If you have had knish then you know just how delicious they are, and if you haven't, I promise you won't be disappointed.

Knish originated as an Eastern European Jewish street food. Traditionally filled with mashed potatoes and minced meat, these days you can them filled with just about anything.

We often fill them with meat and potatoes, or sautéed veggies and cheesy potatoes. The dough is actually really easy to make. The rolling and cutting of the dough is also easy once you understand the process, so we have added step by step pics to help!

Don’t worry if your first batch or two are not super pretty! They will still taste delicious. I think this is just one of those recipes that practice makes perfect. And once you make them once, ou will likely want to make them all the time. So you will be a knish pro before you even know what happened.

Once again, I am southern, so I take every opportunity to smother almost everything in gravy, giving this traditional dish a southern twist. Feel free to omit the gravy! They are just as good without!

Knish also freeze really well, making them a great meal prep item. We normally double our batch and freeze half. Just thaw and reheat in the oven. Cook once, eat twice is my favorite!

Finally, if you are not a fan of faux meat, feel free to replace it in this recipe wth some minced and sautéed mushrooms, or walnut meat. Both would be just as tasty!

INGREDIENTS:

The Filling

2 Thawed Beyond Meat burgers, or half a bag of meatless crumbles, or 1 cup minced seitan flank steak
2 medium sized potatoes
1/2 onion
1/3 cup vegan cream cheese
1 teaspoon of thyme
1/2 teaspoons salt
pepper to taste
2 teaspoons cooking oil

Knish dough

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 flax egg
1/2 cup oil, I use grapeseed, but you could use vegetable or even coconut if you want
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
vegan butter for brushing

Brown onion gravy

3 cups of water
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 small onion, diced
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons reduced sodium Better Than Bouillon
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

Knish Dough:

First prepare the dough by mixing the dry ingredients together in large bowl.
In a smaller bowl mix the oil, water, vinegar and flax egg together, then add to the dry mix.
Work the dough with your hands until it is well combined.
Kneed the dough for a few minutes, just until smooth.
Place dough back into the bowl, and cover with plastic wrap.
Pop it in the fridge for one hour to rest.

The Filling:

Begin preparing the filling by peelinig, and dicing the potatoes to a very fine dice.
Dice onion to a very fine dice as well.
In a large skillet on medium heat, add a teaspoon or two of oil, onions, and potatoes. Cook the veggies until the potatoes are cooked through. It wont take too long since they are cut so small.
Now add the thawed burgers (breaking them up with a spatula,) or meatless crumbles, and seasonings to the pan with the potatoes. Continue cooking until the "meat" is cooked through.
Transfer mixture to a medium sized bowl, and let cool for 5 minutes. Mix in the cream cheese until well combined. Set pan aside to use later for the gravy. Don't wash the pan.

Making the Knish

pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Remove dough from the the fridge and roll it out on a big floured surface (a counter top works best, you need a lot of room) into a large rectangle. The dough should be about a 1/4 inch thick. It's ok if you cannot get it into a perfect rectangle, you can trim up the edges with a sharp knife to even it out. You can save the scrap dough and roll it back out, adding any left over filling you may have to yield a few more knish.
Now at the edge of the dough closest to you, form a log 2 inches wide by 1 inch thick (give or take) with your filling, the length of the dough.
Once all of the filling is in place, start rolling the dough (starting on the filling end) trying to get the roll as tight as you can, without having the filling squish out the ends. Before you come to the end, brush some water along the edge of the dough to help seal the seam.
You now have a long log of dough. Starting at either end of the dough, measure in about 3 inches from the end and pinch, then twist the dough. Cut the dough on the twist, and place twist side up on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet. Take your finger and poke the twist down into the center of the knish. Repeat with the remaining dough. You will get about 8 knish depending on the length of your original dough rectangle , and how big you make each knish. You may have some scrap dough, and extra filling that you can use to make a few more, as well.
Brush the tops of the knish with some vegan butter and bake for 30 - 35 minutes. You can brush some more butter on mid bake if you like. This will help the knish brown a little better.
As the knish are baking, prepare the gravy by sauteing the onions and garlic in the same pan you used for your filling, with a few teaspoons of vegan butter over medium heat. Once the onions are translucent, sprinkle on the flour and stir, letting it cook for a few minutes. Whisk the water, Better than Bouillon, tomato paste, and mustard together, then add to the pan. Reduce the heat to low, add salt and pepper, and let simmer, stirring regularly, until the gravy begins to thicken.
Once knish are done, you can top with the gravy, and garnish with some fresh parsley.

The knish freeze, and reheat really well. We often make a double batch, and freeze half. They should be good in the freezer for up to one month.