Ukrainian sweets recipes. Ukrainian cuisine - national traditional (folk) recipes for homemade dishes with photos, features of this cuisine. Herbs and spices

After getting acquainted with the work of Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol and reading his amazingly poetic Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka, Mirgorod, Evenings on the Eve of Ivan Kupala, Dead Souls, Nights Before Christmas, Sorochinskaya Fair, May Night, or drowned women, etc., it is impossible not to be interested in Little Russian cuisine!

sources of inspiration

Ukrainian national dishes are mentioned so often in them that one involuntarily arises a desire to get to know them better. Dumplings, dumplings, donuts, kokurki, pryazets, etc. are described with such appetizing details that you definitely want to try them all. We have selected some recipes of Ukrainian national dishes from the immortal works of the Russian classic from various sources and are pleased to present to your attention.

Little Russian cuisine is very close to Great and Belarusian, but it also has its own characteristics. The Magyar tradition of eating eggplants came to us precisely from the west of Ukraine - from Galicia, whose inhabitants had very close relations with the border lands that once belonged to the Austro-Hungarian kingdom.

Pryagly

Ukrainian national dishes in the works of Gogol are more like Old Slavonic than Magyar ones. Take, at least, the yokes with which Korobochka regaled Chichikov. These are Volga pryazets, that is, yeast fritters fried in oil. Pryagly, like pryagly, can be made stuffed with meat, vegetables, mushrooms, cottage cheese, fruits or berries. Very tasty spices with spices.

They are done in the following way. Knead a rather liquid puff pastry. While it is coming, the filling is being prepared, that is, baking. It can be fried fish, mashed potatoes with or without mushrooms, stewed cabbage with cracklings and fried onions, buckwheat or eggplant with garlic, etc. Refined vegetable oil is poured into the pan and heated. The filling is put into it and the dough is poured on top. As soon as the skewers are browned on the bottom, they need to be turned over and fried on the other side.

Kokurki

Another national Ukrainian dish is kokurki. It is also mentioned in connection with Korobochka, who was very inventive in preparing various intricate dishes, although it is hardly possible in principle to surpass Pulcheria Ivanovna Tovstogubikha from the Old World Landowners. This person and her gastronomic delights could be devoted to a separate cookbook.

Kokurki is a type of biscuits, or unleavened shortbread biscuits that are baked in an oven without oil.

For the test you need:

Half a kilogram of rye flour;

100 grams of corn starch;

1 glass of granulated sugar;

1 glass of milk;

150 grams of butter;

Cinnamon and nutmeg to taste;

Soda slaked with vinegar, half a teaspoon.

You need to mix sugar with milk and simmer until yellowish, cool, add sifted flour, starch, spices and softened butter. Knead a pretty cool place and put in the fridge for half an hour. After the specified time has passed, the dough should be rolled out into a 1 cm thick layer, cut out small cookies with a cookie cutter and put in a hot oven for half an hour. Finished cookies can be decorated with icing or sprinkled with powdered sugar. Instead of cinnamon and nutmeg, you can put lemon zest or ginger in the dough.

Nanny

The national Ukrainian dish Nanny, mentioned in Sobakevich's meal from "Dead Souls", is described in detail in N. Osipov's book "An Old Russian Housewife, Housekeeper and Cook", published in 1790 in St. Petersburg.

To cook it, you will need abomasum (lamb stomach), lamb head and legs, as well as buckwheat, onions, spices and seasonings. The nanny is preparing for a long time. - hard work. It is first soaked for several hours, only then cleaned. and legs should be welded. This takes several hours, as it is necessary that the meat easily separates from the bones.

To fill the abomasum, friable buckwheat porridge is boiled. The meat and brains separated from the bones should be chopped, mixed with buckwheat and chopped onions, salt, pepper and stuff well-washed raw rennet with this yummy, sew up the hole, put the nanny in a spacious korchaga (thick-walled pan like a cast-iron goose) with a tight-fitting lid for baking . At the bottom of the korchaga, you need to pour a little broth in which the legs and head were cooked.

Babysitter Ingredients:

1 lamb stomach;

1 lamb head;

4 lamb legs (lower parts);

2 cups of buckwheat;

4 medium sized onions;

Salt, pepper and other seasonings to taste.

The broth left over from cooking lamb can be used to make borscht.

Borsch

The first dishes of Ukrainian national cuisine are holodnik, cabbage soup, yushka and, of course, borscht.

Boil rich meat pork, lamb or chicken. The broth should be salted and flavored with black peppercorns.

Strain the broth, remove the bones, and return the meat to the pot with the broth.

Peel the beets, potatoes, carrots and onions. Chop the cabbage, peel, cut the potatoes into small cubes.

Put cabbage and potatoes in a saucepan with broth and set to boil.

Cut the beets into thin long strips and lightly fry in sunflower oil. Add to it carrots and onions cut into small cubes. Next passer together. When they become soft, pour flour into the pan, as well as cut and peeled tomatoes and peeled. Stir well so that there are no lumps and pour one cup of broth into the pan. Cover and simmer until cabbage and potatoes are half cooked. At this point, pour vegetable frying into a saucepan with borscht, add bay leaf and sugar.

Cut the bell pepper and herbs as small as possible. Chop the garlic and rub it with salt and soft old lard. As soon as the borscht boils, put them in a saucepan and pour in the vinegar. Let it boil again and turn it off immediately.

Borscht should be infused for 20-30 minutes.

Ingredients:

Meat with bones, 700 g;

Fresh cabbage, half a fork;

Potatoes, 5-6 pieces;

Beets, 1 pc. medium size;

Carrots, 1 pc.;

Onion, 1 head;

Garlic, 2-3 cloves;

Bulgarian pepper, half;

Natural fruit vinegar, 2 tbsp. l.;

Salt, sugar, peppercorns.

Boiled in meat broth, fragrant with bell pepper and garlic, generously sprinkled with dill and parsley, seasoned with rich homemade sour cream - it is always the king in the kitchen. It can be eaten by everyone - both adults and children. For babies up to a year old, vegetables from borscht are rubbed through a sieve, and they gobble it up with great appetite. What else distinguishes Ukrainian borscht? The national dish of the South Slavs is supposed to be eaten with donuts.

It is interesting that borscht is never mentioned in any of Gogol's works. The fact is that beets entered the diet of Ukrainians only in the nineteenth century.

Garlic donuts

The national Ukrainian dish pampushka is small bread, which can be both sweet and not sweet, both with fillings and without them. Garlic dumplings are good for borscht.

To prepare them, you need to sift wheat flour, take one fourth of it, dilute it with yeast and warm water. This is steam. It should be placed in a warm place. When it doubles in volume, add the remaining flour to it, add oil, salt and sugar dissolved in a small amount of water, mix well and return to a warm place for another two hours. After that, divide the dough into pieces weighing about 30 grams, form balls from them and spread them on a baking sheet. The distance between donuts should be no less than the buns themselves. Now you need to place the baking sheet again in heat for proofing for 15-20 minutes. Approached, that is, donuts that have increased in volume, can be sent to the oven, that is, to a hot oven. In 7-8 minutes they will be ready. They should be smeared with garlic paste, grated with salt and butter, and served with borscht.

Dessert donuts

Sweet dumplings with filling are made from the same dough, only they are not smeared. The dough is rolled out into a layer 1 cm thick, cut into circles. Jam berries are placed in the middle of half of the circles. The other half of the circles is placed on top, the edges must be firmly connected. Pampushki are fried in fat, in a saucepan with high sides. Ready donuts are eaten with milk.

Salo as a matter of national pride

In joking conversations, various ways of cooking lard by Ukrainians are often mentioned. This is salting, and smoking, and heating, etc. These are, they say, the main, main and almost the only Ukrainian national dishes. Such statements are unfair, more precisely, not entirely fair.

Pork fat in Ukrainian dishes from the time of Gogol was used only for frying. Dumplings or grechaniki with onions fried in lard are very tasty and satisfying. A pig in Ukraine is such a common animal in the household only because of the not very extensive areas with hunting grounds. They did not eat beef, because they plowed the land on oxen, and cows provided milk. During the predatory raids of the Muslim aggressors, only pigs were kept from the entire household, which the faithful are forbidden to touch. Rich in fertile black soil, Little Russia has always been a tasty morsel for invaders. In the city of Lutsk, which is located in western Ukraine, the townspeople erected a monument to a pig, apparently out of reverence or respect for the animal, which is even mentioned in the Bible.

This is how the history of Ukrainian cuisine developed. Ukraine cannot be said to be particularly rich in fish, at least in some of its regions, and meat was eaten only on holidays until the 19th century, so it is not surprising that the dishes of Ukrainian national cuisine are mostly flour, cereals, vegetables and fruits and berries.

Vareniki

Greater Russia constantly updated the list of its main national dishes due to the active interaction between the inhabitants of its territories and foreign countries. The outskirts, being remote from the ebullient life of the center, are much more patriarchal in matters of accepting the new into the way of life. This also applies to Ukraine. It is for this reason, and also thanks to the genius of Gogol, that we have the opportunity to get acquainted with food from Slavic antiquity. Ukrainian national dishes, the list of which is drawn from his writings, would be incomplete without the mention of dumplings.

Vareniki with cottage cheese, potatoes, cherries or berries are eaten as an independent dish. Unleavened dough is made from wheat flour and rolled into a layer 2 mm thick. Circles are cut out with a cup or glass. The filling is placed in the middle. The edges are tightly pinched in the shape of a crescent. Dumplings are placed in boiling water and boiled for five minutes. They are considered ready as soon as everyone floats to the surface. They eat dumplings with butter or sour cream.

dumplings

Grechaniki, potato pancakes and syrniki are the most delicious dishes of Ukrainian national cuisine. These are all varieties of fritters, pancakes and cutlets. Grechaniki are made using buckwheat - cereals or flour, potato pancakes - potato pancakes, syrniki - cottage cheese pancakes. For lack of opportunity, it is impossible to describe all the recipes in one article. On one interesting dish I want to focus special attention. These are dumplings.

The national Ukrainian dish of dumplings is made not only from wheat, but also from Unleavened dough is kneaded from flour, water, salt and eggs, rolled into a layer 0.5 cm thick and cut into rectangles. These rectangles, that is, dumplings, are dipped in salted boiling water and boiled until they float. Finely chopped onions are fried in a saucepan in lard, boiled dumplings are placed there, mixed well, browned and served.

Necessary warning

National Ukrainian dishes with photographs, which are presented in this article, are of high energy value, for this reason, people who care about maintaining a slender figure should not get carried away with them too much.

Ukrainian dishes are popular not only in their homeland. The culinary achievements of Ukrainians are borscht, dumplings and donuts. The cuisine of Ukrainians is able to surprise and deliciously feed. And although there are some regional features of dishes in the west and east, the cuisine remains whole and homogeneous.

Ukrainian dishes are distinguished by complex heat treatment. First, the products are fried or boiled, and then stewed or baked. This is due to the peculiarities of the hearth of Ukrainians. In those days, they cooked food on a closed fire. This technology made it possible to preserve the aroma of dishes and give them juiciness. And since most of the people were engaged in physical labor, the dishes had to be high-calorie. But, most importantly, delicious. This is due to the whims of the national character. Therefore, popular dishes of Ukrainian cuisine are distinguished by an intricate set of ingredients.

History of Ukrainian cuisine

Initially, simple products were used to prepare Ukrainian cuisine: cereals, fish, mushrooms, berries, livestock. Little beef was eaten.

Pork got into the dishes of Ukrainian national cuisine during the Mongol-Tatar raids, and so it took root. Pigs, like dirty animals, did not interest the invaders, and disgusted the infidels. Now pork is included in many traditional dishes of Ukrainian cuisine.

In the 11th century, there were already several chefs in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra who preserved the recipes for delicious unusual Ukrainian cuisine. They also helped diversify the list of Ukrainian dishes and bring some innovations to the diet.

Finally, the national cuisine of Ukrainians was formed quite late - by the beginning of the 19th century, after the appearance of tomato and sunflower oil, without which they would not be so tasty.

However, the differences between the dishes of Galicia, Poltava and Transcarpathians have survived to this day. So, the recipes of Western Ukrainian cuisine with photos are very different from the traditional dishes of Kharkovites. Although, in general, the cuisine of the Ukrainian people is quite solid.

Features of Ukrainian dishes

The main characteristic of Ukrainian cuisine is associated with its late formation. The national menu has absorbed the best recipes of Ukrainian cuisine from different regions.

Borrowed ways of processing raw materials

  • Such names of Ukrainian dishes as borscht and varenyky have become international. But it turns out that Ukrainian dumplings are similar to the dish of Turkish cuisine dush-vara.

  • Meat dishes of Ukrainian cuisine are often prepared from ground raw materials. The Ukrainians borrowed this technique from the Germans.
  • From the Turks and Tatars came such a method of heat treatment as frying in boiling oil (“lubrication”).
  • The custom of seasoning dishes with sweet paprika was adopted by Ukrainians from the Hungarians.

Traditional Ukrainian dishes

Traditional delicious dishes of Ukrainian cuisine are prepared from products such as:

  • pork;
  • fish;
  • beet;
  • wheat flour and various cereals;
  • eggs;
  • dairy.

If you look at the recipes of Ukrainian national cuisine with photographs, you will notice such a feature as the presence of one main ingredient, which is combined with a large number of other components.

At the same time, additives emphasize the taste of the main component. Borscht is a classic example. Here, the taste of beets is set off by two dozen ingredients.

Snacks and salads of Ukrainian cuisine

Ukrainian salad recipes include both raw and boiled vegetables, as well as meat and fish. Hot-pressed vegetable oil is used for dressing.

Some recipes of Ukrainian national cuisine with photographs contain linseed, rapeseed and other oils.

Baked meat slices are served as cold dishes of Ukrainian cuisine.

But the most favorite snack of Ukrainians is salo. It is salted, marinated, baked and fried. Salo is also included in various delicious recipes of Ukrainian cuisine.

First courses of Ukrainian cuisine

Usually, Ukrainian national cuisine with a video shows the preparation of soups in meat broth using fried or sautéed vegetables. Recipes of first courses of Ukrainian cuisine with fish, mushrooms, legumes are also popular.

After the appearance of potatoes, they began to introduce it into traditional recipes for soups of Ukrainian cuisine. Some do not include potatoes in the composition of the first courses. It is replaced with cereals and flour dumplings.

Description of Ukrainian cuisine would be incomplete without borscht. They are served hot or cold, with donuts and croutons. The menu of Ukrainian dishes includes borscht and beet kvass.

Solyanka is very similar to borscht. See the recipe for its preparation. When preparing soups, it is important not to forget about sauces. You can learn more about their varieties from this article.

Second courses of Ukrainian cuisine

Most often they demonstrate the preparation of dishes of complex technology. Traditional Ukrainian national cuisine with a video of the entire cooking process will help you understand the intricacies of culinary techniques.

The main meat dishes are the well-known rabbits and quails in sour cream, “liver” and “turkey pancakes” in pots. As well as Ukrainians' favorite dishes made from cottage cheese and dough: cheesecakes, dumplings, dumplings, casseroles.

All recipes of Ukrainian cuisine are designed to use local products. So, the best dishes of Ukrainian cuisine in the western part of the country are "banosh", "bograch" and bean "lotsi".

The influence of neighboring Hungary and Romania is felt here.

Traditional desserts of Ukrainian cuisine

Ukrainian desserts are made from fruits and berries. They are baked, poured with honey, sprinkled with nuts and poppy seeds. Main Ukrainian cuisine baking recipes with photos contain a step-by-step description of all processes. Baking powder here is soda or alcohol.

And bread, which Ukrainians treat with special respect, sweet pastries were also made on sourdough. Babka is a traditional dish of Russian and Ukrainian cuisine.

In Ukraine, they were baked for the holidays.

Festive table of Ukrainians

Festive dishes of Ukrainian cuisine were prepared for religious holidays. For Christmas they baked a pig, a goose or a carp. An obligatory dish is wheat sweet porridge (kutya).

Pictures of Ukrainian dishes look appetizing and picturesque. People love to share their recipes. Travelers know that in any village they will tell you and show you what Ukrainian cuisine is for free. And to make a menu for every day of simple recipes of Ukrainian cuisine is not at all difficult.

Cherished by people who love their land and its fruits, donated by generous black earth and rich forests, simple but tasty and satisfying Ukrainian cuisine will forever remain in the heart of those who took a painted clay bowl of dumplings and a pot of steaming borscht from the hands of a hospitable Ukrainian hostess.

Out of the whole variety of national dishes, international recognition usually overtakes two or three, which become the hallmark of the country and satisfy 80% of the gastronomic requests of tourists. In Ukrainian cuisine, the traditional borscht with donuts and dumplings in sour cream have been marked with recognition. As always, such a choice is not accidental - these two dishes are the quintessence of culinary traditions that have emerged and gained a foothold on the territory of Ukraine due to the centuries-old occupation of its inhabitants by grain growing.

Bread is the main food for a person who cultivates the land for its cultivation, and in Ukraine this rule has found its expression not only in the usual bread, which is baked in ovens, but also in many types of boiled flour products - dumplings, dumplings, dumplings, greechaniki.

In borscht, you can find almost everything that the Ukrainians gave their fertile land besides bread. Borsch is always multicomponent (some regional recipes of this dish include 20 or more ingredients) and is a hot food that restores strength well.

As for meat, in most Ukrainian dishes it is represented by pork. They didn’t eat beef here, because oxen were draft thinness - the main assistant in the economy and, because of this, a friend, and sheep breeding is developed only regionally and not widely. In second place after pork is poultry - chickens, geese, ducks - from which dishes with national flavor are also prepared.

History and development of Ukrainian cuisine

The origins of the culinary traditions of Ukrainians date back to the times of Kievan Rus, although many of the old culinary practices were lost during the capture of the state by the Tatar-Mongols and the rule of the Golden Horde. Subsequently, parts of the Ukrainian lands were divided among neighbors, and this also had some influence on the culinary culture: in the western part of Ukraine, dishes are related to Polish and Hungarian dishes, in the east and south - to Russian and Turkic ones, in the north - to Belarusian-Lithuanian ones.

However, in general, throughout the territory of Ukraine, the cuisine is quite homogeneous - such as it was formed in the 18-19th century, when the set of traditional vegetable crops was replenished with new types - potatoes, corn and tomatoes, and the use of sunflower oil came into wide use.

Modern Ukrainian cuisine is replenished with borrowed and adapted dishes of other nations, but today traditions are still very strong and historically established dishes prevail in home cooking.

Features of cooking in Ukrainian cuisine

The peculiarities of cooking in Ukrainian cuisine are largely due to the fact that a closed oven was used to heat houses, in which they cooked. Under it, special dishes were created - pots and glechiki (tall clay jugs with a narrow neck). In such dishes, thanks to its part tapering upwards, as well as due to the heat-insulating properties of baked clay, in a closed hot oven, excellent conditions are created for stewing and quick cooking, so Ukrainian national dishes are mainly boiled, stewed and baked. The frying pan is more used (used) for sauteing onions, carrots, beets and other vegetables before adding them to the main dish.

Also, very often ready-made dishes cooked in a different way are simmered in the oven to give them a complete, delicate taste. For example, cutlets fried in a pan are put in a clay or cast-iron pot and stewed in the oven along with fat and vegetable dressing, and sweet and savory pancakes (unleavened pancakes with filling) are simmered with butter.

In the central regions of Ukraine, the main holiday dish is stewed potatoes, around which the rest of the menu is built. It is a roast of meat and potatoes, with a small addition of carrots and onions. This dish receives an indescribable taste and aroma precisely from the oven, in which the potatoes are stewed so much that they turn brown without roasting.

Despite the fact that most national dishes are cooked in the oven, the smell of smoke in them is almost imperceptible, because the oven first heats up and only then food is placed on hot coals (from which there is very little smoke).

Classic Ukrainian dishes

1. Vareniki

If a girl in a Ukrainian vyshyvanka serves you in a restaurant, restaurant or snack bar, you can be sure that you can order dumplings here. Just as Italian cuisine is unthinkable without pasta, so Ukrainian cuisine is unthinkable without dumplings. With cheese, with cabbage, with potatoes, with mushrooms, with liver, with cherries, blueberries and strawberries ... In sour cream or with sour cream, with dressing of cracklings or with cracklings inside, lean with gravy from fried onions or meat, thin or lush, from dough on water or from dough on kefir ... There are so many types of Ukrainian dumplings that you can make an exhibition out of them, and, by the way, the philosophy of varenyky is built on this - small Ukrainian restaurants, in which visitors are offered exclusively varenyky in a variety of ways.

Dough for Ukrainian dumplings

There are two fundamentally different types of dough from which dumplings are made in Ukraine - thin dough on water and soft dough on dairy products (milk, kefir, whey) with the addition of soda.

Dumplings from the first type of dough are boiled in water and are small and rather thin products similar to dumplings, only of a different shape, size and with different fillings.

The second dumplings are phenomenal in some way - they differ in dough, which is suitable for soft baking, and at the same time they are steamed. Very soft, porous, delicate products are obtained, which are as good cold as hot.

It is noteworthy that in different regions of Ukraine, vareniki are traditionally cooked in only one way, and they may not even know about the second. Lush steam dumplings, for example, are made in the Poltava, Chernihiv, Kiev, Sumy regions, but in the Carpathian region they cook exceptionally thin ones.

Stuffings for Ukrainian dumplings

The choice of fillings for Ukrainian dumplings is so large that it seems that you can put everything in them. But in fact, this is not the case - there are quite clear boundaries for the set of products that go into dumplings.

The most typical fillings are cottage cheese (sweet and salty), stewed cabbage and boiled sauerkraut, potatoes, potatoes with cabbage, potatoes with meat, potatoes with liver, potatoes with mushrooms, mushrooms themselves, poppy seeds, cherries.
Less popular, but there are also fillings from berries and fruits - blackberries, mulberries, strawberries, apples, plums.

Sauces and dressings for dumplings

Dressing is an integral and just as important part of dumplings as dough and stuffing. Sweet dumplings with cottage cheese, cherries and other berries are seasoned with sour cream by Ukrainians. Sour cream is also served with dumplings with potatoes, cabbage, mushrooms, but in this case it usually acts as a sauce, and the dressing is made from onions fried in lard or sunflower oil, or from cracklings (small pieces of heavily fried lard).
Dumplings with poppy seeds stand apart - this is a festive dish, and it is always seasoned with honey. Honey is also often seasoned with cherry dumplings.

2. Other flour products - dumplings, palyushki, donuts, pies

There are a lot of flour dishes in Ukrainian cuisine. For example, dumplings - relatively speaking, dumplings without filling with dressing, which are made from soft dough (cut into pieces), but boiled in boiling water, not steamed. Dumplings are also added to soups and borscht.

A similar dish in the western part of Ukraine is made with cottage cheese and potatoes and is called palyushki, and is served with mushroom sauce with sour cream.

Ukrainian donuts are no less famous than vareniki, because they are an inseparable pair with borscht. They are prepared from yeast dough in the oven or deep-fried.

There are many varieties of yeast and unleavened pies in Ukraine, which are prepared with the same set of fillings as dumplings, as well as with peas, beans, jam from viburnum and pears, with fresh fruit. Yeast pies are most often baked in the oven or in the oven, and unleavened ones are fried in a pan.

3. Ukrainian borscht

Borscht is not only a symbol of Ukrainian cuisine, but also the main food of Ukrainians to this day. Since the "range" of borscht covers a huge area, including all regions of Ukraine, there are a lot of recipes for its preparation - from a simple Transcarpathian version to a complex multi-component Kyiv borscht.

The main and indispensable ingredient of borscht is beetroot - Ukrainian borscht is impossible without it. In addition to pieces of the root crop itself, kvass from it is added to borscht - once every housewife had a pot with fermented beets, which were constantly refreshed.

In addition to beets, potatoes, cabbage, onions, tomatoes or tomato juice, meat broth are almost always used. If lean borsch is prepared, then meat broth is replaced with mushroom, fish broth, or only vegetables are used in general, flavoring the dish with dressing from onions fried in vegetable oil.

To give an idea of ​​the diversity of Ukrainian borscht, we will present two very different recipes - borscht of central Ukraine and borscht and Hutsul (Galician).

Borscht of central Ukraine

The selected recipe is just one of the varieties of borscht that are cooked in central Ukraine, because the recipes not only vary from region to region, but can be slightly different even in each village.

Ingredients:

meat broth and meat (pork, chicken, duck or pork with lamb), potatoes, beets, cabbage, onions, carrots, beet kvass, tomatoes (tomato juice or tomato paste), beans, bay leaf, salt, ground pepper and pepper peas, garlic, lard or lard, fresh herbs (dill, parsley, green onions).

Cooking

For the broth, they take pork meat on the bones, pork ribs. If poultry meat is used, then preference is given to a rooster over a chicken, a drake over a duck, etc. (that is, a male). The broth should be rich and moderately fatty.

From the broth carefully remove the foam or filter it at the end of cooking.
To the semi-finished meat put potatoes, cut into large pieces. Grated or chopped beets are sautéed with fat, and 10-15 minutes after adding the potatoes, put the prepared beets in boiling borscht.

After that, it should no longer boil violently in order to maintain a beautiful, rich, dark red beet color.
Together with beets or a little later, put chopped cabbage.
Carrots are sautéed separately with onions and added to borscht after cabbage. Borscht is salted, peppered, put bay leaves, peppercorns, tomato paste, peeled garlic, beet kvass and left to simmer slowly over very low heat.

If fresh tomatoes are used instead of tomato paste in borscht, they are put together with potatoes, and after a while they are taken out, rubbed through a sieve and only gruel without pieces of peel and seeds is returned to borscht.

If borscht is prepared with the addition of beans, then it is pre-soaked and put into the broth almost simultaneously with the meat.
Greens are added to the finished borscht in the pan or directly on the plates.

Sour cream is always served with borscht. They put it on the table separately, and everyone adds it to their plate to taste.

It should be noted that sourness is an important component of the taste of Ukrainian borscht, and it is achieved in various ways - by adding beet kvass, pickled apples, fermented tomatoes, sorrel, and in a simplified version - table vinegar or citric acid.

Hutsul borscht

Compared to borscht from other regions of Ukraine, which differ from each other in several components, Galician borscht has a slightly different philosophy. It is prepared exclusively from beets in meat broth and with the addition of a large amount of heavy cream right during cooking. Thanks to the cream, borscht does not have a classic bright beetroot color, but a delicate milky red.

Some housewives add flour dried or fried with fat to this borscht, a small amount of tomato paste and onion sauteed with fat can also be added.

An obligatory and very important component of the Hutsul borscht is a sprig of dried savory, which gives the dish a delicate, refined aroma.
Hutsul (Galician) borsch is served separately with boiled whole "in uniform" or peeled potatoes.

Festive Ukrainian dishes

Festive dishes of Ukrainian cuisine can be divided into two groups: those that are served only on certain, strictly designated occasions, and those that are usually chosen for the festive table, but can also be cooked on weekdays.

The former include Easter pastries, kutia, poppy seeds (shuliki), wedding loaves and cones.

To the second - jellied meat, homemade pork sausage, black blood, cabbage, stuffed cabbage, stewed potatoes, pastries with various fillings, berry jelly, dumplings.

The famous Ukrainian borscht is rarely served on holidays, apparently because it is cooked very often on ordinary days.

Easter food in Ukraine

The Easter basket with which they go to church includes paska (Kulich), krashanki (painted or multi-colored boiled eggs), homemade pork sausage or baked pork, horseradish, grated and filled with beet kvass.
The Easter table itself is made up of these dishes - as a rule, no other food is prepared on this day.

In western Ukraine, budz is added to the list - sheep's or cow's cheese, prepared by the method of enzymatic curdling of milk. Sausage, boiled eggs and budza are used here for cutting, which is sprinkled with grated horseradish.

Christmas Ukrainian dishes

The evening before Christmas is called “Holy Evening” in Ukraine, and they try to prepare 12 Lenten dishes for it. The main dish of the holiday is wheat kutya, which in the central regions is always prepared and paired with uzvar (dried apple and pear compote).

In addition to kutya, they make lean dumplings with cabbage, lean cabbage rolls, cook fish, boiled potatoes with onions fried in oil, and serve sauerkraut.

Shuliki (poppies)

Makoviki is a special food that is prepared for the holiday "Makovia" - August 14th. For them, low cakes are baked from unleavened soda dough in the oven, which are then broken (not cut) into pieces, softened with milk, mixed with a large amount of grated poppy seeds and seasoned with honey.
You can try this divine treat exclusively on August 14 - the tradition is so strong that it rarely occurs to any hostess to make shuliki on another day of the year.

Wedding loaves and cones

A wedding loaf in Ukraine is a symbolic meal, which contains a deep sacred meaning. It is prepared from rich yeast dough and carefully decorated with baked ornaments, bunches of viburnum, ears of corn, dried herbs and fresh flowers. A baked loaf for a wedding is requested by a woman who is happy in marriage. With a loaf, parents meet the newlyweds, and at the end of the celebration they distribute pieces of it to all guests.

Ukrainian national drinks

Traditional drinks are almost as wide a topic of discussion as food, but if you try to squeeze it down to the size of one paragraph, you can name three characteristic Ukrainian drinks - mead (varenukha), kvass and uzvar.

Mead has been known since the time of Kievan Rus and is honey boiled with water and dried fruits, and then left to ferment. It is an alcoholic drink.

Ukrainian kvass can be bread, pear, beet, apple.
Uzvar is a non-alcoholic everyday drink that is brewed from dried pears, apples, plums, blackthorn.

Products that are used for traditional Ukrainian dishes

Meat

For the preparation of traditional meat dishes in Ukraine, pork is most often used. As we have already mentioned, this is historically due to the fact that cows and oxen were domestic livestock used for household needs, so beef was rarely eaten. Chickens were bred more for eggs.

The relatively warm climate of Ukraine, in which the above-zero temperature persists for more than six months, did not make it possible to store meat for a long time in the summer, so the meat in rural farms was only in winter, while in the warm season they were content with dressings on lard, which was stored in a salty form for a long time. This is the reason for the widespread use of lard and cracklings in dishes, and the origins of the slightly exaggerated thesis that lard is a national Ukrainian product.
Pork is used to prepare home-made chopped sausage and black pudding, and in Ukraine, dishes from baked poultry are also popular.

Dairy

Until recently, every Ukrainian farm, which had enough workers, kept a “cow-nurse”, so dairy dishes are very widely represented in Ukrainian cuisine. Dumplings, nalistniks, manniks are prepared from cottage cheese. Sour cream goes to gas stations, gravies, to borscht, it is also used to make very tasty ghee in the oven.

Unlike Western European countries, the production of hard cheeses has not developed in Ukraine and only cottage cheese is used (with the exception of the western regions, where dry feta cheese is made from cow's and sheep's milk - a well-aged crumbly cheese, slightly reminiscent of parmesan in taste).

Fresh whole milk is served with pies, potato pancakes and added to cereal porridge.

Eggs

Omelettes, scrambled eggs and other egg dishes are not popular in Ukrainian cuisine, but eggs are often used for baking, they are added to sweet cereals, and boiled eggs are sometimes put in soups and borscht.

cereals

Truly Ukrainian groats are millet. Porridge is prepared from it, in particular, sweet milk porridge with pumpkin, as well as another characteristic Ukrainian Cossack dish “kulish” (kulesh) - field soup, which is cooked on a fire with potatoes, millet, onions and rubbed with lard.
Also often and a lot cooked and cooked from buckwheat - milk porridge, buckwheat, dumplings from buckwheat flour.

Rice is used for cabbage rolls, peas for soups and as a filling for pies.
Soups and cereals are prepared from barley, wheat, oatmeal.

Vegetables

All vegetables that grow in the garden are used for food, except for fodder crops. The most "ancient", which can be considered the most traditional - beets and turnips. Potatoes also took root well in Ukraine and can be called the second bread, although it is not as indispensable here as, for example, in Belarus.

Ukrainians love pumpkin and bake it in the oven in large quantities, then using it for cereals and desserts.

Cucumbers and tomatoes are salted for the winter, cabbage is used both fresh and sauerkraut. In general, the share of vegetables in Ukrainian dishes is very large.

Herbs and spices

Ukrainian dishes are rarely spicy, but they are generously seasoned with the aroma of homemade vegetables and spices. The most spicy dishes and snacks are prepared with thermally unprocessed garlic, onions and horseradish (for example, donuts). Quite rarely, but hot peppers are also used.
From herbs, Ukrainians most of all love dill, parsley, green onions, savory, cumin, bay leaves, black and white pepper.

Sweets

The most ancient Ukrainian sweet is honey. Beekeeping was very developed - wild nests were not destroyed here, but apiaries were set up near the house or in the forest, luring bees with "hollows" - wooden logs that were hollowed out from the inside and covered with a thatched roof.

Honey was used independently and various sweets were prepared from it - gingerbread, bagels.
Sweet vegetables and fruits also served as the basis for sweet dishes. Poppy seeds, nuts, dried pears, apples, plums were added to desserts.

Regional differences of Ukrainian cuisine

In terms of cooking methods and products used, Ukrainian cuisine is quite homogeneous throughout Ukraine, however, some regions are more distinguished by their own identity due to their natural conditions and the ethnic composition of the population.
As an example, we will give two of them - the Carpathian region (part of the Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv regions) and Odessa.
The first region is distinguished by mountains, the second by the sea and an amazing mixture of many nations in one city.

Ukrainians are a hospitable and hospitable people who know how to feed in such a way that a generous table is remembered, forced to return or encourages guests to cook national dishes of Ukraine at home. We have thousands of recipes for all sorts of goodies, because even borscht is prepared in completely different ways in different parts of the country. And today IGotoWorld.com will tell you how the traditional dishes of the regions of Ukraine can surprise you.

So let's start our virtual tasting tour. Don't read on an empty stomach!

Satisfying North of Ukraine

In the northern regions of Ukraine, they cook hearty, tasty and thoroughly. These regions are famous for the potato harvest, and this has affected the peculiarities of the local cuisine.

Zhytomyr region: potato pancakes

In Polissya, one of the favorite dishes is pancakes made from grated potatoes - pancakes, or potato pancakes. In Korosten, Zhytomyr region, a brand has been made of this dish: the International Potato Festival is held here every year, where chefs from all over Ukraine and beyond come to show their art. And in the park where it takes place, they even erected a monument to the bully. And, of course, local restaurants are ready to offer you the best variations of this dish. Deruny can be stuffed: traditionally they were made with cottage cheese and stewed in the oven. Now pancakes with mushrooms, meat, grated cheese are popular.

Chernihiv region: roast in pots and pies with viburnum

In the Chernihiv region, they are happy to serve hot dishes - this is a dish in pots, it includes potatoes, sauerkraut and meat. Satisfying and appetizing.

And for dessert - pies with viburnum, because Chernihiv region is rich in berries.

Photo source: pirozochki.com.

Sumy-style roast and borsch on beetroot kvass

Another recipe for roast in pots, which is prepared in the Sumy region, is original in that both meat and liver are laid with potatoes. All this is cooked with bell pepper, sour cream and cheese. Another variation: meat, beans, mushrooms and sour cream.

Photo source: graffin.com.ua.

And borscht is cooked here with pork and beetroot kvass.

The Kiev's cutlets

The multicultural capital of Ukraine is rich in restaurants for different tastes. Here you can try the menu of many countries of the world. But we will remember the old recipe for Kiev cutlets: when a piece of butter, cheese, greens are placed inside deep-fried chicken fillet, coated with an egg and breaded. The cutlet turns out surprisingly juicy and tasty.

Photo source: pro-ukraine.com.

Ear in Nikolaev style

In the Nikolaev region, fish is preserved at home, adding tomato, and cooking fish soup with tomato juice or tomato paste and sour cream. And for spiciness - sauce: chopped garlic mixed with salt and pepper. It is served with potatoes and fish.

Photo source: xvatit.com.

Eggplant in Kherson style and eggplant caviar

The south of Ukraine is also famous for its vegetables. Kherson-style eggplant is a spicy dish. It is prepared by frying blue ones in oil, with sweet and bitter peppers and apple cider vinegar.

Photo source: vkusnodoma.net.

And if you are not a fan of such spicy, then eggplant caviar is for you. By the way, according to the Kherson recipe, peppers and eggplants are not boiled (as many housewives do), but baked - this is how the vegetables retain their flavor.

Crimea: lagman and dolma

Lagman is one of the most popular dishes of the Crimean Tatar cuisine. A cross between the first and second: noodles served with pieces of meat (usually beef) stewed in gravy with vegetables. Sweet and simple! In a classic recipe in local restaurants, the noodles are rolled by themselves. But in everyday life they often use ready-made from the store.

Photo source: top3.events.

And in the spring, when young grape leaves bloom, small cabbage rolls with meat are prepared from them, which are called “dolma”. And, of course, we cannot imagine Crimea without huge pasties.

Kapustnyak Zaporozhye and mlyns

Rich cabbage was prepared in the Zaporizhzhya Sich. It is cooked with pork - traditionally, the Cossacks "to spite the busurmans" used lard and pork.

Photo source: i.ytimg.com.

Another interesting dish is mlins. It is prepared in the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov. These are not pancakes or pancakes. The yeast dough is thinly rolled out, a layer of cottage cheese filling with butter is placed on top, and then rolled up.

You can try the dishes of real Cossacks.

Dishes of Central Ukraine

It is worth heading to the central regions to try traditional dishes of Ukraine thanks to which our cuisine is recognizable in the world.

Cherkasy region - borscht and donuts with garlic

As already mentioned, in Ukraine borscht is cooked differently everywhere. In the Cherkasy region, it is classically rich, and fragrant dumplings with garlic are served with it.

Photo source: perchinka63.ru.

Kirovohrad region - kruheniki and dumplings

Another favorite dish of central Ukraine is dumplings. They are prepared with different fillings: potatoes, mushrooms, meat, liver, cabbage. And grandmothers know a special recipe for dumplings “with this”: for the filling, lard is overcooked in a pan with flour and onions. Sometimes housewives can surprise you with palm-sized dumplings.

Photo source: vsviti.com.ua.

And from special meat dishes one can name krucheniki - small meat rolls stuffed with minced meat, pate, prunes with nuts.

Photo source: bon-appetit-ru.livejournal.com.

Poltava dumplings and pundiki

The expression "Poltava dumpling" has taken root in everyday life so much that they began to call it not only the crown dish of this region, but also the inhabitants of the Poltava region. And if you have boiled pieces of dough floating in a bowl of soup, in no case believe that these are real dumplings. “In the original” they are not at all like that: dumplings are cooked with fillings, and to see this, you should come to Poltava for the annual festival of dumplings or just visit the local restaurants of Ukrainian cuisine.

Photo source: poltava.to.

Do you know what pundiki are? These are cakes made from dough mixed with kefir and an egg, which are fried in a pan. They can be salty - then they are fried with onions or sweet - with poppy seeds. Poppy cakes are prepared for the holiday of Makovei, served with honey.

Dnepropetrovsk region: mincemeat and branded fish soup

In Dnepropetrovsk, as well as in Odessa, they like to cook a signature Jewish dish - forshmak. Herring is soaked in water with vinegar or in milk, then ground and mixed with boiled potatoes. You can decorate mincemeat with egg and green onions.

Photo source: www.vensky-strudel.com.

And from fresh fish caught in the Dnieper, they prepare a magnificent fish soup in the Dnieper style with lek. Suitable catfish, carp. The ear is cooked as usual, but it's all about the seasoning. As it is used lek - it is garlic, grated with salt, and seasoned with fatty fish broth. You can water the fish with it or add it to the yushka - to taste.

Dishes of Eastern Ukraine

They like to eat here thoroughly and satisfyingly, and this is not surprising, because eastern Ukraine is the land of miners. And real men engaged in physical labor need to well reinforce their strength with lunch.

Donbas-style shank and okroshka

The shank is cooked for several hours in the oven at a temperature of 160-180 degrees. The back of the pork leg is taken, rubbed with salt and spices, and then baked in dough or in foil.

In addition, about 50 okroshka recipes are known in Donbass. So, like borscht, it will be different in every family. This cold soup is prepared with kvass, whey or even mineral water, flavored with sour cream.

Photo source: youtube.com.

Meatloaf in Lugansk

Very hearty original dish. Minced pork and beef are laid out on a piece of linen, on top - an omelet and large boiled carrots. The roll is rolled up, tightly tied and boiled in salted water, then the sheet is removed, cooled and cut into portions. You can experiment with toppings.

Photo source: recept-vzakladku.ru.

Kharkiv region: Slobozhansky borscht and Greeks

As soon as they cook Ukrainian borscht! In a real Slobozhansky, the recipe of which was told in the Kharkiv region, they put beans and meatballs, usually from beef.

And on the second - Greeks: meatballs with buckwheat, you can add mushrooms.

Photo source: fb.ru.

Bukovyna - chinakhi, hominy and cheese

Second question: what is chinakhi? This is a Bukovinian dish like a roast. Layers are laid out potatoes, beans and smoked ribs with onions. Then it is filled with water and stewed in the oven in a pot.

Photo source: boombob.ru.

In the Chernivtsi region, it is also worth trying delicious homemade sheep's milk cheese and traditional Hutsul food - corn porridge, hominy. Classically, it is boiled in sheep's milk, generously flavored with butter. When frozen, locals can use hominy instead of bread.

In Bukovina they know how to cook, you can be sure of this in Chernivtsi.

Transcarpathia: Zavivans and Bograchs

Question three: how is bograch prepared? This dish comes from Hungarian cuisine. Goulash is taken, and the meat should be of different types. In the original recipe, everything is boiled over a fire in a cauldron and seasoned with roots, Carpathian herbs and Magyar paprika.

And in Transcarpathia, both large meat rolls and small rolls are called curlers. Small Uzhgorod-style curls are made from thin slices of beef, on which a mixture of finely chopped boiled eggs, pickled cucumber, bacon and raw grated potatoes is laid out. The roll is fastened with a thread, first fried, and then stewed.

Photo source: beaddream.wordpress.com.

Fine meat dishes will be served to you, don't forget about a cup of coffee!

Mazuryks in Volhynia and Polissya Verguns

Question four: what are mazuriki? To learn and try, we go to the Volyn region. Western Ukraine is famous for its variety of homemade sausages. Volynsky Mazuriks are homemade turkey sausages with butter and cheese inside.

Photo source: jjreception.ru.

Lviv region: Galician cheesecake and strudel

Question five: have you tried real strudel? And how does the Galician cheesecake differ from the usual cheesecakes for us?

Delicious Viennese rolls - strudel are well cooked in Lviv. They can be both salty (with cheese, bacon) and sweet (with cottage cheese, apples).

Photo source: relax.com.ua.

And the Galician cheesecake is a symphony of culinary art. The preparation of the curd mass, which is laid out on shortcrust pastry, is a whole ritual. Then the cheesecake should stand in the refrigerator for a day ... So it’s better not to try to cook, but savor the cheesecake with a cup of aromatic coffee ...

Visit atmospheric cafes and restaurants in Lviv - you will enjoy not only food!

Rivne region - potato growers and matsik

Question six: what is a matsik? This is the name in the Rivne region of dried meat in kendyukha - a boiled pork stomach. As already mentioned, Western Ukraine is the land of homemade sausages, and here they know how to cook them.

In the Rivne region, cartographers (or zrazy) are also popular. Various fillings are put into the dough from crushed boiled potatoes - mushroom, meat, egg and onion, then fried in a pan.

Photo source: patelnya.com.ua.

Ternopil region: machanka and kulesha

Question seven, what is machanka? This is Lemko thick soup with meat, roasted flour, onion, ground sweet pepper. They cook it in the Ternopil region. A variety of machanka is mushroom, generously seasoned with sour cream. And if the mushrooms are chopped, then this is a good sauce for dumplings.

Photo source: sergej-pozhar.livejournal.com.

And for the first course, they serve a rich kulesha of millet with cracklings.

Where to eat deliciously in Ternopil,.

Khmelnytsky region: meat rolls, sausages and buckets

Question eight: what are buckets? We leave for the answer to the Khmelnytsky region. It turns out that this is potato sausage: pig intestines are stuffed with grated raw potatoes, greased with lard on top, baked in the oven.

In addition, excellent meat sausages and rolls are cooked in the Khmelnytsky region - they are baked until golden brown and served with various side dishes.

Photo source: heavycook.livejournal.com.

Waiting for you!

There is hardly a person in the world who has never heard of the rich and original Ukrainian cuisine. Traditional borscht with garlic donuts, dumplings, pancakes with a variety of fragrant fillings - many Ukrainian dishes are included in the golden fund of world cuisine!
Neighborhood with other peoples and a long stay in other states led to the fact that Ukrainian cuisine was finally formed only at the beginning of the 19th century. The loss of its own statehood and the territorial disunity of the country's lands led to a number of features of its national cuisine. Long-term proximity to the Hungarians, Germans, Turks and Tatars contributed to the fact that many new products and technological methods for their processing appeared here, which were absolutely unusual for the Slavic peoples.

DISHES OF UKRAINIAN CUISINE

The originality of local culinary traditions is expressed primarily in the choice of basic products. For the preparation of dishes, pork is mainly used, meat of small poultry is also popular. The development of agriculture and the cultivation of cereals led to the availability of a wide range of flour products. Vegetables also play an important role. The championship belongs to beets, it is the basis for many first and second courses. Potatoes, carrots, cabbage, pumpkin, zucchini and legumes (peas and beans) are also held in high esteem by Ukrainians. It is difficult to imagine any cuisine without herbs and spices. Frequent guests on the Ukrainian table are onions, dill and savory, mint and lovage.
In addition to a wide range of products used, the cuisine of Ukraine is distinguished by a peculiar technology of their heat treatment. Any ingredient, be it hard meat or soft vegetables, is initially lightly fried and sautéed, and then stewed or baked. As a result, the dishes have an unusual structure and are not only juicy, but also tender. It is difficult to list all the local culinary researches, because there are about 50 varieties of borsch alone. But it is quite possible to single out the most unusual dishes.

Ukrainian snacks

Appetizers are the simplest, lightest dishes that are offered to guests before serving the main courses. Their assortment in Ukraine is represented by vegetable salads, cereals and pates. Fish dishes and meat jelly are especially popular.
One of the popular Ukrainian snacks is mezhivo. The dish is old, has been prepared for a long time, although the very etymology of its name is slightly strange and incomprehensible. It is made from beets, eggplants or sweet peppers. Vegetables are pre-marinated, then stewed with spices, sour cream and fried onions. As a result of long-term heat treatment, they turn out juicy and soft, and the presence of a large number of spices and fragrant herbs gives the dish piquancy and a unique taste.
For lovers of fragrant bread and Ukrainian lard, there is no better snack than potaptsy. Cossacks often used this dish, especially during military campaigns. In fact, it resembles ordinary croutons - thin slices of rye bread fried in a pan. They are served with bacon or ham, always seasoned with ground pepper and garlic.
The signature dish of Ukrainians is ham. The exact place and time of origin of this dish is unknown. It is made from pork, using meat from the back of the animal for this. Pork is pre-salted well, then smoked or dried. The result is tender meat with a pinkish tinge and a dark brown crust.
A universal snack for all occasions is lard with garlic. Pork fat is the national pride of Ukrainians, it is good for human health, because it is endowed with a unique, rare set of vitamins and amino acids that strengthen bones, stabilize the functioning of the kidneys and heart. Salted or smoked bacon is the main decoration of the festive table in Ukraine.

First meal

Among the wide variety of first courses among Ukrainians, borscht is the most popular - a traditional dish of all Eastern Slavs. In Ukrainian cuisine, there are about 50 variants of its preparation. The dish has been known to the inhabitants of Ukraine since ancient times, its exact origin is unknown. Most likely, it appeared on the territory of the former Kievan Rus, around the 10th century. Over time, the dish has firmly become part of the national cuisines of many Eastern European countries.
In fact, borscht is a regular dressing soup. One of its main ingredients is beets. It provides a bright, rich color and a special taste. The basis of delicious borscht is the broth. For its preparation, several varieties of meat are used - as a rule, pork, less often beef, chicken or goose. Often it is prepared on the basis of bone or meat and bone broth.
Special attention is paid to the process of preparing the vegetable part of borscht. This dish is characterized by separate processing of vegetables. In particular, in order to preserve its bright color, the beets are stewed separately - this gives a dark red hue. There is also a strict sequence for laying vegetables. First, potatoes are added to the broth, after a couple of minutes, beets and cabbage, only then the turn comes to the sautéed carrots, onions and greens. This sequence makes the soup thicker and richer.
There are also regional differences regarding the preparation of borscht. Their essence lies in the set of basic ingredients and the method of their heat treatment. Among the regional variants of the dish, Kyiv borscht looks interesting; it is prepared on the basis of beef broth. It has an unusual, somewhat sour taste, which is achieved through the use of beet kvass. Vegetables must be stewed before being put into borscht - this way they become more juicy and tender. When serving, the dish must be decorated with chopped herbs and seasoned with finely chopped lard and grated fragrant garlic.
The Poltava version of borscht is also popular among Ukrainians. It differs only in that, in addition to vegetables, dumplings are also added to it. It is prepared mainly on the basis of chicken broth. The result is a light, hearty, fragrant soup that lovers of Ukrainian cuisine will appreciate.
Separately, it is worth highlighting the Chernihiv borscht. Cooked in meat and bone broth, it has no greasy dressing. In addition to the usual set of ingredients, finely chopped zucchini is added to it. The sour taste of borsch is given by apples, which are added at the very end. And, of course, for a richer flavor, the dish is seasoned with spices, lots of herbs, and when served, decorate with a spoonful of homemade sour cream.
Kholodnik is one of the varieties of ordinary borscht. It is prepared on hot summer days, because it satisfies the feeling of hunger and thirst quite well. The basis of such a dish is kefir or beetroot broth, to which fresh vegetables are added, mainly pickled beets, cucumbers, herbs (dill, parsley) and onions. This kind of dish is served exclusively cold. As a side dish, boiled potatoes and boiled eggs are attached to it. Decorate the refrigerator with sour cream and sprigs of fresh herbs.
One of the popular first courses of Ukrainian cuisine is kapustnyak - a common soup based on sauerkraut. It is an essential attribute of the Christmas table. In Russian cuisine, traditional cabbage soup is its analogue. Cabbage is characterized by a light, sour taste that sauerkraut gives it. The thick consistency of the dish is achieved through the use of millet. There are many options for preparing this dish. In some regions, it is cooked in fish broth; mushrooms are often added to it for a more interesting taste. In general, the dish is simple in terms of preparation, and in terms of taste and level of popularity it can easily compete with borscht.
The assortment of the first dishes of the Ukrainian cuisine is complemented by soups. Hearty, light, fragrant green or dairy, they will decorate any table. Vegetable versions are popular in Ukraine. There are a lot of options for their preparation - with beans, tomatoes, potatoes, Savoy cabbage, peas, red pepper. In the west of the country, you can often find milk soups with potato dumplings. Regardless of the cooking option, they are served with fried croutons. When serving, the dish, as usual, is decorated with greens.

Flour dishes

The hallmark of Ukrainian cuisine are vareniki - boiled products made from unleavened or yeast dough with various fillings. The basis for the filling can be any ingredients: boiled potatoes or meat, mushrooms or stewed cabbage. For sweet dumplings, grated cottage cheese or fresh berries, mainly cherries and raspberries, are used. The dish is served at the table with sour cream or butter. Potato-filled dumplings are usually served with fried onions and cracklings.
The category of simple dishes includes lazy dumplings with cottage cheese. The simplicity of the dish lies in the absence of molding inherent in the traditional performance. In this case, the rolled dough, smeared with cottage cheese filling, is rolled up in the form of a roll and cut into slices of medium thickness. It remains only to boil the dumplings in boiling water - and the dish can be safely served at the table. Lazy dumplings are not only quick to prepare, but also incredibly tasty. One of the varieties of this dish is dumplings - boiled products made from unleavened dough without filling. They are always served hot to the table, because when chilled they lose their taste.
Traditional flour research, without which it is difficult to imagine the cuisine of Ukraine, includes donuts. This kind of pastry is a classic addition to the first and some second courses. Dumplings are typical yeast buns with Germanic roots. In Ukrainian cuisine, they most likely appeared thanks to the German colonists who arrived here at the beginning of the 19th century. Thanks to the yeast dough, donuts always turn out lush and very light - they just melt in your mouth. Pampushki with garlic are also in demand among Ukrainians; they are always served with Ukrainian borscht.
Pancakes are another famous dish of Ukrainian cuisine. The first mention of such products goes back to prehistoric times. In Russia, pancakes first appeared around the 9th century and have since become firmly rooted in the menu of the East Slavic peoples. Today, there are many of their recipes, although the basic principle of preparation has remained unchanged for so many centuries. The technology of cooking pancakes requires special skill, because they must remain thin and ruddy, and this can be very difficult to do. To give them an even more refined taste, various fillings are wrapped in them, and then they are called nalistniks. Traditional nalistniki are stuffed with cottage cheese, but in the Ukrainian menu you can also find meat, mushroom, fish and vegetable stuffing. Sweet pancakes with chocolate, honey, berries, fruit jam or condensed milk are served as desserts.
Of the flour products in Ukrainian cuisine, potato pancakes are popular. This dish came to Ukraine from neighboring Belarus. For it, flour, grated potatoes, salt and eggs are used. The resulting dough is simply fried in a heated pan, resulting in small pancakes. They are served hot to the table, always adding a little fresh sour cream.

Main dishes

Ukrainian cuisine is characterized by a wide range of meat dishes. The basis for their preparation is mainly pork. The specificity of such dishes lies in the special processing technology of the main ingredients. Chopping and "cross-section" of products led to the presence in the kitchen of many stuffed dishes. Minced meat dishes are no less popular: various meat rolls or zavyvantsy, "sicheniki", homemade sausages from offal, cutlets.
The process of heat treatment of products is also time-consuming. In most cases, both vegetables and meat are initially fried or sautéed, then stewed over low heat. This technology makes the dishes more juicy and fragrant. Tender meat with vegetables, seasoned with spices and languishing for several hours, has an unforgettable taste.
The most famous meat dish is roast, or liver, found in both Russian and Ukrainian cuisine. In terms of consistency and selection of the main ingredients, it resembles Hungarian goulash. Pork is the main ingredient in the dish. It is pre-fried and then stewed together with sautéed vegetables (potatoes, carrots, tomatoes). After a long stew, the meat is soft and juicy. Roast is served to the table in ceramic pots, with a lot of broth and herbs.
Different regions of Ukraine have their own original recipes for cooking roasts. In the Sumy region, it is prepared from pork, but a little more liver is added. Then the meat and vegetables are simmered over low heat, dressing everything with cheese and sour cream. In Western Ukraine, in addition to meat, mushrooms and beans are integral elements of food. Nevertheless, despite the different composition of the main ingredients, the dish still turns out to be hearty and aromatic, and in each individual version it has its own unique features.
Neighboring peoples influenced the formation of Ukrainian culinary traditions for many years, so often in Ukraine there are dishes inherent in German, Polish and Czech cuisine. Sicheniki belong to this list. In shape and basic ingredients, they resemble ordinary meatballs. They are prepared from chopped minced meat or fish, rolled in breadcrumbs before frying, which gives the cakes a beautiful oval shape and a delicious golden crust. Sicheniki are served hot with sour cream or a delicate creamy sauce.
Simple meat dishes include cue balls, which are considered to be the birthplace of France. In their version, they are called more elegantly - "medallions". In the Ukrainian version, minced meat cutlets are called cue balls. Often they have a round or oval shape, they are served at the table along with a side dish and sauce.
The signature delicacy of the Ukrainian capital is Kiev cutlet - this dish is popular not only in Ukraine, but also far beyond its borders. There is a version that Kiev cutlets are a kind of analogue of the French dish "cotelette de volaille". The story goes that at the end of the 19th century, in one of the capital's restaurants, they decided to slightly modify the famous French cutlets, leaving a small bone on one of the edges - this made it possible to eat them with your hands, which was very convenient, given their huge size. Since then, a new dish has appeared on the menu of Ukrainian restaurants, which was named very symbolically - "cutlet in Kiev."
They prepare exclusive Ukrainian cutlets from chicken fillet. The juiciness and pleasant aroma of the dish is achieved through the use of butter, grated cheese, herbs and mushrooms, which are put inside. Kiev cutlets are deep-fried, breadcrumbs give them a crispy, golden crust.
Ukrainian cuisine also has a wide selection of meat rolls. Juicy meat, fragrant brown crust, delicate aroma of spices and seasonings - this is how you can characterize zrazy. According to historical information, they have Lithuanian roots. After the unification of Lithuania and Poland within the framework of one state, zrazy became popular on Ukrainian territory as well. They are called beef tenderloin rolls. As a filling, a mixture of vegetables, boiled eggs and mushrooms is used. The dish is seasoned with salt and pepper, then baked in the oven. Serve at the table as a full-fledged main course, along with a side dish in the form of mashed potatoes. In Western Ukraine, the analogue of zrazy is zavyvantsi - rolls made from thin whole sheets of meat.
Quite original can be called the main dishes in Western Ukraine. The formation of local culinary traditions was influenced by the neighborhood with other peoples, in particular with the Poles, Hungarians and Lemkos. Fragrant banush, mazuryk, Transcarpathian bograch, chinakh - here you can try those dishes that many did not even know existed. Many of them have international roots, but have taken root well in the national cuisine.
Banush is a legendary Transcarpathian dish. Fragrant corn porridge, cooked on an open fire, combined with cracklings, cheese and mushrooms is the pinnacle of the culinary art of the Hutsuls. By tradition, banush is prepared only by men, served with fried bacon and sour cream. It would seem that there is nothing complicated here, but the taste of the dish captivates from the first spoon.
The second place in popularity is deservedly received by the Transcarpathian machanka. The dish is simple but very tasty. The main ingredient for it is pork, which is pre-fried and then stewed in sour cream and cream sauce. The result is a tender and delicious main dish. It will decorate any festive table, and in combination with homemade noodles and fried potatoes, it looks divine in general.
To find out what the Mazuriks are, it is worth going to the Volyn region. Here, good housewives know the secret of making delicious homemade sausages from turkey meat. To make it juicy and fragrant, a little butter and a couple of pieces of cheese are added to it.
Among sausages, buckets look unusual. It is prepared mainly on the territory of the Khmelnytsky region. It resembles classic sausages, but instead of minced meat, it is stuffed with grated raw potatoes and potatoes. The food looks relatively simple, but appetizing.
Shpundra is another little-known Ukrainian dish. And although it has been prepared since time immemorial, in everyday life you will not meet it so often. In fact, shpundra is a simplified version of the beloved Ukrainian borscht. The dish is light and easy to digest. Pork fried and then stewed in beetroot kvass, natural vegetables, spices and perfumed herbs - the dish is so exquisitely fragrant with rich aromas that it will not leave anyone indifferent.
The original Ukrainian dish is kulesh - an old common delicacy. Often it replaces both the first and the second. Kulesh is similar in texture to a thick soup. In the old days, Zaporozhye Cossacks often cooked it during military campaigns, and in everyday worldly life too. Thick millet porridge seasoned with bacon was the key to the strength and courage of the Cossacks. Although these times are far behind, but kulesh is firmly entrenched in the traditional Ukrainian menu.

Ukrainian desserts

The range of Ukrainian confectionery products is wide and varied. Verguns, malts, shortbreads, pies, muffins, cookies and cakes - these delicacies are easy to prepare, but at the same time very tasty and will undoubtedly please the sweet tooth. Almost all delicacies Ukrainians bake from shortcrust pastry. Jam, poppy seeds or honey are an integral element of sweets. Baking is usually sprinkled with powdered sugar or cinnamon on top.
Among the simplest delicacies, one can single out syrniki - curd pancakes fried in vegetable oil. The dish does not require high skill or too much time. Fresh, well-pressed cottage cheese, a little flour and egg white - all that is needed to create a real culinary masterpiece. Syrniki is a versatile dish, it can be both bland and sweet. In most cases, it is served as a dessert. Cottage cheese pancakes, and even in combination with sour cream, condensed milk or fruit and berry jelly, is nothing but a heavenly delight.
Salt is a simple but very sweet dish. It is made in minutes, and the taste remains in memory for years. It is unlikely that anyone really thinks that a first-class dessert can be made from simple pancakes. It turns out that if you turn on your imagination and make a minimum of effort, everything is possible. In the hands of skilled housewives, pancakes turn into a beautiful layer cake. Stuffed with fruits, apples, nuts, honey or chocolate, and even baked in the oven with fresh sour cream, they enchant with their wonderful aroma and simply melt in your mouth. This delicacy is worth a try!
A little flour, butter, a couple of eggs, a handful of sugar - this is how a culinary masterpiece called verguns is born from simple products. The most delicate cookies, fried in boiling oil, are easy to prepare. Delicate, light, fluffy with a golden crust, which is barely visible behind a layer of powdered sugar, they attract the attention of not only children, but also adults.
In Ukrainian cuisine, there are a number of sweets made from custard yeast-free dough. First of all, they include bagels and pukhkeniki. The process of preparing such sweets is a little complicated and requires a certain skill, the main thing is to knead the dough correctly. This is 90% of the success of the dish. But Ukrainian housewives can handle any difficulties. Pukhkeniki and bagels, with properly prepared dough, always turn out lush and light. They are served only hot, lubricated on top with honey or fruit jam. Festive dish of Ukrainians is also paloshnik - a relative of Russian Easter cake. Baked from choux pastry, with the addition of fresh cream and a large amount of eggs, it is characterized by a delicate texture and rich aroma.
Kissel is a worthy rival of sweet pastries in the category of desserts - this gelatinous, jelly-like dish has been known to Ukrainians since ancient times. It is made from cereals and berries. An integral element of the dish is starch, which gives it a thicker texture. The meal itself is hearty and high-calorie, therefore it claims to be an independent main course. The assortment of berries for him is varied. Everything that can be found in the garden is used. Cherries and cranberries, strawberries and blueberries, dried fruits (apples, dried apricots) - no matter what ingredients are used, the jelly turns out to be fragrant and very tasty. One of the classic delights is milk jelly. The technology of its preparation is no different. Milk gives the dish a snow-white hue, and it turns out to be light and tender.

Ukrainian drinks

Uzvar, varenukha, kvass, fruit liqueurs and tinctures - all this belongs to the category of traditional Ukrainian drinks. Uzvar is the most useful and valuable drink, an essential attribute of the Christmas table. The basis for it are dried fruits (apples, pears, plums, dried apricots) and fresh berries.
On hot summer days, nothing will quench your thirst like cold, sharp-tasting kvass - an ancient Slavic drink. During the period of Kievan Rus, it was the main intoxicating drink, not a single holiday could do without it. It is prepared on the basis of flour, barley and rye malt, which, after fermentation, gives the drink sharpness and sourness. Over time, the range of kvass has become more diverse. Today, depending on the set of main ingredients, several types of it are distinguished - bread, milk, honey, fruit and berry.
Kvass is not only tasty, but also healthy. Due to the presence of vitamins, various trace elements, it improves metabolism, has a beneficial effect on the functioning of the cardiovascular system, and has a high energy value. It is proved that during the famine, he saved people from exhaustion and certain death.
In any national cuisine there are interesting hot alcoholic drinks. Mulled wine, punch, groh and "horseradish", probably known to many. But they are no match for Ukrainian varenukha. This drink appeared around the 16th century, it warms well on frosty winter days. It contains many components - honey, moonshine, various herbs and, of course, fruits, mainly apples, plums and pears. Varenukha was cooked only in the oven, pouring pervak ​​into a pot and covering with dough. The baked dough was a signal that the drink was ready.
Varenukha is also associated with the emergence of the well-known expression "to drink on a horse." In the pot where the varenukha was boiled, there was always a sediment that the Cossacks used to treat the wounds of their horses. Often, when the drink ended abruptly, the Cossacks asked the hostess to give them what was left for the horse. This expression is firmly rooted in the memory of Ukrainians and still has not lost its meaning.

Ukrainian cuisine is really original and very interesting. Dishes prepared from the heart always remain in the memory of those who have ever had the opportunity to try them!

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