Russian Cuisine - Pancakes And Salads
Do you want to be a hit at your next dinner party? Why not step outside of your comfort zone and try out something totally new and exciting. International cuisine is great way to show off your cooking talents and today we are going to talk about some hot and cold Russian dishes that anyone can prepare.
Russian Blini – Hot 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. Russian is no different and the traditional hot pancake is called Blini.
Ingredients:
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)
What To Do:
Start by whisking the eggs in a bowl 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. Your batter should be fairly runny at this stage.
If you are using baking soda in your recipe, add it now to make the mixutre more light (i.e. it adds air to the batter). For the best result, cover your mixing bowl and leave your batter in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest. Take the batter out of fridge when you are ready to cook. If the mixture is too thick, add water or milk. If your batter is runny, add a small amount of flour.
Heat a pan over medium heat and lightly coat the cooking surface with oil or butter. Pour a couple of table spoons of the mixture onto the pan and spreak the mixture out evenly into small pancakes. 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. When bubbles appear in the center or it starts to look dry, flip it over to cook the other side.
Move the cook Blini to a plate and butter one side and stack them. Serve them by putting jam in the center and folding them. Fold them again to make a triangle. They are best enjoyed with hot black tea with lemon.
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 is gives us the Russian salad – a salad with some grunt. A typical salad is the Dressed Herring Under Fur Salad.
To make this salad you will need:
2 salted herring
5 potatoes
4 carrots
4 beets
5 eggs
1 lb mayonnaise
What To Do:
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 potatoes and mash. Spread the potato as the second layer and cover with mayonaise. Repeat the process for the beets and 3 of the eggs. Top the dish with the remaining egg and put in the fridge (covered) for one 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?
Tags: blini, russian food, russian recipes