Vegan Potato Gnocchi

Gnocchi is something that you don’t hear all the time, for some its an old friend for others its a new word. 

Gnocchi is a type of Italian pasta which is made with flour, egg and mashed potatoes. For home made pasta this is one of the most convenient pasta one can make requiring few ingredients and can be done without a pasta machine. 

There are other varieties of gnocchi using ingredients such as cauliflower, beetroot, sweet potato. The list goes on but most famous type is potato gnocchi. 

The classics type of potato gnocchi is made with eggs, but i wanted to try it out without egg since I’m slowly moving into vegan food, So here after attempting couple of times I’ve finally perfected the egg less potato gnocchi recipe. 

Ingredients

Few tips before the method;

Method

01. Add mashed potatoes, olive oil, salt and pepper in a large bowl and mix well. 

02. Now it’s time to mix it with flour. Add all purpose flour little by little to the potato mixture and mix with your hands until it forms a nice and soft dough.  (You need to add about 01 cup of all purpose flour to get the correct consistency). Knead the dough incorporating all the crumbs until it becomes smooth and soft. If the dough is still sticky then add little bit more flour. 

03. Transfer the dough to a floured worktop. 

• Cut the dough into four potions. 
• Take one potion and start rolling on the floured worktop creating about a two cm  thick rope. 
• Cut the rope into one inch tiny pieces. If you want you can keep these as is or make decorative gnocchi by simply pressing it against the prongs of a fork and roll it up to get a spiral effect. Place each completed one on a floured plate or a baking sheet 

04. Heat up a cooking pot with water. When the water is boiling, add the gnocchi, do not add all at once as it may have a tend to stick. Make sure to give a gentle stir so that gnocchi doesn’t stick together. Cook the gnocchi until they float on the surface. Remove the floating gnocchi and place it on a plate/bowl. 

05. Heat up a flat skillet in a medium heat and add olive oil. Add gnocchi and fry both sides until it’s golden brown. If you want you can add some cheese, spices or herbs. But I just kept it simple as I’m going to serve these with my tomato base. 

You can serve this as it is or you can mix this with pesto sauce,tomato sauce or can mix it with some stir fried veggies. In my case I’ve served this with my favorite tomato base. 

To make the tomato base; 

01. Peal off tomatoes and grate using a grater. Tip – make sure to use really ripe and red color tomatoes to get the nice color. 

02. Heat up a skillet in a medium heat and add some olive oil. Add the tomato purée, salt, pepper and finely chopped basil leaves and mix well. Cook and simmer until the sauce thickens. (About 5-7 minutes) when the sauce is done add gnocchi to the sauce mixture, mix and cook for another minute or two. 

Serve warm