French Folding

Russian Recipies – Pancakes And Salads

What are you planning to cook at your next family get together?  Why not step outside your comfort zone and try something totally new and exciting.  International dishes are a great way to show off your talents in the kitchen so today we are going to share with you some hot and cold Russian recipes that anyone can master.

Blini – Traditional Russian Pancakes

The French might have invented the crepe but it does not mean other countries don’t have their own version they think is better.  Russia is no different and they have the Blini:

To make Blini you will need:

½ cup plain flour (sifted)

2 eggs

2 ½ cups of milk

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon butter

1/3 teaspoon of baking soda (optional if you want a lighter mixture)

Break the eggs into a bowl and whisk with the sugar and salt.  Combine with the flower and stir in the milk (if mixing by hand add the milk in slowly to avoid lumps).  Mix by hand or with a food processor to a smooth consistency.   You should have a thin batter at this stage.

Optional – Add the baking soda to make the mixture more light (porous).  For the best result, cover your mixing bowl and leave your batter in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.  If the mixture is too thick, add water/milk.  If your batter is runny, add a small amount of flour. 

Start cooking the pancakes by warming a non-stick pan over a medium heat.  Coat the pan with a light cooking oil or butter (though butter does give a better tasting pancake, it just depends on how fattening you want them to be).  Pour about 2 tablespoons of the batter (or more if you want) onto the pan and spread the batter out evenly.  Traditional blini are thin but this is personal preference.  You should be able to fit 3 or 4 on a standard frying pan to make the process go faster.  Each side should only take about a minute.  When bubbles appear in the mixture or the centre of the uncooked side is dry, flip it over to finish it off.

Move the cook Blini to a plate and butter one side and stack them.  Eat them as they are or as a real treat, put jam into the centre and fold them in half.  Fold them again to make a triangle.  They are best enjoyed as an afternoon treat on a cold winter’s day with a nice cup of tea.  The tea should be black, no sugar and served with lemon.  You can sweeten the tea with honey, but there will be plenty of sweetness in the blini.

Russian Salads

If you want to prepare a Russian salad, then forget about tossed lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber.  Russia is a cold country where energy packed root vegetables such as potato fill the dinner plate.  This is a country where an avocado or banana costs more than a bottle of vodka because all tropical fruits have to be imported.

This gives us a traditional Russian salad – a salad with some bite.  A typical salad is the Dressed Herring Under Fur Salad.

To make this salad you will need:

2 herring (salted)

5 potatoes

4 carrots

4 beets

5 eggs

1 lb mayonnaise

Bring a large pot of water to the boil and add the potatoes, carrots and beets.  Boil until soft, drain and set aside.

Skin and debone the herring.  Dice the fish into small cubes about half an inch wide.  Take a large serving bowl and spread the herring on the bottom.  Cover with a thin layer of mayonnaise.

Take the pototoes and mash them.  Do no add butter or milk to the mash.  Spread the potato as the next layer and cover with a thin layer of moyonaise.  Repeat the process for the beets and 3 of the eggs.  Finish the with slices of the 2 remaining eggs.  Cover the bowl and put in the fridge for an hour before serving.

What else can you cook that is Russian?  Why not try some a href=”http://www.hotrussian.net/russian-food-borsch.html”>Borsch as well?

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