Vegetarian Polish Pierogi's

To make the caramelized onions, preheat a heavy-bottomed skillet, preferably cast iron, over low heat. Add the oil and the onions and toss the onions to coat. Cover and cook for 20 minutes, leaving a little gap for steam to escape. Stir occasionally, every 5 minutes or so. Onions should turn amber, but not burn, although a couple of darker spots are fine.

Remove the cover and turn the heat up just a bit, to a medium setting. Stir often for 10 more minutes. Onions should become a darker amber, and some of the moisture should evaporate.

Next make the potato filling. In a medium-size pot, cover potatoes in water. Place a lid on the pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cook for about 20 more minutes or until potatoes are easily pierced with a fork.

Meanwhile, in a large pan, sauté the onions in oil over medium heat for about 7 minutes. Turn the heat off but continue to stir occasionally because they could still burn from the hot pan. When the potatoes are done boiling, drain them well and add them to the pan with the onions. Just mash them right in there with a potato masher; that way you are sure to get all the oil, plus you save a dish. Add the salt and pepper. Make sure potatoes are mashed well and fluffy. Set aside to cool a bit.

Next make the mushroom sauerkraut filling. In a large skillet, melt the margarine over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and sauté for about 7 minutes, until the mushrooms are soft.

Before adding the sauerkraut to the pan, give it a squeeze over the sink to get out as much water as you can. It's important to do this so that your pierogi don't get all wet. You'll need to add the sauerkraut to the pan a cup at a time. Add to the pan and cook for about 10 minutes, cooking out any excess water. Season with the pepper. The filling shouldn't look dry (a small amount of water is okay).

Make the Dough. Pour the water and oil into a large bowl. Add 2 cups of the flour and the salt, keeping one cup aside. Use a fork to stir the flour in, and as it starts to come together, use your hands to knead until a loose dough forms (about 3 minutes).

Sprinkle your counter with flour, then turn the dough out onto it and knead. Add the reserved cup of flour a little bit at a time, working it into the dough, until it is very smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. If it's too sticky, you can add a little bit more fl our and knead it in, sometimes up to 1/4 cup extra. Conversely, if you get a good-feeling, smooth, elastic dough with less than the extra cup of flour, then that's okay, too.

Now roll the dough out, and also bring a salted pot of water to boil—the largest pot you've got—for boiling the pierogi.

Divide the dough in half and make sure your counter is clean and sprinkled with a dusting of flour to prevent sticking. Roll half the dough out to about 1/16-inch thick, which is to say, very thin but not see-through. Roll it into an 18 x 10-inch rectangle, but as long as you have the thinness going, the shape doesn't matter so much. Sprinkle the top with a light dusting of flour.

Now make circles. Use the top of a glass that is 3-1/2 inches in diameter. Have ready a lightly floured plate to place the finished circles on, and go ahead and firmly press your glass or cookie cutter into the dough, as close together as you can. Pull together the excess dough and set aside. Place circles on the floured plate and transfer to the fridge while you repeat with the other half of the dough. Combine the excess dough and see if you can get a few more wrappers out of the dough.

Place a teaspoon full of filling in the middle of each dough circle. With floured hands, fold the dough over the filling, and, starting at one end of the resulting crescent, pinch the dough together to enclose the filling. As you pinch the dough closed, continuously work the filling into the pierogi with floured fingers. To cook, drop the pierogies into rapidly boiling water for about 3-4 minutes, removing them once they float. Make sure the pierogi dough is tightly sealed, or these little dumplings will come apart when boiled.