Traditional Belarusian food

Cookery Book

Belarusian dishes are typically based on local vegetables and cereals, especially: potatoes, beetroot, mushrooms, berries, barley. Potatoes deserve a special mention as they have formed the basis of many of the dishes of Belarus for hundreds of years.The following products are popular in Belarus:pork, pork sausages and salami (kolbasy), salted pork lard, beef, chicken, river fish such as trout, perch, carp, milk and dairy products as fresh cottage cheese (tvorog), sour cream (smetana), fermented cheese (siyr)

Pyachi

sty

It’s one of the oldest Belarusian meat dishes. But nowadays there is not any exact recipe how to make it. This dish is made of mutton. Take a big piece of mutton and bake it in the oven.

SOUP

Belarusian cuisine is known for rich soup, often dressed with sour cream, as well as cold soup refreshing for the hot summer periods.

HOLODNIK

INGREDIENTS

• 1 L WATER• 2 BEETROOTS• 1 CUCUMBER• 2 EGGS• A SMALL BUNDLE OF

GREEN SPRING ONION (SCALLION)

• 0.5 TEASPOON OF VINEGAR;

• • SALT, SUGAR AND SOUR CREAM TO TASTE

Instructions:Boil the beetroots and grate them. Then cover it with 1 l of cold (previously boiled and cooled) water. Add chopped cucumbers. Chop the scallion and mix it with a bit of salt and add to the beetroot mix. Add salt, sugar and vinegar. Mix well. You can either cut the egg and put it into the soup or when serving put into each plate a half hardboiled egg. Serve the Holodnik with sour cream.

JURJur is a very special unusual Belarusian soup. Its recipe goes back to the old traditional Belarusian cuisine. The basis of the soup is “oatmeal stock” that gives this soup a specific jelly texture and a specific sourish taste. There are several variants of this soup: Lenten, milk, meat jur. To cook jur you need first to prepare the basis.

“Tseja” Jur Basis

Take 150-200 g oatmeal flour (you can make it by grinding oatmeal flakes) and add it into 1 lt of warm previously boiled water. Store it in a non-metallic container in a warm place for 8-12 hours. It should get a sourish taste and pleasant smell. Strain it to get rid of any lumps or oatmeal flakes. Now you have the Jur basis (tseja)

0.5 lt Tseja (Jur basis); 1 lt water; 200 g meat mix (50 g ham + 50 pork sausage + 50 smoked brisket + 50 g of smoked pork loin or lard);1 onion; 2 turnips or rutabagas; 2 carrots;0.5 parsley root; 4 garlic cloves; 1 tablespoonful of dill

Chop the meat finely . Cut turnips and carrots into big chunks. Boil the meat together with chopped onion, turnips and carrots. When the vegetables are ready, strain the stock (take out the vegetables and meat) and add the Jur Basis. Boil them together, add salt, garlic grated with salt and finely chopped dill. Add the meat mix to the stock again. Serve the boiled vegetables separately with potatoes topped with melted butter or lard.

MEAT JUR

DRANIKIDraniki is a Belarusian well-known dish. These potato pancakes have been important food in Belarus since 1830. There are many different recipes, but potatoes is its main ingredient. Take about a kilo of potato, one onion, 2 eggs, 80 – 100 grams of flour, salt and pepper to taste. Peel and grate the potato and the onion into a large bowl. Add the other ingredients and mix well. Pour off the extra liquid or add a little bit more flour and mix well again. Then heat the oil in a frying pan till it is hot. Then take a tablespoon of the mixture and put it into the oil, pressing a little bit. The draniki need to fry for 3-4 minutes on each side till the potato is cooked through.We eat draniki with sour cream, bacon, butter, and machanka.

“Fritters potato in Minsk”

For this recipe you will need:

Potatoes - 12 pcs.

ground pork - 400g

vegetable oil - 3 tbspbutter - 2 tbspGarlic - 5 clovesherbs, pepper, salt - to taste

KOLDUNY

Ingredients:• 800 g potatoes; • 1 egg for potato mash and 1 egg for the filling; • 100 g flour; • 50 g butter; • 400 g ground beef; • 100 g onion; • 200 g Sour cream; • pepper; • salt.

Grate raw potatoes (to prevent from darkening you can add kefir), drain excess juice, add flour, 1 egg and mix.

Ground the meet together with onion and add egg, salt and pepper.

Make little pancakes from potato mass and put inside each some ground meet. Put into the oven with butter and brush with sour cream. Bake till they become brown golden.

Instructions

Pancakes

Ingredients:one egg2 glasses of

milk1,5 cup of flour1 teaspoon of

sugar4 tablespoons

of butterSalt

Instructions:Mix eggs, sugar, salt, flour and one glass of milk until the batter is smooth. Add the remaining milk and stir. Butter the frying pan and bake pancakes. It’s better to bake them on small frying pans.

“Dziady”

For this recipe you will need:

Egg yolks, sugar

Melted butter

Salt

Wheat flourYeast

Milk

Apple jamRaisinsDates

KisielKisiel, a popular dessert, consists of berries thickened with sugar and cornstarch. You can use any seasonal berries, although cranberries, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and gooseberries are the most traditional. The amount of sugar needed depends on how sweet your fruit is. Kisiel is wonderful over

vanilla ice cream.Strawberry Kisiel is easy to make and very tasty. The sweet dessert remains light and refreshing.

Ingredients:

1 lb fresh strawberries (or other seasonal berries)

4 cups water

4 Tbsp cornstarch

sugar to taste (between 1/2 and 1 cup is about right)

Instructions

1. Puree strawberries with sugar in a blender or food processor. Pour into a pot and heat over medium.

2. Meanwhile, add a little water to the cornstarch and combine, making a slurry.

3. Pour cornstarch slurry into the strawberry mixture and heat up, stirring frequently. When the mixture thickens into a pudding-like consistency, begin to pour in the water, a little at a time. Do not add more water until the previous addition is mixed in evenly or you’ll get lumps. Continue until all of the water is added. Check for sweetness one more time. Add extra sugar if desired.

4. Heat the mixture until a few bubbles pop to the surface. Leave on the heat for a minute longer and then remove.5. Ladle into serving bowls and cover with plastic wrap, pressing it up against the Kisiel (this prevents a skin from forming). Chill for at least an hour. Serve as is, or pour over vanilla ice cream.

Created by:Ann

RomanovskayaKate RisunovaKate Dyatlova

Kseniya Sosnovskaya

Teacher - Irina VolynetsSlonim

gymnasium 1Belarus