Authentic Russian Cuisine

Ingredients:

1 lb small beetroots
2 tbsp vegetable oil
0.5 cup red wine (or red wine vinegar)
2 garlic cloves
Salt and ground black pepper on taste

Method:

Peel the beets, slice into flat rounds, and fry on a pre-heated skillet with vegetable oil for about 3 minutes per side.

Then, pour the wine onto the skillet, add salt, pepper, and pressed garlic, and simmer until the beets are ready (easy to pierce).

Serve hot as a standalone lent dish, or as part of a complex garnish.

Ingredients:

1 medium green cabbage
1 large carrot
2 medium tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
3-5 small dill stalks
3 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp butter or margarine
1 large onion

Method:

Shred the cabbage into small, short, thin pieces.

Peel and wash the carrot. Grate the carrot on a large grater.

Place the vegetable oil and butter into a saucepan, heat until boiling, and place the carrot and cabbage into the saucepan.

Cover the saucepan with a lid, and simmer the vegetables with low heating for about 45 minutes.

Stir 3-5 times, and add water if necessary.

At the same time, peel the garlic, tomatoes, and onions.

Cut the dill into small pieces.
Grate the garlic.
Cut the tomatoes into small cubes.
Cut the onions into short thin strips.

Stir-fry until onions turn golden.
Add tomatoes to the skillet with onions; simmer them for about 5 minutes.

Add the ground garlic and dill into the saucepan with the cabbage, stir, add the onion-tomato mix into the saucepan, stir them all together, and simmer for about 15 minutes with low heating under a lid.

After 10 minutes, add salt, and stir well.

Serve hot as a standalone vegetable dish or as garnish to a meat.

Ingredients:

0.5 lb salt mushrooms
1/3 lb sauerkraut
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion
Sugar, pepper, parsley and dill greens on taste

Method:

Cut the mushrooms into short thin slices.

Cut the sauerkraut into shorter strips.

Peel the onions, and slice into short thin strips.

Mix the sauerkraut, mushrooms, sugar, pepper, and onions, add the vegetable oil, and stir well.

Place in a salad bowl, sprinkle with greens, and serve cold.

Note:

This dish is a perfect appetizer and garnish to boiled or mashed potatoes.

Ingredients:

3 large potatoes
1 egg
2 cups bread crumbs
1 cup ground cheese
2 tbsp sunflower or olive oil

Method:

Wash the potatoes, drain, and cut into two halves across.

Cut every half into 8 column parts lengthwise,
Boil the potatoes with 1 cup water until readiness, then drain.

Pre-heat an oven to 400 F (200 C).

Whip the egg.
Mix fresh bread crumbs and cheese.
Roll every potato piece in the whipped egg, then in the breadcrumb-cheese mix, and place on a baking sheet.

Then, sprinkle the potato pieces with the vegetable oil, and bake until they have a golden crust (for about 20 minutes).

Serve as a garnish or as a main dish with brined mushrooms or brined vegetables.

Ingredients for 6:

1 medium cauliflower
1 lb carrots
0.5 lb spinach
4 tbsp sour cream
3 tbsp ground Parmesan cheese

Method:

Cut cauliflower into medium pieces, and wash. Wash spinach.
Peel and wash carrots, and slice them into thin pieces.

Bring 0.5 gal water to boil, and put the carrots in the boiling water.
After 3 minutes, put the cauliflower into the saucepan, and boil for 4 more minutes.
Then, put the spinach into the saucepan, and boil for 1 more minute.

Drain the resulting vegetable broth into a different pan (we won’t use it in this recipe but it’s perfectly good for soups and simmering meats or vegetables).

Grease a baking dish with some oil, put the vegetables on it as an even layer.
Then, cover the vegetables with a thin layer of sour cream and sprinkle with the ground cheese.

Cool, cover with a plastic wrap, and keep in a refrigerator for up to 2 hours, or bake immediately in an oven pre-heated to 370 F(170 C) for 20 – 25 minutes, until the top turns gold colored.

Serve hot as a garnish to fish or meat or as a standalone dish with a green salad.

Ingredients for 8:

3 lb young potatoes
2 lb tvorog (or dry small-curd farmer cheese)
1 stick butter or margarine
3 egg yolks
Salt, pepper, caraway seeds, dill weed on taste

Method:

Wash potatoes thoroughly, and cook in salted boiling water until readiness (do not overcook!). Remove water from saucepan, and sprinkle potatoes with dill weed cuts.
Blend tvorog, sour cream, dill, tmin, ground pepper, and hardboiled egg yolks.

To serve, place on a garnish dish a portion of potatoes, place some small cubes butter or margarine over them, and place small dip dish with tvorog blend on the garnish dish.

Ingredient for 8:

2 lb potatoes
1 cup milk
0.25 lb sour cream
3 eggs
1 lb spinach
2 tbsp tomato paste (or any tomato sauce)
1 tbsp sugar

Method:

Boil potatoes, then peel and make puree from the potatoes, milk, sour cream, and eggs.
Divide the puree into 3 parts.
Boil spinach for 2 minutes, then drain it and make puree from the spinach, and mix it with one part of the potato puree.
Add tomato-paste and sugar to another part of the potato puree, and blend.
Pre-heat an oven to 180 C (360 F).
Grease a baking sheet with margarine, and place different colored puree close to each other. You can use confectioner’s bags with wide nozzles to make them decorative.
Bake for about 10 minutes, and serve immediately, with any vegetable salad.

Note:

You can use other vegetables, to make colored puree.

Ingredients:
0.5 lb vegetables (potato, eggplans, ...)
0.5 cup peeled walnuts
3 cloves garlic
4 – 5 tbsp pomegranate juice (or wine vinegar 1-2 tbsp)
2 tbsp coriander greens
2 tbsp parsley greens
2 tbsp dill
1/4 tsp grated red pepper
1/3 tsp kchmeli-suneli spice
Salt on taste

Method:

Boil vegetables until readiness, cool, and peel if necessary.
Cut the vegetables into small cubes.
Grate garlic and walnuts together, and then mix them with thinly cut greens, spices and vinegar.
Stir vegetables and this mix together very well.

Ingredients:

2 lb medium ripe eggplants
5 medium shallot onions
5 medium carrots
5 medium sweet tomatoes
1-2 tbsp tomato paste

Method:

Peel onions and carrots, and cut them into small pieces (or grate them).
Cut eggplants. Remove the ends, and cut into 1” cubes.
Soak them in cold salted water for 10 minutes, then drain.
Simmer the eggplants, carrots, and onions on separate skillets with 1 tbsp vegetable oil on each one until they reach mild consistency.
Remove tomato skins, cut them into 1-inch cubes, and simmer them on a separate skillet to remove extra juice.
Grate eggplants, onions, and carrots together.
Add tomato paste (to improve caviar’s color), tomatoes, salt and sugar.
You have to add salt and sugar on your taste. The procedure is: add a pinch of salt, mix well, and try. Then, add a pinch of sugar, stir well, and try. And so on, until the taste of the mix is pleasing.
Place the mix in a deep skillet, and simmer with low heating for 15 minutes more.
Stir continuously to avoid overcooking.
Caviar has to neither be thick or thin. If it is thick, add more tomato paste, stir well, and simmer for 2 minutes. If it is thin, simmer 5 minutes more, to evaporate extra juice.

Note:
You can serve it immediately as an appetizer, or as a garnish to potatoes.
Or, you can make preserves.

Ingredients:

6 medium potatoes
0.5 cup beer
1 egg
0.5 cup flour
Spices and greens on your taste

Method:

Boil potatoes, peel, and cut them into medium-size round slices.
Make a beer dough: take 0.5 cup beer, 1 egg, and enough flour to get usual pancake consistency (about 0.5 cup).
Roll every potato slice in the dough, and cook in a deep fryer for 2-4 minutes.Drain on paper towels, sprinkle with greens, and serve with your favorite sauce.