, Amanda. Sure, they freeze really well. Ania
Yuliya:
Dear Ania, it's really nice receipt. It's very similiar to Ukrainian varenyky (except of coconut bacon :)). As per Russian pierogi, it's not really the same concept, it 's more like buns to my mind. Good luck with your blog :)
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thanks, Yuliya. They are actually called Russian pierogi in Polish so that's what I am talking about here. Ania
Joanna:
Omg jakie piekne!!!!! Robie koniecznie!!!
    Ania
    Ania:
    Dzięki!! Bardzo mi miło, mam nadzieję, że zasmakują! x Ania
Lynn:
I stopped scrolling when I read "Coconut Bacon" and immediately hit "PRINT." LOL . YUM! Thank you for sharing. This sounds absolutely delicious!
    Ania
    Ania:
    Ha ha, great! That's the reaction I was after!! I hope you'll enjoy these. Ania
Annelies Verbiest:
This pierogi has become a staple of our diet. I make a big batch and freeze it then!
    Ania
    Ania:
    That's great to hear. I am too lazy to make them that often, but I do love eating them and so does my partner so I do make a mountain of them now and then :) Ania
Astrid:
Hi Ania,
I just saw your recipe and I wonder what you mean by 'reduced' aquafaba.
Can you let me know?
Bye!
Astrid (The Netherlands)
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Astrid,
    What I'm after here is for aquafaba to resemble consistency of an egg white. If it isn't thick straight after making (or if you are using tinned aquafaba) reduce it on the stove (in a pot, with no lid on) so that excess water evaporates and aquafaba thickens. Hope that helps! Ania
Heather:
I used this recipe and it is amazing! Thank you so much for sharing it! I just wanted to make a note that in the first line of the dough recipe, it says to use a 1/4 of the aquafaba. I read this as ise a quarter of what the recipe calls for vs. A 1/4 cup of aquafaba and tottally dodnt realize the error intil my dough was completely mixed up and it failed miserably. I just wanted to let you know incase anyone else tead it the same way I did. Otherwise a supreme recipe that I'll be using again and again and again!
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thank you, Heather! You are right, I missed 'cup' in that instance and it is a bit confusing, will correct that now. My apologies! Glad you did not give up and it was a success in the end :) Ania
Dannie:
Hi! These look amazing. Have you tried to freeze them? How do they turn out?
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Dannie,
    Thanks :) Yes, they freeze well, the best way to go about it is to cook them, cool down, freeze and then pan-fried lightly after thawing. Hope you'll like them! Ania
Ola:
I love the recipe, but there's a mistake in the description - pierogi ruskie are not Russian pierogi but Ruthenian ones. Their name comes from Red Ruthenia (Ruś Czerwona) not from Russia. It's a really common mistake, I haven't known that myself fot a long time. :)
Keep up the good work :)
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thanks Ola. I've edited the description.
Vitaliya Nadezhdina:
Oh I love your recipes so much. Every time I accidentally!! bump into your blog when I scroll foodgwaker, yumgoggle or pinterest and open another random post I liked. I swear to God I never do it on purpose, but I keep coming back here :)
Keep on good work!
    Ania
    Ania:
    Aw, thanks so much, Vitaliya! That's sooo nice to hear :) x
Bethany @ athletic avocado:
I'm half polish so my love for pierogis is huge! Love that you veganized them and added coconut bacon! They look irresistible!
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thanks Bethany! I'm pleased to hear that :)
Shannon:
I grew up eating my grandma's pierogi on Christmas Eve and Easter every year. I haven't had a single pierogi in years since going vegan as I haven't conquered the laziness to make them myself, so I commend your effort! The recipe seems surprisingly simple so I may just have to give them a go. But in the meantime I can definitely keep drooling over these pictures of yours. They're stunning!
    Ania
    Ania:
    Ha ha, thanks so much, Shannon. Please feel free to ;) x
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