Tag: ukrainian (Page 7 of 8)
Fresh Cheese Dumplings (Varenyky with Cheese)
April 17th, 2010 in Main Dishes, No-meat by Julia Volhina
Varenyky with fresh cheese (perogies or vareniki or vareniky with fresh cheese) is one of the traditional Ukrainian dishes for dumplings. You will need fresh white cow milk cheese (quark) to prepare those, which can be a bit hard to find (try some east european store, if that is the case).
To your taste, you can make these dumplings sweet (by adding sugar to cheese) or savory (skip sugar in the filling all together); either kind will taste great with sour cream.
Prepared not boiled fresh cheese dumplings can be frozen up and boiled when you need them; which makes them perfect food for lunch. Boiled dumplings maybe be stored in a fridge and warmed up by frying with a bit of butter over moderate heat.
Deruny (Potato Pancakes)
February 6th, 2010 in Main Dishes, No-meat by Julia Volhina
Potato pancakes, prepared from fresh chopped or grated potatoes, onions, eggs and flour, are commonly associated with various cuisines of Europe. In Ukraine they are called “deruny”, in Russia and Belarus “draniki”; similar recipes can be found in Polish, German, Austrian, Czech cuisines.
Potato pancakes are usually a main no meat dish for lunch or breakfast; it tastes good topped with sour cream or mushroom sauce.
Even though potato pancakes are good enough as a separate dish, they can be also served as a side dish for vegetable or meat main dish course.
Mimosa (Layered Fish Salad)
January 9th, 2010 in Salads by Julia Volhina
Mimosa, as a fish layered salad, is very popular in all countries of ex-USSR. As well as Herring Under Fur Coat and Salad Olivier, Salad Mimosa finds its place on the table for big holiday celebrations, such as New Year, Christmas, birthdays and others.
It is easy and fun to cook, and due to the layered structure of the salad it should be prepared several hours in advance before serving to allow layers to soak. So the good idea would be to assemble the salad a night before you are going to put it on the table.
By the way this salad name – Mimosa – comes from the bright yellow color and a texture of its last layer which looks very similar to the yellow blossoms of the plant called “mimosa” in Russia.
Dried Fruit Kompot (Uzvar)
January 2nd, 2010 in Beverages, Non-alcoholic by Julia Volhina
Uzvar is a kompot made from dried fruits: mainly apples, pears and prunes, however various recipes include raisins, dried sour cherries and even dried apricots.
Even though this drink is traditionally served to Christmas Eve dinner in some countries of West Europe (e.g. Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Lithuania), I really can’t find a reason why it can’t be a great better choice to drink before all those sugary-artificially prepared sodas people consume so much those days.
Uzvar, or as it also called in ex-USSR countries – Kompot made from Dried Fruits, is very refreshing, tasty and easy to do. I highly recommend this drink to everybody, prepare it for your kids – they will love it!
Bigos (Cabbage and Pork Stew)
December 19th, 2009 in Pork by Julia Volhina
Bigos, as a cabbage and meat stew, is very popular second course dish in countries of East Europe. I believe it was originated in Poland, however recipes similar to polish bigos can be found in cuisines of Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine and maybe some others. In Poland bigos is traditional dish to be served on Second day of Christmas.
Ingredients for bigos vary, some of them may or may not include tomatoes, mushrooms, carrots, onions, garlic, honey and even prunes; beef, veal, pork, bacon, smoked ham, smoked sausages or a combination of those.
However common parts for each bigos recipe are some kind of meat, white cabbage and sauerkraut.
I cook bigos (by the way it is called “solyanka” in Russia and Ukraine, even though there is a soup with the same name) with pork, a lot of cabbage (fresh and sour), carrots, onions, bay leaves and spice it with whole black peppercorns, just like it was always cooked in my family. Hope you will like it too.
Lenten Borscht with Mushroom Dumplings
December 12th, 2009 in Hot Soups, Soups by Julia Volhina
In a lot of countries Christmas Eve dinner gathers whole family around one big table. Borscht with mushroom dumplings is the one of 12 dishes which usually are on that table by tradition in West Ukraine (by the way those dumplings are called “vushka” in ukrainian, which means “small ears”, I guess because of the shape).
Of course, because that is the Christmas Eve and Nativity Fast isn’t finished yet there is no meat used to prepare it: just vegetables and dried mushrooms. This borscht like the rest of the Christmas Eve’s traditional food is lenten, it is very tasty and isn’t heavy at all – most of the vegetables are used to prepare clear broth only and don’t get served with the borscht itself.
At first glance, it may look like cooking it is a bit of a hassle and time spending: so many steps (I’ve prepared 34 step-by-step pictures for this recipe!) and so many manipulations with different cooking utensils. However, you can complete preparation steps a day in advance – for example soak mushrooms, boil them or/and boil beets, you can even make dumplings a day before, freeze them and prepare the borscht next day. And then, nobody said you need to make everything yourself: involve your family into helping you! And have a Merry Christmas!
Apple & Cranberry Kompot
November 14th, 2009 in Beverages, Non-alcoholic by Julia Volhina
Most of you probably wonders what the “kompot” is, as that is not very usual word in english speaking world. Some of you may also assume there is a grammatical error in the title of this post and I probably mean the apple & cranberries compote (stewed fruits, the dessert), however there is no error: kompot is a drink made of stewed fruits and/or berries, fresh or dried, or a combination of those, and it is traditional drink in many countries of Eastern Europe.
Making kompot is almost effortless, it takes not more then 20 mins (if you don’t count cooling down time in) to get great fruit and healthy drink for you and especially your kids and I believe they will like it much more than those powder-produced drinks from bottles and cans people drinking so much nowadays.
Autumn is a time when fresh apples and cranberries are in every grocery shop and supermarket, Apple & Cranberry Kompot is one of easy way to prepare those two together and it goes good with Apple Cake.