Polish Potato Dumplings {Kopytka}
It’s no secret that Polish kitchen is resourceful and greatly relies on cheap ingredients, often leftovers. Potatoes were always cheap in Poland therefore often a main ingredient or the main dish. Kopytka, kluski, dumplings, pierogi are all made of this adaptable vegetable. My parents bought a large amount of potatoes in bulk each season and we stored them in the basement cellar. A quick trip downstairs and half your dinner is on its way.
Nothing makes me think about kopytka like some leftover potatoes.
Kopytka are simply potato dumplings. They go great with chicken, beef or pork goulash. Therefore, I’m also “Polishing” some leftover chicken teriyaki from a Japanese sushi joint we had on Sunday. Chicken vegetable gravy goes perfect with these soft potato dumplings, ready to soak up the savory goodness.
Polish Potato Dumplings {Kopytka}
Ingredients
- 1 lb / 500 g of cooked and cooled potatoes (leftovers are great!)
- 1 egg
- 1 c / 125 g of all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp of salt
Instructions
Fill a large pot with water, salt it with a teaspoon of salt, and add a tablespoon of oil.
Mash potatoes with a potato masher in a pot. Measure out flour onto a clean surface, add potatoes, whisked egg, and salt and fold together gently. Do not knead. Dough will be slightly wet. Add a tablespoon of flour to keep from sticking to your hands, if needed.
Fold just until combined, not more than 1-2 minutes.
Cut away ¼ of the dough and roll to form a long log. Flatten the log and cut it into 1-1½ inch / 3-4 centimeter pieces at a 45-degree angle.
Place raw dumplings in boiling water in batches (2 batches, if using a 6 quart pot), stir gently to prevent dumplings from sticking to the bottom and to each other.
Simmer on low for about 1 minute from the time they start floating to the top (about 3 minutes total). Remove from pot and spread on a large surface to cool (not touching), or serve right away.
Notes
To reheat, place in a pan with butter. Brown on all sides. These soft dumplings are great with a creamy meat sauce or a mushroom sauce.
To “Polish” my Japanese dish, I made a quick roux of 1 tbs of butter and 1 tsp of flour. Then I added 1 cup of water and leftover chicken teriyaki. Let simmer for 2-3 minutes to thicken the sauce and warm up the meat and veggies. Done!
Do you like to cook with leftovers? What’s your favorite dish? Leave a comment below. Thanks!
Smacznego!
Anna
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These were soooooooo good! Thanks!
Do you know the dumpling recipe made with cooked potatoes and raw potatoes? My mom used to make them. Thanks.
I believe you’re talking about “pyzy”. I have a recipe for meat pyzy here. You can make just the dumplings without the filling also.
What kind of oil is best for the large pot of water?
Any. Really.
Thanks!
For freezing – would you recommend before or after cooking?
Always after. 😊
If you freeze them, how do you heat them back up? My family loves these and would definitely like to make them ahead so they can have them when I am not around.
butter and a little water in a covered skillet. Just like the pierogi! works great.
So simple, tasty, and light!
Quick question. I know that when I freeze potatoes (like in a stew) they get mealy when I thaw and reheat. You said you can freeze these dumplings….won’t they get mealy too?? I would love to make your pumpkin ones, but it makes so much that would like to freeze any leftovers. I love all your Polish recipes. My grandmother was from Poland and she made a lot of dishes…but nothing like what I’ve been seeing online. Thanks for the information.
My mother used to make potato dumplings with a bacon and onion sauce. She would spoon the potato mixture into salted boiling water and remove when they floated to the surface like you did. Then she would mix them into the bacon, butter, and onion sauce and serve. They would change their taste if they were reheated, so they had to be eaten right away. She called them “klushki”. Is there a recipe for these, or are they just the same as kopytka but smaller?
Could be “kluski kładzione” or “kluski szare”.
Anna, I’m so glad I found your blog. Your recipes are clear, straightforward and best of all, delicious. I recently made these kopytka using your instructions. Although my family is Polish-American, we never had koptyka. What a shame we didn’t – I made mine with some bacon and onion and they were terrific! I’m boiling potatoes to make your sałatka jarzynowa right now. Many thanks!
The perfect base for goulash.
One leftover recipe that came from my ancestors is “stale bread dumpling” which is served only for breakfast. Simply you take a whole stale bread and empty it. Then crumble all that soft but stale inside into tiny pieces by hand, which is extremely time-consuming. Then saute diced onions along with some minced beef and scrambled egg in melted butter, and add the teeny tiny bits of crumbles into the mixture to saute few more minutes (what you want here is that crumbles absorb the butter and get a little pinkish on the outside). Finally, you fill the stale bread “shell” with this mixture while it’s hot, butter it up all around, then leave to steam for a few minutes to soften, and serve immediately in slices. Or you can use dinner rolls for individually portioned bread dumplings, but it will take even more time.
One little hint: bacon bits instead of minced beef might even be more aromatic.
PS: You don’t really have to steam the bread. Wrapping it inside a damp tea towel after buttering whilst it is filled with hot content really helps softening the shell.
This sounds amazing!
My Ukrainian grandmother used to make this and call it something I don’t know how to spell (pronounced it Ka-nid-lee). Does that sound right? I have never made them and unfortunately she is no longer with us, so I can’t wait to try this recipe. I found your drop noodle recipe recently and recreated a soup of hers that I loved so much. Thanks so much for sharing these recipes that mean to much to so many of us!
Not sure what this dumpling would be called in Ukrainian, but I’m pretty sure they have a similar one. Cooking of our region is similar in many ways so I hope you explore more dishes. 😊 Happy cooking!
Hi Anna I made the sauerkraut and mushroom baked sandwiches The filling was great but the bread dough baked hard 😐 Do you know what went wrong? This dish reminds me of a dish my grandma made she called Baked Perogie. Had the Same filling put it a bread dough and baked. Thank you! Dorothy
After I boil them, what is the best way to store them in the frig in order to brown and serve them the next day. Coat in oil?