Menu Lilies War XIX

Milk kasha:

2 cup milk

1 cup water

1 cup bulgar (cracked wheat)

¼ cup honey, etc.

Bring milk and water to a boil and immediately stir in bulgar and honey. The milk doesn’t seem to boil over as much the almond milk. Simmer over low heat stirring every 15 minutes until the desired texture, approximately 45 minutes. I didn’t add any spices, but a little poudre douce would probably be nice with it.

Almond milk kasha:

1 cup milk

2 to 2 1/2 cups water

1 cup bulgar (cracked wheat)

Bring almond milk and water to a boil and immediately stir in bulgar. This likes to boil over so be ready to add the bulgar right away. Simmer over low heat stirring every 15 minutes until the desired texture, approximately 45 minutes. This seems to thicken quicker than the milk kasha, which is why I have the extra ½ cup of water to add during the simmering process if needed. I’ve used both homemade almond milk and store-bought almond milk. The homemade milk seemed to make the kasha sweeter and didn’t need any added sweetener.

Almond milk:

½ cup (2 oz) slivered almonds

1 cup water

Food process almonds (or grind some other way) until as fine as possible. Slowly add water while continuing to process the mixture. Then process for a full minute to get as fine a blend as possible. Use as is for the kasha above, or strain out the nut residue.

Chicken kasha:

3 cups water

3 chicken boullion cubes

1 cup bulgar (cracked wheat)

2 whole eggs or 3 egg yolks, beaten lightly.

Bring water and boullion cubes to a boil and immediately stir in bulgar. Simmer over low heat stirring every 15 minutes until the desired texture, approximately 45 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the beaten eggs, then put back on low heat a few minutes and stir continually until egg coating is cooked.

Bread:

Hy-Vee shephard’s bread, Vienna bread, Kiev pumpernickel bread and Ukrainian bread.

Beef pirogi:

1 medium onion, chopped

1 lb ground beef

2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

½ tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

¼ tsp dill

Several shakes of garlic salt

Pre-made frozen pie crust for about seven 9-inch pies

Cook onion in skillet over medium heat until soft and transparent, but not brown. Add ground beef and cook until completely brown, breaking up the lumps as small as possible. (The original recipe calls for grinding the meat-onion mixture after it’s cooked!) Drain any excess oil. Combine meat mixture with eggs and seasonings. Roll out pie crust to usual pie crust thickness (about 1/8 inch) and cut into 5 inch rounds. Put a couple of tsp of the filling onto one half of each circle, then fold over to make turnovers and seal the edges. Bake at 400 degree for 20-30 minutes until golden brown. Makes about 30 pirogi. Freezes well.

Shashlyk marinade for 5lb meat:

1-2 onions, coarsely chopped

2 bay leaves

2 clove garlic

Pepper corns

2 cups pomegranate juice

Layer cubed meat (lamb leg or shoulder is traditional, but all I could find was beef) with onion and spices. Top layer should be onion. Pour pomegranate juice over the meat. Put in freezer. Stayed pretty frozen in the cooler from Saturday morning to Thursday and was still very cold Friday afternoon with just regular ice added daily.

If I made this again, I would decrease the garlic and onion a little, remember to salt the meat before serving (!), and consider substituting pomegranate molasses for the pomegranate juice. (Pomegranate molasses is a kind of sugar syrup that looks like a pain to make, but sounds yummy.) There are lots of variations on this recipe.

Cabbage pagach:

1 large onion, chopped

1 medium cabbage, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste (I think I used 1 tsp and 1/8 tsp, respectively.)

Enough frozen pie crust for five 9-inch pies.

Cook the onion in a large skillet until soft. Add the chopped cabbage and seasonings and cook covered until soft. Roll out 9-inch crust and put into a pie tin. Put cabbage mixture on one half of circle. Fold over other half of dough to form a large turnover and seal the edge, leaving half the pie tin free to hold another pagach. This recipe will make about 5 of these. Bake in preheated 400 degree oven about 30 minutes or until golden brown. Freezes well.

Spiced cherries:

2 cans of cherries

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp cloves

1/8 tsp mace

Mix the spices with the cherries and let sit in the refrigerator as long as you can stand it. Measurements of spices are approximate. J

Strawberry shrub (aka sekanjabin aka syta)

One package frozen strawberries

Approximately 2 cups vinegar.

Approximately 2 cups sugar/honey

Pour enough vinegar over frozen berries to almost cover them. (As the berries thaw and soften, they will settle under the vinegar.) Cover and leave out at room temperature overnight. Strain out berries. Measure liquid and put in medium saucepan. Add equal amount of sweetener of choice. Boil the mixture for 10 minutes. Make sure your pan is big enough to avoid boiling over. (I used a 2 quart pan.) Dilute syrup to taste to serve, approximately 1 part syrup to 5 parts water.

Kutya (Liquids decreased and cinnamon increased after the war.)

2 cups cracked wheat (bulgar)

5 cups water (could substitute almond milk)

½ cup poppy seeds

½ cup chopped walnuts

1 apple, peeled and cubed

1/3 cup honey

1 cup sugar

1 ½ tsp cinnamon (this was increased from ½ tsp)

¾ cup raisins

Bring liquid to boil, then add wheat and sweeteners and cook on low about 45 minutes until most liquid is absorbed. Mix in the other ingredients. Freezes well, but may need to cook off excess fluid that is drawn out in the process.

Comments or questions? lkies@jumpgate.net
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