My Favorite Russian Recipes

I am back home now and have truly been procrastinating with adding the actual recipes of some of the favorite dishes we ate. But, now I am here and I will do my best to tantalize your taste buds. The recipes I plan to give you are for the following: Potato Salad, Garlic Pecan spread for cucumbers and tomatoes, Crab salad, Borsch, Fruit salad the Russian way, Vinaigrette, Pickled Tomatoes, and my favorite of all, Plov. As I reflect upon the opportunity I had to work in a Russian kitchen, I am reminded that my friends were our cup bearers. Before anything was served to us, whether it was fresh vegetables, or a hot item, they would try a piece, or sample with a spoon. They did not want us to eat anything that was not good.



1. Potato Salad

Ingredients: Potatoes, carrots, peas, sweet pickles, sausage( ham is good), and mayonnaise. All you need to do is cook the potatoes, and dice them very small so the potato cannot be cooked until it is mushy or too soft. Dice the carrots very small, dice the sweet pickles, dice your sausage and I do think ham or even polish sausage will work, and add a can of peas. In a separate bowl, mix your mayonnaise until it is smooth and add a little bit of sugar just until it is a bit sweet. Instead of sugar, you could add some sweet pickle juice. Then mix the dressing with the rest of the ingredients and you have a wonderful potato salad. I think the difference with this salad is the time they took to carefully dice all of the ingredients and the love that they put into each thing they make. They cook with passion.



2. Garlic Pecan Spread

Ingredients: 2 or 3 cloves of fresh garlic, 1 cup of pecans, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper.

In a food processor, chop the garlic and the pecans until they are pretty fine. Put this mixture into a bowl and add the mayonnaise and the salt and pepper, tasting until it is just right. Spread this onto cucumbers, and tomato slices. It is wonderful and refreshing.



3. Crab Salad

Ingredients: 4 or 5 packages of imitation crab meat, 1 dozen eggs (hard boiled), 2 cans of sweet corn, mayonnaise, salt, pepper, sugar. Dice the crab meat into small squares, dice the hard boiled eggs, and then drain and add the cans of corn. Mix crab, egg, and corn in a large mixing bowl. Mix mayonnaise, salt, pepper, and sugar together. All is done to taste. Some prefer less sweetness, or less salt, or pepper. It is up to the cook. Mix mayonnaise with the other ingredients, and you have a wonderful salad that can be eaten plain or on bread.



4. Borsch

Ingredients: 2 to 3 pounds of beef(stew meat, roast, round steak), 2 to 3 small onions cut into strips, 2 to 3 carrots diced, 1 head of cabbage shredded, 4 small potatoes julienned,2 tomatoes peeled and pureed, 1 tsp vinegar, salt and pepper to taste, 2 to 3 beets cooked and julienned, lemon, garlic and sour cream.



Cut meat up into chunks, put in a large kettle, cover with 3 liters of cold water. Bring to boil, reduce heat, remove the grease and froth from the broth surface with a spoon. Cook for 1 1/2 hours until meat is tender. In the meantime wash, and cook beets in a pot of salted water. When they are tender, remove and set aside. When the meat is tender, add chopped or julienned onions, carrots, and shredded cabbage. Simmer until the vegetables are tender. Salt everything as you go along and taste. Then, add potatoes, which are cut into little sticks, keep at a small boil until tender. Add tomato puree, and salt now to a good taste. Add grated beets, vinegar ( 1 tsp.), lemon squeezed from a fresh lemon, and crushed garlic. Heat through, serve in bowls and top with a spoonful of sour cream.

5. Fruit Salad
Ingredients: 2 fresh apples, 1 fresh pineapple peeled and cut into squares, 2 oranges dissected and cut into pieces, 4 bananas peeled and sliced, and any other fruit of your liking. Cut up the fruit. Sprinkle lemon juice on the apples and bananas to prevent browning. Mix together in a bowl, and for the dressing use a yogurt of your choice. We used peach and strawberry yogurts. If the fruit is not sweet enough, add some sugar. Toss to coat and chill. It is so delightful.

6. Vinaigrette
Ingredients: I will write this recipe as I received on email translated from Russian to English. The Recipe Vinegrete: It is necessary to cut a cooked potato, cooked carrots, a pickle, an onions, at desire it is possible to put a green peas. In last turn to grate cooked beet. To fill with vegetable oil and to add salt and pepper. Masha also squeezed some fresh lemon on top. Enjoy. Raw onion is optional.

Pickled Tomatoes
I found the recipe for pickled tomatoes online that we had in Russia. These were so sweet and delicious with the plov that we ate. The plov recipe will follow.
Ingredients: 2 kg average tomatoes, 1 liter water, 1 tablespoon salt, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1/3 cup vinegar 9% acidity, 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, carrot tops, dill, garlic cloves.

In a clean, sterilized gallon jar, put the tops from the carrots, some dill, and some cloves of garlic. Then put the tomatoes up to the top. Sterilize the top to the jar in boiling water for 15 minutes. In the 1 liter of water, add the sugar and the salt and boil it. After boiling, add vinegar and let liquid boil for 5 minutes. Pour hot liquid into the jar to the brim. Close the jar and turn the jar upside down to check for leaking. Put someplace covered with a blanket and leave for 4 to 6 hours. After that if the jars are still warm, let them cool down. Then place them in a cool place such a refrigerator or a cellar and keep for months. I thought this was one of the best things I ate.

7. Plov
Ingredients: oil, meat, 5 carrots, 4 small onions, 2 heads of garlic, 2 cups rice, 2 cups water, salt, pepper, cumin seeds, barberries, saffron powder or turmeric, coriander seeds.

Heat oil. Masha put the oil in the bottom of her heavy pot about 1 1/2 inches in depth. She added a wooden match stick. When the match ignited it was her way of knowing the oil was to the correct temperature. Remove the match stick. Add the onion, cook until tender. Add the chicken or meat of choice which has been cut up and cook until the meat is browned and about half way cooked. Add the julienned carrots, salt, and pepper and other spices, including the saffron or turmeric and stew. Now, Masha opened each small bag of rice, dumped it on the table, and sorted the rice for any bad pieces. This is very time consuming but a precious thing for her to do. After sorting the rice, she washed it under running water and then put it evenly on the layer of meat. Add boiling water to where the water is about 2 cm above the rice. Cover and do not stir, cooking at a low heat for about an hour. Now add two whole heads of garlic. Only take the outer skin off, but do not break into cloves. Bury it in the rice and let it cook for 15 to 20 more minutes on very low heat. Now stir and serve.

Please know that these recipes are put together from conversations I had with my friend who speaks little English. It was hard to understand everything so I would recommend if you want more precise recipes, search for these recipes under Russian Recipes on Google. Most, if not all of what we ate there is found on the internet. If you have any questions or if any of my friends from church want to get together for a Russian meal, please let me know. It would be great. In another post I will put a small entry on how to make pig fat. So good.

I did not ever lack while I was in Russia. God provided each and every day more than we could have ever asked for. I thank the Lord with a more sincere heart after taking this trip.