Happened to catch an episode of Masterchef Australia a few days ago and that was enough to make me want to try making gnocchi, a soft dumpling made from potatoes. I have came across this item in the only recipe book that I owned...ehem...but never knew what it was. It was very alien to me. I never knew that gnocchi is very simple to make, until that Masterchef episode. Since it looks simple, I decided to embark on a Cooking Project today. It has been awhile since my last project anyway.
My very sophisticated recipe which I copied from online recipe search....just in case my memory from the Masterchef episode failed me. It's always good to have backups.
Boiled the potatoes. Almost all the online recipes I read stated 2-3 potatoes but I was greedy and overly ambitious. I decided to go with 7 medium ones! Mistake #1 - I forgot to add in salt.
After boiling the potatoes, I mashed them using a ricer. Thank god for this equipment, which I have no idea why I bought it in the first place but it came in handy now. The first time I did this, it didn't work. Mistake #2 - The potatoes weren't soft enough and I was having a ridiculous time mashing them. I think I spoilt my ricer in the process. Decided to re-boil again (with added salt this time) and the mashing work was easier, albeit very messy one.
The recipe called for 1 medium egg. It never crossed my mind to beat the egg first before mixing into the potatoes. Not sure if it made any difference but anyway....
After mixing in the egg, I put in the flour, some salt and black peppers. I used wheat flour. I have no measuring cups so I used a small bowl instead as my indication. Started off with 1 bowl of flour but the mixture was still very very sticky....so I added in another bowl...and another..and another. At this point, I was very sure this was another failure project. Most recipes called for only 1-2 cups flour. By the 4th bowl, I was able to get a dough that didn't stick to my hand. Yeah!
See...this dough resembles the picture from the online recipe :) It took me almost half an hour
to knead this. That would be mistake #3!
Cut the dough into part and rolled into sausages. This was the easiest part.
Then cut into 1 inch pillow size. Another easy part.
After cutting, I used a fork to make ridges mark. Extremely proud of myself at this point! Made about 4 batches of these...ie. 4 containers! Decided to boil some for tonite's dinner. To cook, I boiled in hot water until the gnocchi floated to the top. I then pan fried them...I prefer them this way...just like eating firm tofus.
Verdict - I have never tasted gnocchi before so I have nothing to benchmark against. The recipes said they should be fluffy and soft. At the back of my mind before I even embarked on this, I could almost visualize mashed potatoes in small pillowy forms. I could almost taste the softness.
Unfortuntely, my batch did not turn out the way I had visualized. They were rubbery and chewy, a result of too much kneading.... just look at the picture above...there was no taste of potatoes whatsoever....all I could taste was FLOUR! Sigh...another failed project. I finished the whole 6 pieces though....with the help of some chilli ketchup. Somehow, I highly doubt that I will even finished the other 4 containers that are in my freezer.
However, unlike my other past cooking projects, I may decide to try this recipe again but next time I am gonna use sweet potatoes instead and I shall not be greedy...I shall start off with 2 sweet potatoes only :)
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