Eggless Gnocchi

Gnocchi pronounced as nyoh-kee are Italian dumplings made of potatoes, flour, bread or cheese. For the second week of Blogging Marathon #30 Week 2, I am posting under Dallying With Dumplings. Yesterday I prepared Turkish fried dumplings and today Italian boiled potato dumplings. Usually gnocchi is made with flour, eggs and mashed potatoes. But this is an egg free version. Many recipes suggested boiling the potatoes  before preparation but some suggested baking it as there will be less water in the potatoes after they are baked. I tried out the baking version and added just flour to the baked and mashed potatoes. The dough was very soft and was very tough to handle. If the dough content is more, then the dumplings may go hard. So I kept it to minimum. And while boiling, the dumplings will first sink to the bottom and once they are cooked they will begin to float. You need to remove them once they start floating to get softer dumplings. If it boils for more time then you will end up with hard dumplings. As this is the first time I am making these gnocchi, I was really afraid that it would turn out bad. But to my surprise, it came out soft and very nice. I used a tomato based sauce to go with the dumplings and it was very delicious. Though I doubt PK will relish it. He is not a very great fan of potatoes but I have some for him to taste.

Ingredients:
For The Gnocchi:
Potatoes-4 medium
All Purpose Flour/ Maida-3/4 – 1 cup
Salt-to taste

For The Sauce:
Oil-1 tbs
Tomato-2
Tomato Sauce-2 tsp
Salt-to taste
Onion-1
Garlic-2 pods
Red Chilly Powder-1/4 tsp
Coriander Leaves-3-4 tbs

Procedure:
For The Gnocchi:
1. Wash and place the potatoes on a foil lined baking tray.
2. Bake it at 180C for 45 minutes.
3. Remove from oven, peel and mash.
4. Add salt and 3/4 cup flour and mix.
5. Keep on adding extra flour until you get sticky dough.
6. Dust work surface with flour.
7. Divide the dough into two portions.
8. Roll each into a long rope.
9. Cut into small pieces.
10. Keep on dusting with flour if it sticks a lot.
11. Press each round on a fork to get the impression.
12. Boil water in a deep pot.
13. Add the dough pieces into boiling water.
14. They will sink to the bottom.
15. Once cooked they will start floating on top.
16. Remove them at once using a slotted spoon.
17. Place in a strainer and allow them to cool.

For The Sauce:
1. Cut tomatoes and remove the seeds.
2. Bake in 180C oven for 15 minutes. You can place them along with the potatoes.
3. When cool remove skin and dice it.
4. Heat oil and add finely chopped onion and garlic.
5. When golden add the chopped tomatoes.
6. Add the sauce, salt and red chilly powder.
7. Cook on low flame for a minute.
8. Add the gnocchi and coriander leaves.
9. Stir, remove from flame and serve hot.