As an Anglo Russian, I started 2015 with the excuse to prolong the festive period by observing Orthodox Christmas - 7th January - in my own unorthodox style.This is a great opportunity to gather loved ones together to savour the culinary delights of the land where east meets west.
Like many other eastern cultures, vegetarianism is not a popular concept (‘You don’t eat meat? No problem, we have chicken!’) in many Russian households but I made sure that my celebratory spread had plenty of options for non-meat eaters. The following menu, that I created for my evening, shows the diversity of Russian cuisine and caters for a variety of tastes and dietary requirements with no compromise on deliciousness. It’s also a menu that works well for busy lifestyles - who has time for endless dicing and chopping?
A popular salad that can be found in food markets in Russia, but can easily be recreated at home, is Korean Carrot. Graters designed especially for this salad are available to create the perfect rounded carrot strips but a regular grater is fine to use. The grated carrot is mixed with oil (I used vegetable oil), white vinegar, ground or crushed coriander seeds, black pepper, cayenne pepper and sugar or honey to balance the sharp ingredients. Ready made spice mix for Korean Carrot is available in some eastern European shops (such as Kalinka on Queensway, London) if you’re in a hurry. Korean Carrot tastes best after a day of marinating and makes a refreshing left over for the day after the night before and is a great addition to a packed lunch.
Another favourite salad that is always a success at parties is Olivier, known in the west as Russian Salad. All super finely chopped (a skill I’m still learning to master) are boiled potatoes, gherkins, hard boiled eggs and meat such as ham or beef (traditional but entirely optional - I usually make mine veggie) mixed with mayonnaise and petit pois.
One of the most filling, versatile and healthiest ingredients in the Russian diet is buckwheat which can be found in health food shops as well as eastern European ones. As a child I often had this with hot milk and dried fruit for breakfast. Buckwheat is cooked, like rice, with boiling water. For a side dish I mixed in fried onion and plenty of mixed fresh mushrooms into the buckwheat. Dried mushrooms including porcini work beautifully but when you don’t have time for soaking then a combination of fresh chestnut, white and shitaake are equally effective.
Pelmeni, meat dumplings usually with a combination of pork and beef, are the ultimate in easy comfort food. Straight from the freezer, into boiling water and ready in approx 7 minutes after the dumplings have risen to the top. This is my go-to meal when I have a lazy evening. There are different types of pelmeni to choose from in shops and my personal favourite is Sibirskie. In contrast to my convenience approach, my grandmother used to make pelmeni from scratch using a mincer and a specialist cutting mould for the pastry which would pop out dozens of dumplings ready to store in the freezer. Pelmeni is usually served with sour cream and/or vinegar.
No Russian feast would be complete without herring. Usually a starter to accompany the first of many vodkas, I broke with tradition and served the herring with the rest of the dishes. Herring can be bought pre-packed and marinaded in oil from all good eastern European shops. I usually serve herring in a long serving dish garnished with sliced red onion.
The ultimate bread for a Russian feast is dark rye. Borodinsky is a favourite with it’s lightly spiced topping of coriander seeds but other bread such as Lithuanian is highly recommended. UK-based Amber Bakery produce some of the finest dark rye breads using traditional methods. Butter is unnecessary with dark rye bread but a layer of hot horseradish on top works a treat.
And, of course, there’s vodka. A decent vodka (unlike the only-barely-drinkable-in-cocktails Smirnoff) does not need to cost a fortune - try Lidl’s Putinoff. With all my celebrations, eastern or western, sparkling wine is a must. As a student in the Soviet Union my mother drank “Northern Lights” - vodka topped with sparkling wine, most likely Sovetskoye Shampanskoye (Soviet Champagne). Now that’s a cocktail to suit all special occasions! На здоровье!*
*Cheers!
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