The End of This Blog

After I returned to the U.S. from Russia, I struggled to figure out how to continue this blog. While I wanted to continue to explore Russian food, I felt it would be difficult to commit to writing a blog about food from a country I no longer lived in.  I started a few different blogs but have had trouble keeping up with any of them.  I hope to start something new soon.

Tvorozhniki: Another Tvorog Creation

Since I bought 400 grams of tvorog the other day and am leaving for a trip this weekend, I have been eating a lot of tvorog this week. One of my favorite ways to eat it with simply with honey or cranberry jam and smetana drizzled over the top, but today I decided to try a new recipe: Tvorozhniki Po-Suzdalski (or Suzdal-Style Tvorozhniki). Suzdal is a historic city located about 20 miles north-east of Moscow.

The photo of tvorozhniki in my Russian cookbook shows a bowl of white amorphous balls of tvorog that look sticky and are sitting in a small amount of water. It didn't look the most appealing, but the recipe sounded easy, so I thought I would give it a try. The end result was a little different than the picture in the book and different than I expected, but I enjoyed it.

Tvorozhniki Po-Suzdalski (Suzdal-Style Tvorozhniki)
Makes 1-2 servings

100 grams tvorog
1 egg
Flour (up to 5 teaspoons)
Pinch of salt
Honey and sour cream for drizzling on before serving

Thoroughly mix tvorog, a pinch of salt, and one egg. It will form a very wet dough. Add flour by the teaspoon to thicken . I mixed in 4 heaping teaspoons, until the dough reached the consistency of oatmeal (see pictures below).













Bring a pot of water to a boil and add a small amount of vegetable oil. Drop large spoonfuls of the tvorog dough into boiling water. When they rise to the top, remove them with a slotted spoon and put them on a plate. There will likely be small chunks of tvorog that escape, and you can add those to the plate as well. (They taste just as good as the larger chunks!) When all have been cooked, drizzle with honey and sour cream and enjoy.













The picture on the left is my final product. It is somewhat difficult to see, but there are several masses of tvorozhniki on the plate. Unlike the picture in my cookbook, I had many small chunks rather than large round masses. To get larger masses that stick together, you probably need to add a little more flour to the dough.

Nonetheless, my tvorozhniki tasted quite good. They were the consistency of very soft scrambled eggs and even tasted a little like them, but with a sweet tvorog flavor. Paired with honey and sour cream, they made for a warm, soft and slightly sweet brunch!

Tvorog & Syrniki

Tvorog is one of the most interesting and, in my opinion, delicious Russian dairy products. It is literally "curd cheese," and is often translated as "cottage cheese," but it is very different from American cottage cheese. As you can see in the picture on the left, it looks like curds of cheese but can also be pressed together in a more solid block that slightly resembles cream cheese. It is slightly chewy but generally soft and a little sweet. It comes in several different versions. The one in the front of this picture is "skim," while the one in the back is "rich" (whole-milk). You can also buy it with raisins, apricots, and other dried fruits mixed in.

You can do any number of things with tvorog, from eating it straight or with sugar to putting it inside bliny (crepe-style pancakes) to baking it into cakes. You can also make "syrniki," which are patties of tvorog that are fried and usually topped with sour cream and jam or honey. I have tried these several times, having purchased them in premade from from the grocery store and reheated them, but today I decided to try to make my own.

I have two Russian cuisince cookbooks -- one in English that is aimed at foreigners and one in Russian aimed at Russians. I tried the recipe in the Russian version and have listed it below with recommendations. The syrniki turned out well, and I highly recommend the recipe.

Syrniki

Makes 6 medium-sized patties

200 grams (about a cup) tvorog

1 cup flour

1 to 1.5 TBSP sugar

1 egg

Salt to taste (about 1/2 tsp)

Oil for frying

Mix tvorog, flour, sugar, egg (beaten), and salt in a bowl. Form small balls with the dough by rolling it in your hands. Then smash these balls so that they form flat patties. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Put two patties into the skillet at a time and fry on each side. When golden, remove and keep warm until all are prepared. Top with sour cream and honey or jam.

When I made mine, I added a little too much flour, and they tasted slightly too doughy, so I recommend starting with 3/4 cup of flour and working your way up to a full cup, possibly adding more if necessary. I also recommend not skimping on the salt. For me, this addition really makes or breaks the overall flavor.

There are some reicpes that call mixing in grated carrots, apples, and raisins, which would also be delicious.

If you are in the States, you can often find tvorog for sale at Russian and European grocery stores, and I hear you can make it yourself, but I don't have an exact recipe. I'll work on finding one and try it when I get back to the U.S. The biggest challenge in the U.S. is that most milk is pasteurized, which makes it hard to make your own curd cheese.

Kalmyk Tea

Several weeks ago I visited the city of Elista, capital of the semi-autonomous Kalmyk Republic in south-western Russia. The Kalmyks are a Mongolic people and were historically Buddhist. They have a fascinating and sometimes tragic history (including deportation under Stalin's rule) that is far too long for me to elaborate on here, but I highly recommend reading more about the Kalmyks.

Although today most Kalmyks speak Russian and have adopted many Russian traditions, they have also retained many of their own. Traditional Kalmyk food is one arena where this can be seen. In Elista, I tried several Kalmyk dishes, but the one that intrigued me most was Kalmyk tea (Kalmytskiy chay). This is a black tea made with milk, butter, and salt. It was clearly developed for a nomadic people -- the salt was probably used to keep the tea from freezing in cold temperatures (and maybe for preservation?), and the butter and milk make it nourishing.

I found Kalmyk tea to be a real "comfort food." I can best describe it with the words warmth and nourishment. It's great when you feel tired, hungry, and cold. After I drank it, I felt like a had a stomach full of rich, warm calories that stuck with me for hours! I have to admit, however, that the predominate taste for me was butter, so it was a little like drinking a cup of butter.

Today I decided to try to make my own Kalmyk tea. I found a few recipes online. This is a good one for English speakers, and this one and this one are in Russian. They suggest that you might add nutmeg or bay leaves, which might give the tea a deeper flavor, but the version I have tried had neither of these, so I made mine without it.

The recipes give directions for making a large amount of tea, and I only wanted one cup, so I modified them a little, and my version turned out very close to the original. It is remarkably easy to make, and I highly recommend giving it a try.

Kalmyk Tea

Makes one teacup

1 cup water

1/4 cup milk (I recommend not using skim milk)

1 black tea bag (or loose tea -- this is the more authenitc way to make it)

1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter

1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Pour the water into a tea kettle or saucepan and bring to a boil. When the water comes to a boil, add the tea bag or tea leaves. Boil for 2-3 minutes. Remove leaves or bag and turn heat down to low.

2. Add milk, butter, and salt. Heat until butter has melted. (If you want to try it with nutmeg, add some here.)

3. Pour into a cup and enjoy!

I think I added closer to 3/4 tablespoon of butter when I made it, and the taste was a little overwhelming. Aim for 1/2, and if even that seems like too much for your Western obsession with low-fat, start with 1/4 tablespoon and then taste the tea with a spoon while it's over the heat and add more to taste. Enjoy!