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Russian cold soup-Sveckolnik

Sveckolnik [sve’koljnik] – Russian summer cold soup, which goes really well during the summer heat. The name comes from the word “sveckla”, which denotes beetroot.

When AC and even hundreds of ice cream don’t help you against hot, this light soup refreshes and cools you.

The main ingredient is a raw beetroot, it’s high in vitamins, minerals and fiber that can effect the digestive system in a positive ways.

Raw beets are one of the top vegetables for nutritious raw eating, according to Bastyr University.

You can include this light soup in your balanced diet and it takes only few minutes to prepare it.

Ingredients:

beetroot – 2 small

cucumbers – 3-4

eggs – 1-2 per plate

a bunch of spring onion

a small bunch of dill

1 garlic clove

buttermilk 400 ml

water 200 ml

salt, sugar to taste

sour cream (optional)

Better to choose small young beets. And you can substitute raw beets with boiled, if you like.

Shred beets and cucumbers, put them in a deep plate.

Boil eggs for 10 minutes, let cool and cut them into chunks.

Slice green onions, put it in a cup and add some salt. With teaspoon begin to grind the salt into onions.

Add crushed garlic and mix.

Combine together beets, cucumbers, eggs, onions and dill. Add a pinch of sugar.

For the liquid part buttermilk is mixed with cold drinking water, the volume and thickness of it totally depends on your taste.

If you can find “salted lassi” (yougurt drink)-use it, no need to dilute with water; in Arabian countries it’s called “laban up”, in Russia – “tan”, “sivorotka” .

Pour the buttermilk over dry ingredients and mix well. Sprinkle some dill.

Enjoy! 🙂

You can serve it with a dollop of sour cream and rye bread.

Lip-smacking lamb ribs

Happy belated Easter, dear friends! Hope everyone had a wonderful family dinner! 🙂

Lamb ribs. You can find it across the world and gonna fall in love with! 😉

The wonderful combination of marinade ingredients and you end up with lip-smacking dish.

My marinade recipe call for using brandy, but you can skip it or replace with lemon juice (or add a little vinegar).

Ingredients (Serves 2-3)

0.5 kg lamb ribs

1 to 3 small red chillies, depends on your taste

1 garlic clove, chopped

2 tbsp brandy (or rum or 3 tbsp of lemon juice)

1 tbsp of lemon juice

1-1.5 tbsp mustard (Dijon or plain is ok too)

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp soy sauce (or Westchester sauce)

1/2 tbsp sugar

dash of black pepper

Let’s start!

Mix all ingredients together, stir to combine.

How to dice chillies you can have a look here, I do exactly the same.

Pour the marinate over lamb ribs, rub to coat and leave for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Fry on preheated pan for 4-5 minutes each side.

Serve with fresh lettuce and tomatoes and/or baked carrots.

I should to mention how delicious baked carrots are and fast-cooking (what’s more healthy).

Cut 300 gr of carrots (cleaned and peeled) into sticks. Put them on a baking tray, pour over 2 tbsp olive oil + 1 tsp honey and season with white pepper, paprika and cumin. You can drizzle with 1-2 tsp of soy sauce (optionally). Bake until softy around 20 minutes (190C/400F).

Bon appetite! 🙂

Forgiveness Sunday

March 17, 2013
milkandbun
1 comment
blog, Blogging, caviar, Масленица, festival, food, food photo, My Life, photos, red caviar, Russian, russian pancakes, Russian tradition, Sunday, weekend

Today is the last day of Butterweek, which is called Forgiveness Sunday, when people ask each other for forgiveness.

Farewell to Butterweek is a traditional folk gathering, along with theatrical performances, sleighs’ sliding, games and amusements.

A culmination of the festival is burning of an Idol made from straw and dressed as a woman, which is called Winter scarecrow and symbolized farewell to the winter and greeting the spring.

A straw-woman was burned in a field, beyond villages. Old stuff, clothes were burned also in fires, besides straw and firewoods. Nowadays it takes place in city/town squares, where all citizens are able to come.

Have a lovely weekend, guys! 😀

*painted pics I took from the net

Butterweek and Russian Pancakes!

March 12, 2013
milkandbun
5 comments
blog, Blogging, cooking, crepes, food, food photo, My Life, pancakes, photography, photos, Russian, russian pancakes

What can be special in pancakes, you think? In this case, you have never tried real Russian pancakes with their special aroma and taste! 🙂

Russian author Alexander Kuprin gave good characterization to pancakes:

“A pancake is round-shaped as the generous sun. A pancake is red and warm as the hot sun. A pancake greased with butter is a recollection of sacrifices, which were made for a mighty stone idols. A pancake is a symbol of the sun, nice days, good harvests, happy marriages and healthy children.”

Some ages ago, a man was accompanied by a pancake all their life. From birth, when pregnant woman was eaten pancakes, and until death, when pancakes were served during funeral repast (we still follow this tradition).

Nowadays, pancakes are essential treats for Butterweek (Rus.-Maslenica). It’s the spring festival, the week before Lent (The Great Fast) for Christians in Russia. During this week women bake pancakes every day(!), invite relatives and friends, and celebrate the spring.

Lots of Russian authors mentioned pancakes in their work. A good example, “Eugene Onegin” by Alexander Pushkin:

“Throughout their life, so calm, so peaceful,

Sweet old tradition was preserved:

For them, in Butterweek the greaseful,

Russian pancakes were always served..”

Every day of Butterweek has a name and meaning.

Monday is “meeting”. The daughter-in-law visited her parents, then father and mother-in-law visited their house and their decided together how to celebrate. First-cooked pancakes were given to poor people in commemoration of deceased. In the evening, children went to slide from snow hills.

Today is “flirting” 🙂 Usually it was day for weddings. Just married couples and their guests went to slide from snow hills. In every house baked “hills” of pancakes. 🙂

Have a nice week! 😀

Kournik – Russian chicken pie

Hello, dear foodies!

In Russia we really do like pies, to bake and to eat! 🙂 And I’m not an exception. 🙂

Kournik – the festive pie which used to bake for weddings. It was shaped like a dome, interlaid with thin pancakes and stuffed with various fillings: boiled chicken, fried mushrooms, rice, eggs and etc. Nowdays, preparing of the pie is left for weekends. But there is the simplified version of it, which Russian women cook during working-days.

Hope this simple and tasty pie can turn into a family favorite!

So, we need

For pastry:

260-300 gr plain flour

150 gr sour cream

150 gr butter

1 egg

pinch of salt

For filling:

2 chicken breasts

2-3 potatoes

1 onion (big one)

a few small cubes of butter

1 egg for brushing

salt and pepper

Mix the flour, pinch of salt, soft butter, sour cream and egg together in a bowl. Then you need to work on a surface – mix together to form a soft pastry.

Shape the pastry into a ball and cover with a towel. Meanwhile, cut the chicken and onion into cubes and grate potatoes.

Divide the dough into 2 parts, one should be smaller- will be the lid (upper part) for our pie. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry until it’s roughly the size of the pie dish.

Spread the potatoes in an even layer, season with salt and pepper