Grechaniki

Grechaniki - authentic Ukrainian dish which resembles a patty made of cooked buckwheat mixed with other ingredients. Here is a vegan version of it, popular in Ukraine during a lent period. 

Authentic version of this dish often includes some kind of meat mixed with buckwheat, but for the period of lent, meat is replaced with vegetables - cooked carrots, onion, mushrooms, potato. Called in Ukraine grechaniki, I have translated them as patties, but perhaps more appropriate would be to call them veggie-buckwheat burgers. 

Notes

- Recipe calls for small amount of oil for frying, but you can easily avoid oil altogether and fry grechaniki on a dry skillet. If you stick to whole-food-plant-based-no-oil way of eating, it is just what you need - delicious food without additional oil! 

- I like to use buckwheat from Eastern European groceries - it is raw, toasted and, after you cook it, has great texture and flavor. You will never get that delicious buckwheat kasha using buckwheat from our regular American supermarket. Those who tried, knows what I'm talking about. Although for the purpose of this recipe, regular supermarket buckwheat may work as, when cooked, it has wet and mushy consistency somewhat helpful when you make patties.

- Traditionally they served hot, with sour cream. As I'm dairy-free now, I love to eat them with tahini sauce or hummus.

- As an option replace half of potato amount with mashed sweet potato.

- Mushrooms are optional. When I don't have mushrooms I just omit then and add a little granulated garlic and onion, a teaspoon of each, to add more flavor.

Grechaniki - Ukrainian Buckwheat Patties

• 3 cups cooked buckwheat
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, coarsely grated
• 16 oz pack of white or other mushrooms (optional)
• 3 potatoes, peeled, cooked and mashed
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 1/3 tsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp oil for frying (avocado oil)

- On a dry skillet (or lightly oiled), cook onion until soft, add carrot and continue to cook until soft. If needed add a splash of water.

- In a small pot, bring water to a boil, then put whole mushrooms and cook 5-7 minutes. Drain.

- In a kitchen processor, pulse onion, carrot and mushrooms until finely chopped.

- In a large bowl, place all ingredients - buckwheat, mashed potato, processed cooked onion, carrot, mushrooms, salt and black pepper and mix it all together nicely until you will get sticky mixture that you can make patties out of it.

- Make patties and cook them on slightly oiled heated skillet on both sides. They also can be baked in an oven at 400F until golden-brown. In this case you don't need oil at all, just place patties on a parchment paper and bake until crispy on outside.

- Enjoy!



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IN PICTURES

 I like to use my electric grinder as it allows to keep nice texture. Here is I'm running carrots and onion right into a large bowl where I transferred already my mashed potato in. Boiled mushrooms are waiting their turn..

 All ingredients are here.

 You can see that mixture holds together thanks to a mashed potato. If your mixture is still dry and falls apart, I would recommend to run half of mixture in a processor.

 I like to use my handy scooping tool.

 Here I fry patties on a dry skillet for myself. For others I cooked them on a little splash of avocado oil. I can tell you, there was no noticeable difference between them. So why extra calories :)

 Great texture but still holds together.

 Here grechaniki served with hummus. See my previous post how to make healthy, quick and delicious hummus.

 This (and next two pictures) are grechaniki made without mushrooms, with sweet and regular potatoes. These were baked in an oven. Delicious and healthy! I also didn't use processor - just mashed cooked potatoes with potato masher and then added all remaining ingredients continuing mashing. Turns out really nice chunky/creamy texture.

Ukha - Ukrainian Fishermen's Soup

It's a very simple nevertheless best recipe for a popular Ukrainian Catch-Of-The-Day Fish soup called Ukha. Don't be discouraged by humbleness of this recipe. I've being through many versions of it - this one is THE best and THE simplest one.

Blog's Category: Effortless, Healthy, International, My Own Fast and Easy, My Staple Food, Seafood, Soup, Ukrainian

Traditionally this soup is made of whatever fishermen catches this day. We have spent a beautiful summer day fishing on a local lake LaDue and our catch-of-the-day were several small white and yellow perches and some bluegills. Just enough for a pot of Ukha, Personally, I prefer to cook soup rather than fry my catch, because usually it's a small fish which is fantastically tender cooked in a soup and it is easier to separate bones from a flesh when small fish is boiled, not fried.

It is a special, acquired skills to deal with a bones in small fish. That's why I posted some pictures to share how I do this. Trust me, beautifully tender, delicious flesh of a small fish is  worthy all the work! 

Although if you are not up to fishing and de-boning your fish, but would like to try Ukha, just go to a store and buy a fish of your choice. In this case I would get trout, but any fish will do.

One more advise. If you have being fishing and come home late tired, gut, scale and clean your fish right away anyway. Then place it in a container, fill with cold water just to cover a fish, add about 1 tablespoon of salt (per every liter of water) and place in a fridge. It can be kept like this for up to 3-4 days before your get to cook it.

Warning for a sensitive people - don't read this paragraph. This is a special note for fishermen regarding fish head. If you've being lucky to catch big fish, use a head for this soup too, it gives a lot of flavor to a soup, just don't forget to cut out and discard gills. If fish is small, like mine here, don't bother with heads, just cut them off and discard.

Ukha

• about 3 lbs of fish, gutted, scaled and cleaned
• 2 liter of water
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3 potatoes, peeled and diced (I like to dice relatively finely 1/2" x 1/2")
• salt to taste
• 7 whole black peppercorn (or mixed peppercorn)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tbs dill (fresh preferably, I used frozen)

- Place pot with water on a stove, add potato, onion, bay leaves and peppercorn. Bring to a boil. Simmer until potato cooked through.

- Carefully add all your fish in a pot. Do not stir! Bring soup to a boil, turn heat down and simmer for 10 minutes.

- Add salt. Carefully swish a soup to dissolve and distribute a salt, trying not to break a fish. It is critical to add adequate amount of salt, it should be just right - not too much, not too little.

- Add dill. Turn heat off. Your soup is done!

- Enjoy! When it's Ukha with a bone-in fish, I like to serve fish separately from soup itself, like on my photo below. It makes it easier to deal with bones.  The process matters :)



Notes:

- As of leftovers, I like to keep fish and soup in a separate containers as well. It is much easier to enjoy it next day too!

- I insist that you stick to this recipe to the word. It's very few ingredients but each of them matters. Without any single ingredient in this recipe, or with any additional ingredient, you won't get My Best Ukha ;) 

- The pictures below may seem underwhelming, but you have to believe my word that it is The Best Ukha. Try.



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IN PICTURES

 Whenever possible, I try to use red onion as it has more anti-oxidants than white one. But white onion can be used here as well.

 Usually I place pot with water on a heat and as it is brought to a boil I chop and add potato, onion, bay leaves and pepper.

I used a mix of pink, black and green peppercorns.

 Cook potato until it's completely soft, before adding a fish.

 Here is our catch. It was kept in a fridge in salted water, like this, for a two days before I get to cook my ukha. Because my fish was in a salted water for a two days, I will be careful when adding salt to my soup.

 I placed fish carefully on a top of potato. No stirring!. Now just wait until it start to boil, then turn heat down and simmer for 10 min.

 I don't use fresh dill too often. That's why when I buy fresh dill, I like to chop it and keep in a freezer until I need it. There is a few dishes, like this, when it's no-go without fresh(frozen) dill.

 Frozen dill.

 Dill is added, bringing simmering down. Now one more minute to start simmering again and it's done!

 Serving soup separately, in a small bowl. Fish is on a separate plate too.

 Yumm. Start eating fish from a back, using your fingers, with a little help from a fork :) Take your time, dealing with bones requires attention and some fish anatomy knowledge. Happy discoveries!

 After each fish bite don't forget to indulge on a flavorful fish broth with a pieces of melting-in-a-mouth potato and tiny bits of soft onions.

 It's a bit of dirty but delicious work to eat small fish! The most expensive fish would never taste as a piece of small fish, such as this white and yellow perch.

 Step by step, back fins with a row a tiny bones, and vertebrae with tail fins goes on a 'discard' side of a plate. Now 'huge' piece of other half of fish (minus ribs) are all de-boned and available for enjoyment.

It was fun and it was delish. I hope you will do a favor to yourself and cook Ukha some time soon. 

Chicken Liver Pate

Silky smooth and amazingly delicious, this chicken liver pate-mousse is addictive. Garnished with pistachio nuts and served with simple toasts, it is destined to become a hit at your next party.

Blog's Category: Chicken, Finger Food, Holidays, Hors D'oeuvre, International, My Staple Food, Ukrainian, Jewish

I've made a lot of different types of liver pate before - it is very popular dish in my native country, Ukraine. I think this recipe is the best of all. It uses chicken liver. Because of a fine texture of chicken liver, it is the best type of liver for pate IMHO. Try this recipe, if you like liver in general, I'm sure this recipe will become your favorite.  

Chicken Liver Pate-Mousse

• 1 lb chicken livers
• 1 stick + 2 tbsp + 1 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup dry Marsala wine (or other white dry white)
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp chopped parsley
• 2 tbsp thyme leaves
• 1/2 cup chicken stock (made of bouillon cubes is fine)
• 1 tbsp chopped pistachio nuts

- Cook onion in 2 tbsp butter in a large skillet on a medium hit until onion soft and translucent. Add chicken livers, salt and pepper and cook it for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

- Add Marsala to chicken livers. Cook for 2 minutes. 

- Add chicken broth, parsley and thyme to livers. Cook, turning livers, for about 5 more minutes until they cooked through. 

- Remove skillet from hit and let it cool down for about 10 minutes. 

- Transfer livers with all juices to kitchen processor and blend until smooth, for about  1 minute (it depends on your machine). Then add stick of soft butter, cut in pieces, while continue to blend, until it smooth and silky. Taste, add salt and pepper if needed.

- Transfer pate in a glass wide-mouth jar. Melt 1 tbsp butter in microwave and pour on top of pate to cover it completely. Sprinkle pistachios on top. Cover with lid. 

- Keep in a fridge. It can hold in a fridge for up to 10 days.

- Enjoy!


Notes:

- Sure you can substitute Marsala with other wine, but Marsala would be ideal, it has that great unique flavor.

- You can make your pate chunky by reserving couple pieces of cooked liver and adding them, chopped, into mousse after it's done, right before transferring it to a jar.



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IN PICTURES

I will post pictures from a cooking process after I will be cooking this pate next time ;)

Coconut Rice Kasha with Squash/Pumpkin

This Squash Rice kasha made with coconut milk is a perfect breakfast for those who like hot cereals. It is so much better than boring oatmeal.  In fact it is a type of rice pudding, but pumpkin takes it a whole level up!

Blog's Category: Healthy, International, Perfect Breakfast, Ukrainian, Vegetarian, Vegan

I remember this kasha from my childhood, my mom loved it so much. She cooked it with whole milk, not a coconut milk. Well, we had no idea what coconut milk is at that time. It's a different thing now. I love coconut milk, and decided to try modifying the familiar recipe. Turned out, rice, coconut milk and squash (or pumpkin) is a union created in heaven. Jasmine rice, coconut and pumpkin give away so much flavor and tasty sweetness that it is more like dessert than just a casual breakfast.

Note 

- Recipe requires almost no additional sugar.

- I like to use fragrant Jasmine rice for this recipe.

- When buying canned coconut milk, check the ingredients - it is better if your coconut milk has a fewer ingredients and they are all natural and familiar. Such coconut milk tastes much better as well. 

- Any kind of pumpkin or winter squash can be used here. Although, I like to buy kabocha squash or pale-skinned pumpkin-like squash at Asian grocery stores. Those are so sweet. If you are not up to looking for those types, by all means, use butternut squash. It is great too!

- Don't throw away pumpkin seeds. Roasted, they are such a delicious and healthy treat. it's easy to rinse them and roast in a toaster oven. I included instructions how to do this in the recipe below. If you definitely decided that you want your pumpkin seeds, then don't buy kabocha squash as it has extremely hard-shelled seeds, unless you are very confident in your teeth :)

Coconut Rice Kasha with Squash

• about 2 lb wedge of any winter squash/pumpkin
• 2 cups Jasmine rice (optionally rinsed)
• 1 can good-quality coconut milk
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar

- Use spoon to scrape out seeds and loose fibers from pumpkin. Place all seeds into bowl with water. It makes easier to separate seeds and they won't stick together while roasting. Rinse and fish out all seeds onto baking pan covered with foil. Roast them at low temperature, about 200F, until golden, for about 30 minutes. Taste seeds occasionally to avoid getting them burnt. Oh, yeah, if you are not used to shelling pumpkin seeds, it's about time to learn - don't worry, it's not a rocket science :)

- Cut your large piece of squash into three-four large pieces to make it easier to peel. Use large knife to do this. Then dice into small pieces, about 2/3" x 2/3". You should have about 3-4 cups of diced squash.

- In a pot, add about 1.5 quart/liter water and diced squash. Bring to a boil. Add rice. Simmer until squash is very soft and rice is cooked. 

- Add coconut milk, salt and sugar. Bring to a boil. Cook, stirring for 1 minute. Remove from a heat. Taste, add more sugar if you like it sweeter. 

- Enjoy! It tastes the best when it is warm. It will keep in fridge for a several days.



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IN PICTURES

Water makes it easier to separate seeds from flesh. It also prevent sticking seeds to each other during roasting.

I bought this winter squash at my local Indian grocery store. It looks very mush like regular pumpkin, but has pale beige skin and thick meaty flesh.  It's my favorite type of winter squash - it is very flavorful, sweet and its seeds are sweet as well and easy to crack open.

Here it is simmering ...

After about 30 min at 200F seeds are done.

Very yummy

Rice and squash are completely cooked now.

While stirring in a coconut milk, soft squash partially falls apart giving beautiful yellow tint to kasha.

To me 1 tbsp of sugar is enough, just to give a bit of accent on a natural sweetness coming from a squash. Now, just bring to a boil and it's done! Easy.