KetoNick's Pierogi

Keto pierogi served with Dijon pork rind crusted chicken thighs and braised radishes

Somebody on reddit's keto recipes subreddit made a request for someone to create a keto version of pierogi, and as a huge fan of Polish food myself, I thought it was an excellent idea. The filling was the easy part; mashed cauliflower is an easy and delicious substitute to mashed potatoes. The pasta took some more consideration. I was torn between making a mozzarella cheese based dough similar to a keto pizza/breadstick dough, but I decided to use a keto pasta dough based on almond flour.

I'm not going to go into too much detail on the mashed cauliflower recipe - there are tons of recipes out there and you can pick the one you want to use. I just threw it together without really using a recipe. In addition to the cauliflower, I added bacon, cheddar cheese, onions caramelized in bacon fat, sour cream, heavy cream, salt, pepper, and butter.

Pierogi dough ingredients:

1. 2 cups white almond meal
2. 1/2 tablespoon xanthan gum
3. 1/2 teaspoon salt
4. 3 eggs

Procedure:

Begin by mixing the almond meal, xanthan gum, and salt in a large mixing bowl until evenly mixed. Then, just like making any other pasta dough, put the eggs in a well in the center of the dry ingredients and mix them together with a fork until it forms a dough that you can knead by hand. You can see the process here.

At this point you can begin kneading by hand

Unlike when using flour, you don't need to knead for a long time to develop the gluten. There is no gluten in almond meal, and the xanthan gum will replace the structure that the gluten would normally provide. You only need to knead the dough until it is a homogeneous mixture the consistency of a typical pasta dough, dusting with almond meal or some other keto friendly flour like coconut or soy as needed to keep it from sticking. Create a ball and wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and leave it on the counter for about half an hour.

At this point the dough can be wrapped up in plastic wrap to rest

Cut the dough ball into 4 sections, and roll it out until it is nice and thin. You can use a pasta roller if you have one. Dust with almond meal or some other keto friendly flour if it is sticky. Cut out rounds for the pierogi - I used one of the ubiquitous takeout Chinese soup containers, it was the perfect size.

Cut 2 or 3 rounds per quarter, collect the excess to roll out again 

Place just a little bit of the filling, maybe a tablespoon or two, on one side of each round. Fold over and crimp with a fork like you would with an empanada. 

I got 12 rounds, but the dough was a little thick. Try to shoot for 12-16 pierogi for the ideal thickness

Boil the pierogi in salted water for about 10 minutes, and then sauté them in butter until they're a little bit browned.

Nutrition Information: (from the sparkpeople.com recipe calculator)

Note: the nutrition information is PER PIEROGI for the PASTA ONLY based on 16 pierogi rounds.

KetoNick's Shrimp and Veggie Miso Noodle Soup

The title is a bit unwieldy, but the soup is delicious! I am always craving Asian flavors, something I miss more than anything else since I've been on keto. I make stir-fries over cauli-rice and fried cauli-rice, but noodle soups are one of my favorite foods ever, so I decided to think up a keto-friendly Asian flavored noodle soup using zoodles and shirataki noodles, two great low carb noodle substitutes.

The Ingredients:

not pictured: stock and shirataki noodles

  

• 6 cups of shrimp or chicken stock
  
• 1 package of shirataki angel hair noodles,* thoroughly rinsed and drained 
• 1/2 pound of raw shrimp 
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced mushrooms 
• 1 medium zucchini, "spiralized"** 
• 1/2 block of firm tofu 
• 1 cup of halved snow peas 
• 1 tbsp miso 
• 3 tbsp wakame (seaweed) 
• soy sauce 
• crushed red pepper 
• Sriracha
• chives, garlic chives, or other herb
• sesame and/or vegetable oil for frying

*About those weird noodles you've probably never heard of, shirataki noodles are a traditional Japanese noodle made from the flour of the konjac yam. They're also called miracle noodles because somehow they have ZERO calories LESS THAN ONE carb per serving, making them an awesome pasta substitute for the keto diet, and they're shelf stable (tofu shirataki must be refrigerated). I've used them with Alfredo and tomato sauces, too - they're not just for Asian dishes. I get mine from Amazon because they're hard to find in stores, and they come in a variety pack of different shapes, six packages for only fourteen dollars.

** As for the zucchini, if you're on the keto diet you just have to get a spiralizer so you can make zoodles! Zucchini noodles are another great pasta alternative that can be eaten raw or cooked in any number of fashions. You can check out one of my favorite zoodle recipes here: Zoodles and Shrimp with an Avocado Cream Sauce.

Directions:

1) Bring the stock up to a very gentle simmer and whisk in the miso paste, season to taste with soy sauce, and add in as much or as little red pepper as you'd like.

2) Add in the mushrooms and snow peas to let them gently cook in the broth. Now we begin stir-frying.

3) Over high heat, stir-fry half of the tofu in about a 2-1 ratio of vegetable oil to sesame oil until golden brown to give it some texture, remove with a slotted spoon and add it to the simmering pot along with the rest of the raw tofu. Two textures makes the dish more interesting.

4) Stir-fry the shrimp for a few minutes until they get some color and add them to the pot.

5) Stir-fry the zoodles for a few minutes and add them to the pot.

6) Stir-fry the shirataki noodles for a few minutes and add them to the pot.

7) Add the three tablespoons of wakame to the pot and gently stir everything together.




8) Once the wakame has hydrated and expanded in size, the soup is ready to serve. Top with a squirt of Sriracha and the herb of your choice. I used garlic chives that I grew from some garlic cloves that sprouted roots. I planted them in a small pot in my kitchen window and let the shoots grow, and snipped some fresh to finish off the soup. You can use chives, cilantro, or Thai basil if you'd like, it's up to you.

And there you have it: Shrimp and Veggie Miso Noodle Soup. Enjoy!

Featured products: (click to buy from Amazon)


 Nutrition Information: (from the sparkpeople.com recipe calculator)