Vegan Yack Attack: Vegan Kluski
Vegan Yack Attack is back! Jackie Sobon’s Vegan Yack Attack is a favorite blog of mine and one I have welcomed to Vegan Miam before when Jackie shared her recipe for Golabkis. Since this veganized classic Polish stuffed cabbage was a big hit with us, Jackie is sharing another amazing Polish recipe passed down from her Grandmother. I’m honored and excited to call on the talented, creative and inspiring Jackie to help fill in while we were away in Melbourne. This recipe is dedicated to her Grandmother who meant so much to her and her family. Take a moment to read more about her Grandmother here!
Hey everyone! I’m so happy to be featured on Rika’s beautiful site, once more; it’s been too long. It is only appropriate that after sharing my Golabki recipe, that I make another Polish classic, Kluski. Kluski are simple dough noodles that are rustic in form and really easy to make. Traditionally, they are made with eggs and flour, but I have veganized them and even the meat sauce/gravy that they are served with.
I know it’s not too pretty, but this dish is near and dear to me, as it is something that my Polish grandmother would make for my family and I when we would visit her in Michigan. When my grandfather died, we all made the trek up to their house and that is when she showed me how to make it, while I jotted notes on the approximate measurements and techniques.
At the time, she was suffering from Alzheimer’s and I knew that this would be one of the last times I would see her, so I soaked up everything that she remembered. This was a few months before I went vegan, so the recipe is not even close to vegan-friendly, but at least it was easy to convert. To read more about my Polish grandmother and I, go to my blog!
Looking at this dish, it really is bare bones, a meat sauce some rough noodles. But, it is very hearty and filling! You could certainly add some greens or veggies to this, I just wanted to keep it mostly traditional.
Thanks again for having me, Rika, and thank you everyone for reading!
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Yield: 4
Ingredients
Vegan Meat Sauce 1 tablespoon vegan butter or refined coconut oil 1 cup yellow onion, diced ½ pound of vegan beef crumbles (I used Beyond Meat) or crumbled tempeh 2 teaspoons or 2 cubes vegetable bouillon 1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour ¾-1 cup kluski boiling water Salt & pepper, to tasteKluski 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour ½ cup warm water 2 tablespoons egg replacer powder or arrowroot starch 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast ¼ teaspoon sea salt
Method
Warm the vegan butter in a large pan over medium heat. Once hot, place the onions and vegan beef crumbles into the pan and sauté until the onions are clear. In the meantime, get a large pot of water boiling with roughly 2-3 quarts of water.
Place the flour and the salt in a mixing bowl. Whisk the ½ cup of warm water, egg replacer powder and nutritional yeast together; then fold into the dry flour mixture. Knead the dough until it is well-mixed and slightly wet. If your dough is too dry, add water to it a tablespoon at a time and fold it in. You want to be able to easily and roughly cut 1-tablespoon-sized clumps from it with the edge of a spoon.
Once the onions are cooked, reduce heat to low and stir in the flour and bouillon. Keep over heat until the kluski is done.
Using a spoon, cut into the edge of the kluski dough, against the side of the bowl and make 1-1½ tablespoon-sized clumps. Then, drop each kluski into the boiling water. Do this until all of the dough is gone.
If the water is at a rolling boil, none of the kluski should stick together, but stir occasionally to make sure this doesn’t happen. Boil the noodles for 4-5 minutes, or until they are opaque and float easily.
Use a slotted spoon to transfer the noodles to the beef mixture, then pour ¾ cup of the boiling water into the pan. Stir together and simmer over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. This will create a gravy-like sauce (as pictured).
Taste the mixture and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm.
3.0About Vegan Yack Attack
Jackie Sobon is the chef and photographer behind the blog Vegan Yack Attack, cooking food and taking beautiful pictures of it is her passion and “Camera Eats First” is her motto. She has worked for Vegan Cuts, photographed cookbooks for Happy Herbivore and Cupcakes & Kale, as well as for her own eBook, The Great Vegan Pumpkin. She has been featured on VegNews.com, as well as many top vegan blog lists and Chickpea Magazine.
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