While in St. Petersburg we had the opportunity to take a cooking class. We learned how to make traditional Russian pancakes- блины, and dumplings- пельмени, these usually have meat- pork, veal, and beef, but for vegetarians we made вереники, which were filled with potatoes and onions. Блины are typically served with either sweat toppings like cottage cheese and jam or savory toppings like cabbage and eggs. Блины are also are a very common food in Russia. Tea, чай, was served and is commonly served as well.
Our mountain of блины
блины cooking
I find great comfort in cooking and had so much fun learning about Russian traditional food and culture. Food brings people together no matter where you are or where you are from and I had so much fun with my classmates learning how to cook some Russian food. I had some previous perceptions about Russian food. Mainly that there’d be a lot of pickles, cabbage and beets. In reality yes there are the previously mentioned foods but a lot of other things- sour cream, dill, potatoes and more. I honestly didn’t have high expectations. I actually really liked some Russian food. There are Russian doughnuts (пышки), and rolls filled with cabbage and others with mashed potatoes- if that doesn’t sound good I don’t know what does. Borscht (борщ) a traditional beet soup is delicious and can easily be made at home and vegetarian. Russian food gets a bad rap- but if you try it you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Below is a recipe for блины that is easy and delicious for everyone to try.
I guess that my point is where ever you go- even if the food is far from familiar you can always expirence another culture’s food and traditions and learn from it/them. You may not like everything but you’ll learn more about the people and customs. It is important to not look at everything through your own culture’s point of view- nothing is “better” or ” worse” it simply is. Each culture has their own customs, traditions, or habits. Through looking at it this way you can question your own culture and why you do the things that you do. Further you can expand your mind and learn about another way of life- one that you can learn and adapt from. For example Russians often toast before drinking and often don’t wear shoes inside- instead they wear slippers known as тапочки.
Russia was a truly interesting place and I found that making and eating Russian food opened another window into their culture.
Here you can see us making пельмени and блины:
A basic very casual recipe for блины:
one cup/glass of flour
one egg
** tip from our instructor: crack the egg into a small bowl first, that way you can check that the egg is good ( if its not and you cracked it into the batter you’d have to start again:( ) and that way you can easily remove egg shells too.
a good amount of sugar
salt- to taste
one cup/ or glass (same size as one for flour) of milk
whisk together… the batter needs to be thin. If it needs to be more thin, then keep adding milk.
Heat the burner to high heat and add oil to a flat bottom pan.
After the oil begins to smoke a little grab a ladle and pour a small amount of the batter into the pan. Distribute the batter evenly. This should be a thin layer of batter.
It should cook quickly. You can tell that it is done by a dry appearance- and through my expirence when bubbles start to show up.
Flip it over and leave it for a very short amount of time, somewhere around 5 seconds. The goal is golden brown.
After, eat it however you want, I recommend jam and sour cream, Enjoy!