Posts tagged w/ Russian food

Russian Food: «Слава гречке!» [Glory to Buckwheat!]

Posted by Josefina
Jun
26
2009

Introducing an essential part of Russian cuisine: «гречка»! «Гречка» is actually the ‘nickname’ («уменьшительно-ласкательный вариант» - don’t you just love the Russian language for applying diminutive even to such things as grains?) whereas the real name for buckwheat is «гречиха». In the stores you can also find it in boxes marked «крупа гречневая» [buckwheat] as pictured above.

Your first «гречка» experience is more often than not an unpleasant one. If you’ve never tasted «гречка» before in your life - and I hadn’t until September 2004 in Saint Petersburg - you’re bound not to like it the first time you try it. (There are also a slight number of people who fall in love with «гречка» at ‘first bite’ so to speak, let’s not forget about them but let’s also not focus too much on that tiny group of individuals.) After your first unpleasant experience with «гречка» there are two possible ways in which your relationship with it will progress. Scenario 1: you’ll smell it somewhere (it’s doesn’t matter if it is «в столовой» [in a dining hall] or «на кухне у русских друзей» [in your Russian friends' kitchen]) and suddenly feel an instant urge - despite better judgment since you didn’t like it the first time you had it - to try it once again. You try it again and then your love for «гречка» is a firm fact of reality. Scenario 2: you’ll tell the story of your first encounter with «гречка» to someone and explain to them in detail how you just don’t get what the big fuss is about. The other person - be it a kind «бабушка» selling «семечки» [sunflower seeds] on the street in downtown Krasnodar or a fellow ‘expat’ while dining at an expensive French restaurant on Red Square - will then take time out of their busy day to inform you of how good for your body «гречка» is, how healthy you’ll become after eating «гречка» on a regular basis, and that you’re very silly for not liking it straight away once it will only do you good and you should be thankful for being introduced to it in the first place. «Гречка» is not only great because it is tightly connected with our favorite country Russia - Russia, for example, is the world’s largest producer of «гречка» since 2005 (when they beat China to it!) - in many ways, both cultural and historical and «гречка» even kind of smells like Russia (at least to my nose); «гречка» also lowers cholesterol, helps clean the body from heavy metal ions and protects against cardiovascular illnesses. And here’s another reason why «гречка» is worth paying a tribute to today: because it takes a long time for the body to absorb and thus that means you’ll feel full for a really long time after eating «гречка» and feeling full is a great thing, don’t you agree?

Now the question that arises is: how to cook «гречка»? Well, there are lots of lots of ways to do it! The easiest way - and perhaps only available in Russia - is to buy the kind of «гречка» that comes pre-packed into small plastic bags of 100 grams ready made to cook for 15 minutes on medium heat.

The magical thing about «гречка» is that you can cook it for every meal of the day: «на завтрак» [for breakfast], «на обед» [for lunch] and «на ужин» [for dinner]. With «гречка» you can never go wrong no matter what time of the day it is! For example, for breakfast you can make «каша» from «гречка» by boiling it and then eating it with «молоко» [milk], perhaps adding a splash of «варенье» [jam] or some «корица» [cinnamon]. Or you could skip all of the above and have a real rough Russian country style breakfast with just adding «масло» [butter/oil] and «сол» [salt] and downing it with some «чай» [tea] - and save the «варенье» for your tea and you’ll have yourself a true classic meal to start the day! Having «гречневая каша» for breakfast is not only the ‘patriotic choice’ but also the healthy choice; plus it will keep you going strong and feeling full all the way until lunch!

For lunch or dinner you can boil or fry «гречка» and serve it in a way that the Russians call «гарнир» [garnish; trimmings] with whatever comes to mind - «мясо» [meat], «курица» [chicken], «рыба» [fish] or «овощи» [vegetables]. It really does go well with just about anything. The important thing when dealing with «гречка» is to keep an open mind and remember: «гречка - это не только полезно, но и дёшево» [buckwheat is not just healthy but also cheap]. Here in the Urals people are much simpler than in the European part of Russia - it’s not only my personal opinion, they say so themselves - and rather easy-going when it comes to food. For a person living in the Urals fried «гречка» is best served up plain «с майонезом» [with mayonnaise]. Do you wonder why? Yekaterinburg is largest consumer of mayonnaise per person in the world - once again, not my personal opinion but stated as a historical fact in the Guinness Book of World Records. To make your meal taste ‘more Russian’ the easy trick is to add «укроп» [dill] or «петрушка» [parsley]. Something that is really tasty is to fry onions with mushrooms, then add these two spices - use both for increased sense of the Motherland - and serve it together with «гречка», of course!

Here’s another serving suggestion - my favorite, as a matter of fact. Cook «гречка» and fry up some «рагу» [ragout; vegetable stew] - serve together with a few «маринованные огурцы» [pickled cucumbers]. You can also add a splash of the best ketchup I’ve ever tasted - «кетчуп русский с укропом» [Russian ketchup with dill]. Probably it’s only available in Russia! Anyway, it is a miracle and amazingly tasty!

I’m a really huge fan of Russian cuisine. And I think that many of you who read this blog are just like me when it comes to Russian food - that you also get weak in the knees when thinking of «блины», know your exact favorite kind of «огурчики» [pickles - now that's diminutive of cucumber for you!] and tell a homemade «оливье» [traditional Russian New Year's salat] from a store-bought one. That’s why I think we should have a couple of more posts about Russian food this summer. Don’t you agree? Well, writing this post has made me really hungry. I’m actually going to go cook me some «гречка» for lunch right now…

 
Posted under Culture, Soviet Union, The Russian Emotion, Traditions
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Russian food: «Белые грибы со сметаной» [‘White Mushrooms’ with Smetana]

Posted by Josefina
Mar
12
2009

This is no secret ad for Lay’s - just a humble declaration of appreciation (and deep love!) for one of their products: «Чипсы из натурального картофеля со вкусом белых грибов со сметаной» [chips made from natural potatoes with the taste of ‘white mushrooms' with smetana]. Ever since I first saw this baby in the store last year I knew it was meant for me - a huge lover of everything with mushrooms - also I had a hunch that it was a taste made especially for the Russian market. And after reading up on Lay’s on Wikipedia my hunch turned out to be right on the spot!

Chips arrived late in Russia, but it didn’t take long for the Russian people to take them both to their hearts and to that mysterious soul of theirs. I was not a fan of chips before I came to Russia, mostly because they’re sold in too big bags in my home country and I mostly saw them as a product of «коллективного потребления» ['collective consumption'] to serve as snacks at parties or movie nights attended by large or not so large crowds. But in Russia - the best country in the world at making packages of the exact right size («и этим же Россия должна славится!») - they’re sold in perfect packages of 30 gr., 85 gr. and 170 gr. (and no bigger, at least I haven’t seen those scary half kilo bags sold here in the Urals). The small pack fits one person just right as a snack, and the middle one is great for two people to share, whereas the big one is necessary when more people get together to drink vodka (as an example, just an example). The year 2009 has already seen the introduction of a new taste in Russia - «красная икра» [red caviar], but I’m still stuck on my old favorite «белые грибы со сметаной». If you’re ever in the mood for chips in Russia, and who isn’t from time to time?, you should definitely give them a try! But if you’re not quite convinced yet, then just read this little text that’s on the back of the bag (do note the photo of a sun-drenched forest with lush green grass on the right edge of it):

«Попробуйте новые хрустящие и удивительно вкусные чипсы Lay’s Белые грибы со сметаной. Они напоминают о походе за грибами всей компанией и дарят ощущение свежести утреннего леса, хорошее настроение лета и отдыха» [Try the new crunchy and surprisingly tasty Lay's chips White mushrooms with smetana. They bring back memories of going mushroom hunting in a group and give the feeling of morning forest freshness, the good mood of summer and rest.]

Everyone who has ever had the pleasure of experiencing «поход за грибами» [in a Soviet textbook I used back in 2004 this was translated as ‘mushroom hunting' and I like that English expression so much that I have stuck with it ever since] in July, August or September in Russia can probably already guess what these chips taste like. One of my most beautiful memories of summer in Russia is from August 2005, when I, some students and teachers from the university rented a bus and drove away early in the morning to pick mushrooms far away from town in the woods. We picked mushrooms, of course, but it wasn’t really the main interest we had as for why we went all the way out into the unknown wild Siberian landscape - we wanted «отдых» [rest]; laying in the grass in the shade of birch trees, picking flowers and braiding them into each other’s hair, talking about everything or nothing, and making a fire to cook tea and fry mushrooms as the afternoon came around…

 
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Everybody loves борщ [borscht]!

Posted by Josefina
Feb
7
2009

There comes a time in everybody’s life when you need to get a little Russia into your everyday existence. Especially if you’re not currently in Russia, but constantly finding yourself outside of the Russian Federation, and thus persistently living without interacting with Russian culture on a day to day basis. Particularly will you suddenly find yourself craving Russian food. This problem is, however, easy to solve. «А как?» [But how?] you might wonder, and the answer to that question is even easier than the solution - throw a Russian style dinner party! Once again the question «как?» arises, but worry not, dear readers, because today I will show you an uncomplicated trick and at the end of this post you will inevitably exclaim «вот так!» [like that!]. Call some close friends and invite them over for dinner, but tell them only that you plan on cooking «борщ» [borscht], nothing else. The rest will be a pleasant surprise, and - as I would like to call it - the shortest visa-less trip ever possible to the great Eastern Motherland! What you need to create that special Eastern European coziness in the comfort of your own home (kitchen, of course!) isn’t very much, and if you’ve got a Russian store in your neighborhood it is even less. I decided to throw my own Russian style dinner party on my last Saturday at home in Gothenburg, Sweden (I’m currently back in the Urals) and lucky for me, Gothenburg has a Russian store called «Бабушка» ['Grandmother'] where I could acquire the two essentials - «приправа для борща» [seasoning; flavoring for borscht] and «сметана» [Russian sour crème; ‘smetana']. The recipe I’m about to share with you is for vegetarian borscht, though real Russian borscht (or Ukrainian borscht, for that matter) is made with meat, as I am well aware of. But I’m a vegetarian, so this is the only way I cook it. Probably many of you have your own special way of preparing borscht, and the way I make is in no way the only ‘canonical’ way of making it. Yet I must take some pride because the borscht I make is to die for. «Обещаю!» [I promise!]

I bought two packages of «приправа для борща», one of them I used to make «бульон» [broth; consommé; bouillon] mixing it with one litre of boiling water. This I used as the ‘foundation’ for the soup; if you make it with meat, then you’ll use the water you cooked the meat in for this. When you make vegetarian borscht it is important to remember two things - to use more spices and more fat, which isn’t needed with meat, since there’s enough spice and fat in meat as it is.

This recipe is enough for six people to get two servings each (it is both Swedish and Russian custom to fill up your guests to the top). You’ll need «два или три большие картошки» [two or three big potatoes], «пятьсот граммов капусты» [500 grams of cabbage], «четыре или пять свёкл» [four beets] to start with.

The first thing to do is to cut «один лук» [one onion] and «четыре лодки чеснока» [four garlic ‘boats' - don't know the word for it in English, but you know what I mean!] into very fine small pieces and fry them in a big pot. I used over 1 decilitre of olive oil, and I don’t recommend using any less.

All the vegetables need to be cut into small squares, including «одна морковка» [one carrot] and as is the thumb rule in cooking Russian food - when you’re cutting things into tiny pieces, you know you’re on the right track! I would recommend slicing the cabbage with a ‘cheese slicer’ (as seen on the picture above next to the cabbage), though I know that’s an eccentric tool used primarily in Sweden. You could also chop it up with a knife, of course.

Then you put all of the ingredients into the pot, plus some more water, and let it boil for a little while, then putting down the heat and adding some more spices (like salt, pepper, «укроп» [dill] and «петрушка» [parsley] for example). Add about 2 decilitres of tomato paste to make it even fuller and ‘foodier’. Now the only thing left to do while the soup cooks - 30 minutes is minimum, but an hour or two only makes it even tastier - is to set the table. To create that exceptional Russian atmosphere in your own home all you really need to do is to set the table with a red tablecloth (I used a regular sheet for effect), a flag in the window, a couple of Russian books on the window sill, a knitted scarf over one chair, a Russian army jacket over another, a magnet with Medvedev and Russian modern art on the fridge, plus three glasses - for vodka, beer (or wine) and water. The vodka should be Russian, but the beer could be Czech or Polish, and the wine… anything red will do!

Of course there’s no real borscht experience without «сметана»! Start the meal by making a toast with ice-cold «водка» (put it in the freezer for an hour first) and then biting it off with some «огурчики» [salted cucumber]. A good choice for background music is the Russian Army Choir, which has made some excellent discs. The first song to play should of course be the Russian national anthem…

…and then your guests are ready to enjoy your borscht - but don’t forget the bread! It should be «серый или чёрный хлеб» ['grey' or 'black' bread; in other words whole-wheat], white bread in this context is a big no-no.

Incidentally, my dear mother also blogged about this our ‘borscht-experience’ - this is for those of your who are fluent in Swedish, or those who are just curious to see just what kind of outfits is appropriate for such a dinner party as the one suggested above.

 
Posted under Culture, Traditions
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