Denise says:
Knish is an eastern-European Jewish or Yiddish snack food. It is a dumpling covered with a dough shell that is either baked or fried. In the most traditional version, the dumpling is made entirely of mashed potato.
The knish started to become popular in the early 1900s, when hundreds of thousands of Eastern European Jews emigrated to America and settled in New York City. They brought with them their family recipes for knishes. Originally they were made at home until Yonah Schimmel, a rabbi from Romania, began to sell them at Coney Island in New York City from a pushcart on the Lower East Side. In 1910, he opened his first knish bakery located on East Houston Street and as they say ~ the rest is history! They are now one of the most popular street food style snacks ranging from the size of a canapé to a large hamburger, packed with a delicious array of tasty fillings. The most popular being mashed potato and kasha as listed below ~ others like spinach and cheese, salmon pate, chicken with herbs or whatever takes your fancy!
Preparation Time: 20 minutes plus 30 minutes to stand
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Parev
Will freeze
Makes: 45 slices
NB: While baking the bottom of the pastry forms a crust and so the potato mixture does not fall out
Ingredients:
300g plain flour2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
2 teaspoons salt
2- 3 tablespoons water
Glaze: 2 egg yolk – lightly beaten
Potato Filling
450g mashed potatoes
2 medium sized onions – peeled and finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Kasha Filling
225g coarse Kasha/buckwheat
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 medium onions – peeled and finely chopped
1 egg
225ml boiling water
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
1)Put all the ingredients in the food processor and whiz together to form a smooth dough.2)Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3)Pre-heat the oven to 200 C /400 F/ Gas mark 4.
4)Divide the dough into 3. Lightly dust the work surface with some flour and roll in to strips 20 cm x 10 cm.
5)Place a third of the filling along the length of the dough. Roll up like a swiss roll. Repeat the process with the other 2 pieces of dough.
6)Cut into slices. Place the knishes on a baking tray on the flat side leaving about a 5 cm gap between each one.
7)Pull up the dough at the top of the knish just a bit, very gently, and squeeze it together so that it meets at the centre, then push it down into the filling just a bit. If the filling pushes out a bit in the centre of the pastry, that is perfectly fine ~ a little bit sticking out is normal.
8)Glaze with egg yolk and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Potato Filling
1)Heat the olive oil in a small frying pan and sauté the onions until golden brown. Put in the food processor briefly to make the mixture finer.
2)Mix with the potatoes, salt and freshly ground black pepper.
3)Fill knishes.
Kasha Filling
1)Toast the Kasha grains in a saucepan over a medium heat.
2)Beat egg and add to kasha. Stir constantly until the egg is completely incorporated into the kasha.
3)Add water and cook gently for 10 to 15 minutes until the kasha is well cooked.
4)Heat the vegetable oil in a large saucepan. Sauté the onions and add to the kasha.
5)Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
6)Fill the knishes.