Sauerkraut and Meat Soup

The Russians have a soup meal at least once a day. Shchi, borsch, rassolnik, botvinia, ukha, okroshka, solianka and many others has been a peculiarity of Russia since ancient times. Soups can be made on meat, fish, mushroom, vegetables or milk stocks.

How about a plate of Russian shchi? Nothing can warm your heart and stomach better than this traditional soup meal. Ask Anastasia Web Aizhan to make it for you!

Ingredients:
1 1/4 lb breast beef
1/2 lb breast pork
2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups sauerkraut
1/2 cup sour cream
1 carrot
1 parsley
2 onions
2 potatoes
3 bay leaves
4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp dill
8 black pepper corns

Pour the beef and ham with boiling water, add an onion, potatoes and a part of roots (whole), boil for 1.5 hours until the meat is half-ready. Then add the sauerkraut and chopped onion, the rest of the roots cut in strips and continue to boil for 1 hour.

Small pies filled with minced meat

Are you hungry? Have you had dinner yet? Wanna try Russian pelmeni?
Anastasia Web assures you Aizhan from Aksay makes them so yummy!

Pelmeni came to Russian cuisine from Siberia; the name is translated "bread ear" from the Komi language.

Ingredients:
Dough:
2 c flour
1 c milk or water
1/2 ts salt
1 tb vegetable oil
3 eggs

Mincemeat:
250 g beef
250 g pork
1 onion
salt and pepper to taste

Grind beef and pork in the meat chopper. Add chopped onion, salt and pepper. Mix flour with eggs, salt and oil until soft dough forms. Knead on floured surface until the dough is elastic. Take some dough and make a "sausage" out of it (1 inch in diameter). Divide into pieces (1 inch thick). Roll each piece so that they are 1/16 inch thick. With the help of a cup (2 inches in diameter) make rounds on the dough. Fill each round with 1 teaspoon of the mincemeat, fold into half-moons. Pinch edges together and connect the opposite sides. Pelmeni can be frozen to be cooked later, or cooked immediately. To cook pelmeni, boil a lot of water, as they can stick to each other. Drop pelmeni into boiling salted water. Stir them from time to time. Boil for 20 minutes. Pelmeni are served with butter, sour cream or vinegar, ketchup.

Traditional Russian beverages are kvas, sbiten, med, mors, voditsa and many others.
In the good old times when Soviet people had no idea about Coca-cola, they drank refreshing and delicious home-made kvas.
Anastasia Web Aizhan from Aksay can give you the picture of what it tasted like.

Ingredients:
1 cup boiling water
1 cup rye flour
1 ts sugar
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1 pkg dry granular yeast (7g)
4 quarts boiled water, cooled to lukewarm

Pour boiling water over the flour and stir briskly until smooth. Cool to lukewarm. Dissolve the sugar in the lukewarm water, sprinkle the yeast over it, and let stand for 10 minutes. Combine the cooled batter, cover and let it rise until light and double in bulk. Stir in 4 quarts of boiled water, cooled to lukewarm. Cover and let it stand in a warm place for 3-4 days. When liquid is clear and tastes mildly sour, pour it off carefully with disturbing the sediment. Cover and keep in the refrigerator.