Russia: Borscht and Pelmeni

Привет!

This time we're in Russia. I present to you two of the most famous traditional Russian foods there are, borscht and pelmeni. Borscht is a vegetarian beetroot soup, often served as an appetizer, with sour cream (also known as smetana) There are different forms of borscht. The differences between the variations include the serving temperature. The traditional Russian version is served hot, but many countries such as Poland, Ukraine and Lithuania have their own cold variants of the soup. The Lithuanian variant of Borscht, Šaltibarščiai, is sometimes also referred to as Lithuanian Gatorade because it's highly nutritious and helps revive athletes. But as mentioned, this post features the Russian version.

Pelmeni is one kind of a dumpling, which reminds ravioli. It is most often filled with meat, but basically only imagination is the limit of what you can use as ingredients, which makes it very easy to turn this food vegetarian. Vegan it is not, since the dough contains eggs. I even read that some restaurants in Saint Petersburg offer fruit filled versions. There are many ways to serve these dumplings in Russia, but I think the most popular ways are either with smetana (alike to borscht), or with tomato sauce. The small amount I know about Russian cuisine is that they love to put smetana in a lot of places, which at least I can relate to since it tastes really good. Pelmeni has also been spread around the neighboring countries of Russia, and so exists under many names in a bit different versions, just like borscht.

Now that we're finished with the brief introduction, it's time for the real deal; The methods.

Borscht

With this recipe I would like to emphasize, (though this is the case with pretty much every food in the world) that there as many different versions of the recipe as there are people making this food. This is my version of it, but if you prefer it to be made in some other way, please share in the comments so everyone can choose the method of their liking.

Water
Onion
Garlic clove
Salt
Potatoes
Carrots
Beetroots
To Serve: Smetana

I can't really say any specific amounts. Just consider the amount of people at the table and whether this will be the appetizer or the main course.

Pour water in the pot and start heating it up. Peel an onion and a garlic clove and put them in the water among with salt. This will create the vegetable broth for the soup. Meanwhile, peel and cut potatoes, and when the water is boiling, add them in. Potatoes are added first because the cook the slowest. Next, peel and cut (or alternatively you can grate) the carrots and add them in the soup. Lastly, peel and cut (or grate) the beetroots and add them also. Let boil on medium heat until the vegetables are well cooked. When the soup is done, you may remove the garlic clove and the onion which have done their job in giving out taste for the soup. Serve hot with smetana.

Pelmeni (for 3 people, or 2 very hungry ones)

Shell

2,25 dl Wheatflour

1 Egg

1 dl Water

Salt

Filling

Onion

~400g minced meat (or whatever you want... I used minced horse beef)

Pepper

Salt

Garlic

For cooking either water or meat/vegetable broth

Shell is easy. Just mix the ingredients together to make a dense dough, and put it in the fridge for about half an hour or for the time you prepare the filling. For the filling you just fry the onion and add the meat and seasoning and fry until done. Let the filling cool down as you work with the cold dough. First you roll it out on a floured surface, until maybe 3 mm thick. Next you cut out circles from the dough. I used a big coffee mug for this with the diameter of ~8 cm. The following step is to put a spoonful of the filling on each circle and fold it. It took me a while to realize how they are folded (and you can do it in many ways) but for example this page features one way. 

When they're all folded you start to feel sorry for the old Russian Babushka's who always did this by hand instead of being able to just walk to the store and buy a kilo of frozen ones when needed, it is time to start cooking them. As mentioned, you can use either water or broth for this. Just put the liquid in a wide pan and bring it to a boil. Then add the pelmenis and leave boiling for maybe 10-20 minutes, depending on the size. In some recipes they also cook the pelmenis in the oven until golden brown. 

Serve with smetana or tomato sauce, though you can also use your imagination. At least in Lithuania they serve this kind of dumplings with either mushroom sauce (very yummie) or they put the portion in the oven with cheese on top until the cheese has melted, which isn't bad at all either. 

Mexico: Tortillas

Hello fellow food lovers!

I love tortillas and I eat them relatively often, because they are quick to do and can be made so different every time. There are absolutely no limits in what you can wrap inside them. What made my tortillas different from usual this time? Well, me and my boyfriend decided to make even the flatbread by ourselves. I have never tried to do it before, but since I eat them so often I've felt obliged to try it at least once. Surprisingly, the difference was astonishing. The fresh, warm bread baked on a cast iron pan was so much tastier than the hard and chewy ones you can buy from the store wrapped in plastic. And they weren't even complicated to do. Usually if something is not complicated in cooking, it means that there are long waiting times, but it wasn't like that either. The dough must only rest for 10 minutes or so. One more thing which has to be mentioned is the lovely smell of fresh bread which floats around the kitchen long after... Did I already manage to talk you into trying it? I hope so, because here's the recipe!

Tortilla Flatbread

5,5 dl Flour (I used 5 dl of wheat flour, and ½ dl of wholegrain Spelt flour (self-ground))
~1 tsp Salt
~1 tsp Baking powder
½ dl Olive Oil (I also ran into recipes which used vegetable shortener or lard, but since neither is available in my local stores, I decided to go with this version)
2 dl Water

Just mix the flour, salt and baking powder together in a bowl, then measure the liquids and add them in. Knead the ingredients to make an even dough. Pour the dough on a floured surface and form it into a rod. Divide the rod into ten pieces and roll them into balls. Let the balls of dough rest for ten-ish minutes. You can use that time for preparing the fillings for your tortillas, for example. When the time has passed, use a rolling pin to roll them out to make circular "pancakes". Heat up a cast-iron pan on a stove, but don't use any oil or butter anymore. You're supposed to bake the bread on a dry, hot surface. Keep the stove on medium-high temperature. When it is hot, bake the "pancakes" one at a time. 30 seconds per side should be enough, but you'll know the right time by observing the down side of the bread. When some brown spots start to appear, you may turn it.

I recommend you to enjoy them fresh and warm! But if some will be left over, you can turn them into a healthier version of tortilla chips by toasting them in the oven until crispy. Or then you can do it like we did, because there was one left over tortilla and we forgot it on the table, and the next day it was already pretty hard and tasted just like unsalted tortilla chips. This proves that you must never be afraid of failure in the kitchen because who knows, it might lead to some awesome discoveries!

Fillings are completely up to your imagination. Our tortillas were filled with salad composed of crispy ice-salad, tomatoes, cucumber and mandarin pieces, accompanied with fried and seasoned minced chicken meat, and self made (sour cream-based) salad dressing. Later in the evening the salad dressing also worked as dip for the chips. Note, that this meal can be made fully vegan.

Chinese style

Hello everyone!

Today is my birthday and I wanted to something I've never done before, but which would be very quick and simple to do. I was walking in a store and suddenly realized, as weird as it sounds, I have never made Chinese food. I saw it as a fun experiment, and based on my impressions on what Chinese food is like (I never really ate it in a restaurant even), this is what I ended up with (also with some help from my boyfriend, who is more familiar with the subject). 

Egg rice

Chicken stock

Salt

Rice 

Curry

Eggs (I used 2,5 dl of raw rice, and used 4 small eggs)

First bring water to the boil, the amount depending on the type of rice you're making. When the water is heating up, add chicken stock and salt. When it boils, add the rice and some curry. The seasoning will be absorbed by the rice and so it won't be as "boring" as plain rice with just salt. It will also bring some color to it. 

When the rice is done, move it aside. Heat up a frying pan and break the eggs on it, and scramble the eggs. The way you would do your scrambled eggs for breakfast. Then just mix the scrambled eggs with the rice. It sounded pretty interesting to me at first, but thought I'd give it a go and I wasn't disappointed. It was pretty good, the only problem was that I didn't use enough salt, but with proper seasoning, it tastes really delicious. 

Pork strips

Pork strips

Chinese soy sauce

Salt 

Pepper 

Ginger 

Okay, I kept this really simple, but the taste was gorgeous! So what I did, was just to fry the pork strips on a frying pan, adding the seasoning. I recommend you to use a lid on the pan, because the liquid from the meat makes a really nice a really nice sauce.

With the rice and pork I served Chinese work vegetables. I am ashamed to admit that I used simple frozen wok mix and put it on a pan... But sometimes time just doesn't allow you to do everything you'd want to. I have to say that it decreased the culinary pleasure of the meal.

Here in the end I would like to add a picture of a cake my boyfriend baked for me for my birthday, simply because it both looks and tastes really good, and is just very adorable.

Finland sweet Finland

I thought that a casual start for an international food blog, would be to start with my own country. These recipes might not be originally from Finland, but are made mainly from organic Finnish ingredients. The apples are picked by my mother from our garden, and the mushrooms I've picked with her from a nearby forest (in Finland, the forest is always near, no matter where you are). In this country, it is legal to just go pick berries and mushrooms as much as you can carry from any forest, no matter whose it is. I'd be interested in knowing whether anywhere would be any restricting laws for it?

But to get to the point, here's what it takes to complete these foods. (I must apologize for the quality of images, I was very hungry which leaves no time for taking good photos...)

Forest mushroom pasta 

The sauce
1 Onion
1-2 Garlic cloves
4-5 dl Mushrooms (I used Cortinarius caperatus, which, according to Wikipedia, is commonly known as the gypsy mushroom) (in Finnish it's just kehnäsieni)
Pepper
Salt
Ginger
Fresh mint
2 dl Cream
1 tbsp Ketchup/tomato sauce
1 tbsp Chinese Soy sauce
½ - 1 tbsp flour

First you chop finely the garlic and the onion, and cook on a pan until the onions get the nice transparency. Then you add the fine chopped mushrooms and season with pepper, salt, ginger and finely chopped fresh mint. Afterwards you add the cream, and if you like, some tomato sauce and Chinese soy sauce for the rich flavor. Let it season under a lid and start cooking the pasta. When the pasta is done, so is the sauce. If the sauce appears too runny, you can add some flour as mentioned in the recipe. Pour the water away from pasta and add it to the sauce. Stir and enjoy!

When you eat this you can't even realize there isn't any meat, the mushrooms
are so filling and rich with taste!

Fun Fact: Did you know, that mushrooms have a really high nutritional value? Some mushrooms can even reach the level of meat, and that's why it is a recommended ingredient especially for vegetarians and vegans.

Grandma's apple pie 

This is a modification of a recipe which here in Finland goes under the name "Mamman marjapiirakka" (=Grandma's berrypie). The only difference is that instead of berries, apples are used. You may of course use any berries or fruits that come into your mind. Note, that in this recipe, the more acidic the fruits are the better, because the sour cream neutralizes it. 

Crust

100g soft butter

1 dl sugar 

1 egg

1½ dl wheat flour 

1 dl wholegrain Spelt flour (May be hard to find but basically any wholegrain flour is enough to give the crust a bit of extra flavor instead of just the plain old white flour. In case you've never heard of Spelt here's a Wikipedia link to you about it)
baking powder

Filling 
4-5 dl of chopped apples
400 g sour cream
2 eggs
1 dl sugar
1 tsp vanilla sugar

Start by making the crust. First mix the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer, then add the egg and keep mixing until smooth. Mix the flours and baking powder together in another cup and pour in the dough. Mix again until smooth. Next you should take a pie mold and butter the base and edges to make it easier to remove the pie from the mold. Pour the dough in the mold and press on the edges to make an even crust.
Pour the chopped apples in the crust.

Sorry for the poor image, the point is that the pie had
already been mostly eaten when the picture was taken,
with only this piece left..

To make the filling, just whisk the sour cream, eggs and sugars together and pour evenly on the apples.
Bake in oven for ~30 minutes in about 200 C. It should be noted that the pie should not be eaten straight away as it comes from the oven (as I always do, because I'm always hungry) but it should be let to cool down so that the filling can have time to stiffen up. When it's too warm it's too runny. Enjoy as such or with ice cream.