Appendix. Some Russian Food Recipes

Pelmeni

'An Ear of Dough'
The dish that helped to tame Siberia

Ingredients:

For the filling:

• 3/4-pound beef
  
• 3/4-pound pork
  
• 1 onion
  
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
  
• 2/3 cup of milk
  
• salt and pepper to taste
  

For the dough:

• 2 cups of flour
  
• half cup of milk
  
• 1 tsp. vegetable oil
  
• 1 egg
  
• 1/3 cup of water
  
• salt to taste
  

Mince the meat, onion and garlic, add salt, pepper and milk and mix together. For the dough, mix the water, milk and salt. Pour the flour in a heap onto the table, and add the milk and water. After mixing, add the oil. Cut the dough into three equally sized pieces and roll each one into a tube the diameter of a finger. Cut each into pieces the size of a walnut, then roll each piece into a very thin flat cake with a diameter of 1 1/2 - 2 inches. Put some mince in the center of each flatcake (quite a lot, but not so much that you can't then seal up the dough). Then fold the dough in half and join up the edges to seal them. You should now have an "ear of dough." Put the pelmeni into boiling water and boil them until they come to the surface. They are served hot with sour cream, mayonnaise or ketchup.

Blini

'Russian Pancakes'

Ingredients:

• 2 lb flour
  
• 3 cups milk
  
• 3 Tbsp. butter or vegetable oil
  
• 2 eggs
  
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
  
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
  
• 1 1/2 oz. yeast
  

Pour 1 1/2 cups of warm water into a bowl, sprinkle in the yeast and 1 lb of flour, mix thoroughly, cover and leave in a warm place for about an hour. When the mix starts to rise, add salt, sugar, egg yolks, and melted butter or vegetable oil; mix and add the remaining flour, mixing thoroughly with the dough so that there are no lumps.

Then thin out the batter with warm milk, pouring it in gradually by the glass, each time mixing the batter. Cover the bowl containing the batter and put in a warm place. When the batter rises again, you have to mix it in order for it to settle again, put it back in a warm place, and allow it to rise and settle again, adding whipped egg white.

You should start making the bliny soon after the batter rises for the last time. For the bliny to turn out well, the batter must rise at least twice.

Serve piping hot with caviar or red fish or meats and mushroomsÑ or just jam.