Authentic Russian Cuisine

Ingredients:

For the dough:

1 cup milk
1 egg
2 cup flour
5 tbsp vegetable oil

For the stuffing:

3 tbsp butter or margarine
2 carrots
1 onion
3 garlic cloves
1.25 lb (500 g) champignons
50 g smoked cheese
Salt and ground black pepper on taste

Method:

Blend all of the dough ingredients, and bake the crepes (blinis).

Grind the mushrooms, carrots, and onions separately,

Stir-fry the carrots and onions with butter or margarine until they are soft, then add the ground mushrooms, salt, pepper, and stir-fry for about 10 more minutes.

Then, press the garlic, add to the stir-fry mix, and stir-fry for 5 more minutes.

Place 1-2 tbsp stuffing in the middle of each crepe, make a “bag”, and tie the bag off with a thin cheese slice, or with a green onion piece.

Serve hot.

Ingredients:

For pre-dough:
1 pack yeasts
0.5 cup water
0.5 cup flour
1 tsp sugar

For dough:
3 eggs
4 tsp sugar
2/3 tsp salt
4 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cup milk
2 cup flour

Method:

Make a pre-dough:

Mix the yeast with warm water, add sugar, stir, add flour, and stir once more.
Put in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Separate the egg yolks and whites; place the whites in a refrigerator.
Mix the egg yolks with the pre-dough.

Then, stir in sugar, salt, and vegetable oil one after other.

To make the dough, stir 0.5 cup flour into the pre-dough, stir well in round motions, then whip slightly in an upward motion.

Then, add 1/3 cup milk, and stir in a two circle loop so as to mix the center.

Repeat, adding flour and milk 3 times.

Note:
If you need thin blinis add 2/3 extra cup warm milk, and stir well.

Place the dough in a warm place (lightly heated oven) until its volume doubles.

Whip the egg whites into strong foam, divide the foam into 2 halves, and stir into the dough one after other.

Pre-heat the skillets (one or more) with 1 tbsp vegetable oil each on strong heating, pour 1 large measure spoon of dough on the skillet, and make it cover the skillet bottom surface evenly.

When the edges start turning light-brown, flip the blin.

Do the same on the other skillet to save time.

Note:

This is very fast work, about 20-30 sec per side, so focus on cooking until you run out of the dough.

Happy Holidays!

Ingredients:

4 cup buckwheat flour
1 pack yeasts
1.5 lb (600 g) lukewarm water
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 cup vegetable oil for cooking

Method:

Grate the buckwheat flour in a coffee grinder, and sift.

Dissolve the yeasts in warm water, and add 1.5 cup flour.
Mix well, cover with a fabric, and let sit at room temperature for about 1 hour.

Then, add all of the flour, salt, and sugar, blend well, and let sit at room temperature until its volume grows twice the original size.

Then, add 1 cup boiling water, and knead the dough well.

Let grow, knead for a minute, and cook crepes as usual.

Note:

You can add thinly ground apples, pears, boiled vegetables, or fried onions into the dough just before cooking.

Note:

You can add in the dough thinly ground apples, or pears, or boiled vegetables, or fried onions just before cooking.

Ingredients:

1 lb buckwheat kasha
0.5 lb grated cheese
2 eggs
0.5 lb bread crumbs
3 tbsp vegetable oil
Salt and pepper on taste

Method:
To make buckwheat kasha, cook 2 measure cups of buckwheat and 4 measure cups of water in a rice-cooker or in a saucepan under a lid for 25 minutes. Cool until warm.
Mix kasha, cheese, eggs, salt, and pepper (optional).
Make round pancakes from the dough. Turn them in breadcrumbs to cover both sides, fry on a skillet with vegetable oil.

Note:

You can make similar grain pancakes from any other grains (rice, ground corn, pearls, etc.)

Ingredients:

For blintzes:
50 g flour
2 eggs
0.75 cup milk

For soufflé:
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
2 egg yolks and 3 egg whites
0.75 lb hot smoked salmon
1.25 cup milk
1.25 cup whipping cream
0.25 lb ground "Gruyere" cheese
1 shallot onion
2 tbsp ground parmesan cheese
1 bay leaf

Method:

Mix ingredients for blintzes, blend them, and cook blintzes on a small or medium skillet.
Peel and slice onions.
Put fish, milk, onions, and bay leaf in a saucepan.
Bring to boil, turn heating off, and let sit for 7 minutes.
Then, put fish on a plate, and divide into flakes.
Filter milk.
Melt butter in a saucepan, and fry it with flour for 1-2 minutes.
Pour hot milk in the saucepan, stirring thoroughly.
Add egg yolks to the sauce, and blend well with 3 tbsp Gruyere cheese.
Put fish and spices in the sauce.
Whip cold egg whites strongly.
Then, blend whites and sauce until even consistency.
Grease baking shapes with butter.
Pre-heat an oven to 380º F (190 C).
Put blintzes in form with one half of the blintz sticking out the side of form.
Put fish-egg mix in shapes over half of blintz, and cover with second half.
Bring whipping cream to boil, and add the rest of Gruyere cheese and spices.
Pour this mix over the blintzes, sprinkle with parmesan cheese, and bake for about 15 minutes.

Ingredients for 4:

4 servings simple yeast blinis
¼ lb sugar
2/3 stick (75 g) butter or margarine
2 lb "Golden Delicious" apples, or other sweet apples
2 tbsp apple wine

Method:

Peel, clean, and cut apples.
Melt butter or margarine in a medium-heated deep skillet.
Add apples to skillet and sugar, mix, then cover with lid, and let simmer for 10 minutes.
After that, remove lid, and let simmer for 10 minutes more.
Add apple wine, and mix well.
Turn heating off.
Put 1 tbsp cooked apples on the middle of blin, and roll blin into tube.
Grease baking sheet with butter, put rolled blinis on it, grease with butter upper sides of blin rolls, and sprinkle them with sugar.
Preheat oven to 390-400 F.
Place baking sheet in the oven for 5 minutes.

"Blinis" is just multiple of "blin".

Ingredients:

1 lb all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
3 eggs
1 tbsp butter
1 pack yeast
1 tbsp sugar
½ tsp salt

Method:

Warm up 1 cup milk (do not boil!), dissolve yeast in it, then add all the flour and knead the dough. Set in warm place for 1 hour.
Warm up one more cup of the milk. Add salt, sugar, egg yolks.
Blend well, and add the mix into raised dough. Blend all together, and let to stand.

Ingredients:

1 lb all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
3 eggs
1 tbsp butter
1 pack yeast
1 tbsp sugar
½ tsp salt

Method:

Warm up 1 cup milk (do not boil!), dissolve yeast in it, then add all the flour and knead the dough. Set in warm place for 1 hour.
Warm up one more cup of the milk. Add salt, sugar, egg yolks.
Blend well, and add the mix into raised dough. Blend all together, and let to stand.
Whip egg whites, and add them to a dough, blend, and cook blinis.
Blinis are not fried in fat like most foods. The purpose of the oil is to prevent sticking.
Heat the pan well, and pour in about 1 tbsp of blinis dough, then swirl about the pan until evenly spread across the bottom. After 1 minute, turn the blin over, cook again until light brown.
A blin has to be thin! If you get thick blinis, add warm milk into the dough, and blend.
Often, the first blin is thorn. Russians have a phrase, "The first blin is like a lump", or "You must spoil before you spin, practice makes perfect".
The next blinis come better after that.
Put the ready blinis on serving dish, stacked (traditionally, 1 serving is 10 blinis).
Serve with any sweet or non-sweet filling or dip.

For filling:

1/2 tsp butter
1 tbsp any caviar
1 tbsp sour cream
1 thin slice smoked steelhead fillet
1 anchovy
1 sprat

Cook simple yeast blinis by the previous recipe.
For the next, I will interpret for you a part of one of the Checkhov’s short tales:
"…At last, a cook with a plate of blinis appeared…
Simeon, with a risk of burning of his fingers, grabbed two of the top, hottest, blinis, and slapped them palatably on his own plate. The blinis were roasted, porous, and pudgy, like a merchant daughter’s shoulder.
Simeon smiled with pleasure, and sprinkled them with hot butter. After that, inflaming his appetite, and enjoying with the idea of their taste, he slowly, in order, greased them with caviar.
The spots, the caviar didn’t ingress, he covered with sour cream…
All that remained was to eat, didn’t? But no!
He looked at his handwork and left unsatisfied.
After short consideration, he put a thin fat slice of steelhead fillet, anchovy, and sprat on blinis, then, rolled up both blinis…"

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.