👉 Chanakhi is a rustic Georgian stew of lamb, eggplant, potatoes, tomatoes and lots of fresh herbs, slowly baked in individual clay pots called ketsi. The meat and vegetables cook in their own juices, so the result is tender, rich and full of summer flavour without any frying. It is…
👉 Kupati are Georgia’s homemade sausages: coarse pork mixed with lots of onion, garlic and warm spices like khmeli suneli, coriander, cinnamon and a hint of cloves, stuffed into natural casings, briefly boiled and then fried or grilled until crisp. They come from the western regions of Imereti and Samegrelo,…
👉 Kotlety are Russia’s favourite everyday dinner: soft, juicy meat cutlets made from minced pork and beef with milk-soaked bread, onion and garlic, coated in breadcrumbs and pan-fried until golden. Every Russian grandmother has her own recipe, and kotlety with mashed potatoes or buckwheat is the taste of childhood for…
👉 Vinegret is a bright, colourful Russian salad of diced cooked beets, potatoes and carrots mixed with crunchy dill pickles, sauerkraut and onion, dressed simply with sunflower oil. Its name comes from the French vinaigrette dressing, but the salad itself is completely Russian – a fixture of New Year tables,…
👉 Holodets (kholodets, studen) is the famous Russian and Ukrainian meat aspic: tender pieces of pork, beef and chicken set in a clear, savoury jelly made only from the natural collagen of the bones. It takes time but very little work, and no New Year table in Russia is complete…
👉 Kapusniak is the classic Polish sauerkraut soup: a warming, slightly sour broth made with pork ribs, sauerkraut, potatoes and carrots, seasoned with bay leaf, allspice and caraway. It is everyday comfort food in Poland – cheap, filling and even better the next day – and it is made in…
👉 Kyiv cake (Kievsky tort) is the most famous cake of Ukraine’s capital: two crisp, chewy hazelnut meringue layers sandwiched with a smooth vanilla-and-chocolate buttercream and decorated with swirls of cream and nuts. It was created at the Karl Marx confectionery factory in Kyiv in 1956 and quickly became the…
👉 Solyanka is one of the boldest soups of Russian cuisine: a rich, tangy meat broth packed with several kinds of meat and smoked sausage, sour pickles, olives and capers, finished with a slice of lemon and a spoonful of sour cream. The name is often linked to selo (village)…
👉 Pirozhki (also spelled piroshki) are Russia’s favourite hand pies: soft, golden yeast buns stuffed with savoury fillings and either baked or fried. Every Russian and Ukrainian grandmother has her own version – juicy beef and onion, mashed potato with dill, cabbage with egg or sweet apple and jam –…
👉 Makowiec is the Polish poppy seed roll that appears on almost every Christmas table in Poland: a soft, slightly sweet yeast dough rolled around a thick, dark layer of poppy seeds with honey, raisins and orange peel, then baked until golden and finished with a white glaze. Poppy seeds…
👉 Holubtsi (golubtsi in Russian) are Ukraine’s comforting cabbage rolls: tender cabbage leaves wrapped around a filling of minced meat, rice and sweet fried vegetables, then slowly baked or simmered in a rich tomato sauce. The name comes from holub, “little dove”, because the neat rolls were said to look…
👉 Samsa are the golden, flaky meat pastries sold hot from clay tandoor ovens in every bazaar in Uzbekistan. The thin layered dough wraps a juicy filling of chopped lamb, plenty of onion, cumin and black pepper, and the pastries are brushed with egg and sprinkled with sesame before baking.…
