Grains

Every University student of the Soviet Union knew this very cheap and very tasty dish perfectly. “Ponchiki” are lighter and fluffier analog of doughnuts, and Soviet student ate them with coffee. Although a serving of “ponchiki” is ready in about 1 minute, this was not fast food in the general sense, because they cooked it only from freshly prepared dough.

Traditional Russian “ponchiki”:

Ingredients:

1 cup milk
2 cup flour
1 egg
1/8 lb margarine (half of the stick)
1 tbsp sugar

Ingredients:

1 pack (1 lb) ground chicken
1 lb prepared rice (white, brown, any other one)
1 medium shallot
2 cans chicken broth (optional)
2 eggs (optional)
Salt on taste
Ground black pepper (optional)

Method:

Set large pan with water (2 cups) or chicken broth to heat.
Peel onion and cut it into small cubes.
In a large dish, mix ground meat, rice, onions, salt, and (optionally) eggs.
Knead until even consistency (3-5 minutes).

Ingredients for 4:

1 lb fish fillet with skin
3 pieces wheat bread without crust
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp butter or margarine
1 egg
Greens, salt and black ground pepper on taste
1/2 lemon

Method:

Peel off fish skin, cut and grind fish fillet.
Soak the bread in milk, and grind together bread and fish.
Melt margarine or butter.
Whip egg.
Mix together ground meat and bread, melted margarine, whipped egg, salt end pepper.

This is a basic recipe.

Ingredients for 4:

1 ¼ fish fillets without bones and skin (preferable, non-fat fish like cod or hake)
2-3 slices of white bread
½ cup milk
3 tbsp breadcrumbs
1 egg
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp thinly cut green onions (optional)
Salt, pepper on taste

Method:

Soak bread in milk and knead.
Grind fish fillets, or cut them into small cubes.
Mix soaked bread, ground fish, egg, salt, pepper, and (optionally) green onions.

There are many legends about this recipe, but we consider the following one the most believable.
A tavern, which belonged to the Pozharsky family, was in the small town Torzhok, which is on the Moscow-St.Petersburg road.
Emperor Alexander the First had to stop because his coach‘s wheel was broken, and his servant ordered a breakfast for the Emperor and his court. The Pozharsky tavern was the most respectable around, so they got this order.
But, there was a problem with the veal cutlets in this order.

Astrakhan is an ancient city of about 2 million people in the delta of the greatest Russian river, Volga, and it is on the shores of the Caspian Sea and also riverside.
Astrakhan is a famous center of catching and cultivation of the sturgeons, and a center of the productions of black caviar.
In the “good old times” there were plenty of sturgeons in the Volga delta. Now, there are much fewer of them, but sturgeons are still common food for Astrakhan’s region’s inhabitants.
This is one of the authentic recipes of how they make fish soup – “uha” in Russian.

Ingredients:

½ cup flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp citric acid
1 tsp sugar
¼ tsp salt
3 eggs
1/2 qt milk
3 tbsp olive oil (or other vegetable oil

Method:

Mix everything, except for 1 tbsp of oil, in the dough. Blend well.
The dough has to not be thick.
Note: If the dough is too thick, add more milk and mix well; if the dough is too thin, add 1 tbsp flour, mix well, and evaluate, if it is necessary to add more flour.

It is a well-known dish of Old Russian, Swedish (fore smack), German (vor schmack), and Jewish cuisines. Advantage of forschmack is that is possible to cook this appetizer in multiple variations.
Everywhere herring is caught, forschmack is cooked, and it is possible to make forscmack with other kinds of sea fish.
So,

Ingredients of a basic recipe:

1 large herring or 2 herring fillets
2 hard-boiled egg
1 sour apple
1 medium onion
2 peaces white bread, soaked in milk or water
1’4 lb butter

Ingredients for 8:

1 large green cabbage (Savoy or another cabbage is very good too)
1 lb meat
½ lb rice
2 onions
2 medium carrots (optional)
1 cup broth
1 cup sour cream
1 tbsp any vegetable oil
5 tbsp tomato sauce (optional)
Greens, salt, and spices on taste

Method:
Grind the meat. Boil the rice until ready.