My ukrainian recipes
June 18th, 2011 in Hot Soups, Soup Recipes by Julia Volhina Sorrel and pork soup, or as it is called also green borscht (obviously because of the color), is one of these dishes you can rarely eat in US, unless you are ukrainian, poland, russian family or visiting one of those 
.
I was a bit unlucky in buying sorrel this time. Sorrel is very seasonal (meaning available only on spring), and for some reason WholeFoods (the only place where I was able to find it) carries it in herbs section – read this as 2-3 branches per a pack.
I ended up getting last 3 packs they had in their stock, but even that was less then needed for this soup (I am actually still wondering, who buys sorrel in WholeFoods in such packs and for what?).
Anyway, if you are more lucky than me and either know where to buy enough of sorrel or growing it by yourself, you can safely use more, and by more I mean much more: 3-4 cups is good. If you want to make it’s sour taste a bit less intense – fry it before adding to the cooking pot or/and use more water when cooking broth.
Tags: borscht, carrot, dill, green food, hard boiled egg, onion, parsley root, polish, pork, potato, rice, russian, sorrel, soup, sour cream, ukrainian
March 26th, 2011 in Desserts by Julia Volhina This pastry is very popular in countries of ex-USSR. The shape is what gave them their russian name – “hvorost” – which means “dry wood used to make a fire”. Ukrainian name – “khrustyky” – describes texture – which it very crisp.
I had troubles trying to figure out what english name to use for this dish. Even if there is an equivalent of it in cuisine of some english speaking country, I don’t know about it.
So, feel free to let me know if you have some ideas in this regard
Tags: dessert, egg yolks, flour, kefir, oil, pastry, russian, sugar, ukrainian
March 19th, 2011 in Beef, Main Dish Recipes by Julia Volhina Lazy cabbage rolls, or “lenyvi golubtsi” how this dish is called in ukrainian, is an easier version of ukrainian cabbage rolls.
Since it doesn’t require assembling of rolls it is much easier to prepare, and taste is very similar to cabbage rolls.
Lazy cabbage rolls taste great when seasoned with a bit of chopped garlic and a bit of mayo.
Tags: beef, cabbage, carrot, dill, dinner, ground beef, ground meat, meat, onion, russian, tomato paste, ukrainian, vegetables
March 12th, 2011 in Salad Recipes by Julia Volhina This simple salad with tomatoes and cucumbers is very popular in Ukraine, and I don’t see any reasons why it wouldn’t be liked in any other country which grows tomatoes, cucumbers, dill and sour cream with onions and garlic.
As opposite to summer salad with tomato and cucumbers with vegetable oil based dressing, this one uses sour cream and mayonnaise.
If you are trying to cut on calories – use mix of sour cream and low calorie yoghurt, or just yoghurt as a base for dressing, but, believe me, this salad tastes the best with real sour cream.
Tags: cucumber, dill, garlic, mayo, no meat, salad, shallot, sour cream, tomato, ukrainian, vegetables
February 5th, 2011 in Tips, Advices & How-to by Julia Volhina Homemade egg yolk noodles are not so hard to do as it may seem. Lapsha (in russian cuisine) or klusky (in ukrainian cuisine) are as easy to do as simple egg and flour dough.
It is also a good way to use leftover yolks if you needed egg whites for some other dish.
Boiled homemade egg noodles can be served as a side dish or added to meat or chicken broth or soup.
Tags: egg yolks, how-to, noodles, russian, ukrainian
December 18th, 2010 in Hot Soups, Soup Recipes by Julia Volhina One of the challenges when cooking classic beet root soup, borscht, is to get all vegetables (and there are quite few) cooked till perfect readiness at the same time.
Considering different vegetables require different cooking time it is sometimes hard to achieve. For borscht you need to make sure beens are soft, while potatoes are not over cooked and beets don’t lose their color.
So, to make this happen: I cook beens in a separate cooking pot (just until they are soft and ready), cook beets skin on (like for salad) in separate pot in advance, and add these two to the main cooking pot at appropriate times.
By the way, using of canned beets and beens instead of cooking them yourself is an option (which I never did, but it may safe you some time).
Tags: bean, beet, bell pepper, borscht, cabbage, carrot, celery root, dinner, onion, parsley root, potato, russian, soup, tomato, ukrainian, vegetables
November 20th, 2010 in Main Dish Recipes, Pork by Julia Volhina Kruchenyky or zavyvantsi – meat rolls prepared with pork (less often with beef) and stuffed with various mixes. This is very popular dish of traditional ukrainian cuisine.
Stuffings for kruchenyky, as well as sauces, vary from region to region and, actually, from cook to cook.
I like kruchenyky prepared from pork loin and stuffed with mushrooms or mushroom mix with some other ingredients, fried and then baked under cream sauce. Just like in this recipe.
It may seem like lot of hassle to cook these stuffed pork rolls, but it is really not as hard as it looks; and is really tasty
Tags: cheese, cream, dinner, hard boiled egg, meat, mushroom, onion, pork, romantic, stuffed, ukrainian
