party snack | milkandbun

Russian Beetroot Caviar

This bright beetroot dip doesn’t contain salmon or any other fish raw. In my home-country vegetable spreads and dips that are mushed into a non-smooth consistency are often called caviar. In USSR fish caviar was an expensive product and most of the time was served over special occasions, but people have always wanted something tasty not only during holidays or weekend; and such vegetables as an eggplants, marrows and beetroots were cheap and available almost throughout the year, thus I guess economical version of the “caviar” was created.

The recipe I found in a book dated 1990, it calls to boil beetroot, fry onions and press through the meat-grinder machine along with other ingredients. Easy-peasy. It turned out so tasty, that i have already made it few times in a row! Moreover, it was a hit at the home-party, especially when I served this dip nicely decorated with little festive crackers; needless to say, guests asked for the recipe!

The original Russian recipe calls for the salted pickled cucumbers, which are usually watery and personally I don’t like its taste, so I used regular crunchy pickled cucumbers and the beetroot dip was absolutely amazing and delicious! I prefer slightly coarse a caviar-like texture, so I don’t blend ingredients too much, but if you wish – just blitz it more to get the smooth dip. Enjoy!

Russian Beetroot Caviar

Servings: 4
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

400g/2 medium-size beetroots

2 tps olive or sunflower oil, for frying

1/2 large brown onion

~100g pickled cucumbers

2 cloves of garlic

Salt&Pepper, to taste

Method

Boil beetroots until soft. Cool, clean and chop.
Chop the onion and fry in a oil until soft and golden, about 5 minutes.
Finely chop cucumbers. Also finely chop or mush garlic.
Blitz all ingredients in a food processor until desired consistency.
Check the seasoning. Serve with rye bread or crackers.

Enjoy!

Beetroot dip with coriander crackers

This is an extremely delicious beetroot dip that is super easy to prepare and is a crowd-pleaser. The bright beetroot dip can be made as a tasty and healthy appetizer for either home-parties or just your family, especially if you serve it with lots of homemade coriander crackers. Appetizer made from scratch adds a special touch to any kind of gathering. 🙂 It’s also a healthy snack anytime – just spread it over toasted bread, or use it as a wrap filling.

You can make the dip even without cheese, but I like it this way more. Also try to add feta or other soft white cheese instead of cream-cheese, walnuts is a another good substitute for pine nuts.

Beetroot dip with coriander crackers

Difficulty: very easy
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Keep covered in the fridge up to 3 days.

Beetroot dip

Ingredients

150g cooked beetroot (boiled or roasted), chopped

1 small garlic clove, minced

1/2-1 tsp cumin, crushed

1 tbsp EV olive oil

2 tbsp Philadelphia cheese

1 tbsp parmesan, finely grated, optional

1 tbsp pine nuts, lightly roasted

sea salt, freshly ground pepper, to taste

Put all ingredients, except the pine nuts, in a small bowl of blender and blitz until smooth. Season to taste, add pine nuts and pulse a couple of times to keep some nuts pieces; if you like more smooth-pulse again.
Garnish with pine nuts and some grated parmesan, if desired. Serve with crackers or toasted bread.

Coriander crackers {Make approx 18 crackers}

Ingredients

130g plain flour+some for kneading and rolling

1/3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp fine salt (want less salty, add less salt)

some freshly ground white pepper

1 tsp whole coriander seeds, crushed or ground

1/2 tsp cumin seeds, ground

40 ml EV olive oil

40 ml water+1/2 tsp white sugar

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, b.powder, salt and all spices. Mix in olive oil.
Dissolve sugar in water and pour into dough, knead the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and keep to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
On a lughtly dusted surface, roll the dough (approx 3-4 mm thick) and cut into 5×5 cm squares.
Transfer to a lined baking sheet and bake in preheated 190C oven for 15 minutes or until golden-brown.
Cool&Enjoy!