AI-generated image
Kutia
Wheat berries with poppy seeds
Christmas Eve wheat berries with poppy seeds, honey and walnuts
Kutia is the first dish tasted on Ukrainian Christmas Eve, once the first star appears in the sky: a bowl of whole wheat berries mixed with ground poppy seed 'milk', honey, walnuts and raisins. Families in Lviv, Ternopil and the villages of the west traditionally throw a spoonful at the ceiling for luck and set a bowl aside for departed relatives, and the head of the house greets the evening with it. It is eaten at room temperature, sweet, nutty and chewy, and the spoon must touch every guest's plate. Chef's tip: soak and grind the poppy seed until it turns white and milky; common mistake is using it whole, which leaves kutia gritty and grey instead of creamy.
- Total time
- 120 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 8
Ingredients
For the wheat
- 9 oz whole wheat berriessoaked overnight in cold water
- 6 ¼ cups water
- 1 pinch salt
For the poppy seed
- 3 ½ oz blue poppy seeds
- 1 cup boiling water
To mix
- 4 tbsp honeyrunny
- 4 tbsp warm water or uzvar
- 2 ⅞ oz walnutstoasted and chopped
- 2 ⅛ oz raisinssoaked 10 minutes in hot water and drained
- 1 ¾ oz dried apricots (optional)chopped
Shop this recipe on Amazon
What you'll need
Fresh ingredients (1)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Drain the soaked 9 oz whole wheat berries and put it in a pot with 6 ¼ cups water and 1 pinch salt. Bring to the boil, then simmer over a low heat, partly covered, for 1 to 1½ hours, until the grains are tender and some have burst. Drain and cool.
90 minStep 2: Meanwhile cover 3 ½ oz blue poppy seeds with 1 cup boiling water and leave for 30 minutes. Drain through a very fine sieve or cloth.
Step 3: Grind the poppy seed in a mortar, a spice grinder or with a stick blender, a little at a time, for 3–5 minutes, until it turns pale grey-white and smells milky.
5 minStep 4: Stir 4 tbsp honey into 4 tbsp warm water or uzvar until dissolved.
Step 5: Mix the cooled wheat with the ground poppy, 2 ⅞ oz walnuts, 2 ⅛ oz raisins and 1 ¾ oz dried apricots. Pour over the honey water and stir until everything is evenly coated and glossy. It should be moist, not soupy; add a spoon more uzvar if dry.
Step 6: Cover and leave at least 1 hour so the wheat absorbs the honey. Serve at room temperature. It keeps 3 days in the fridge.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 280 kcal
- Protein
- 8 g
- Carbs
- 42 g
- Fat
- 10 g
- Fibre
- 6 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does kutia take?
- About 120 minutes in total: 30 minutes to prepare and 90 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 8 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- Can I make it ahead?
- Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
- What can I use instead of honey?
- Maple syrup or golden syrup, same amount.
- What can I use instead of walnuts?
- Pecans or chocolate chips, same amount.
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Kartoshka cakeCocoa and cake crumb truffles
Soviet cafés and school canteens sold these knobbly brown 'potatoes' for a few kopecks, and they began as a thrifty way to use up sponge and biscuit trimmings at the bakery. Crumbs are bound with butter and sweetened condensed milk, flavoured with cocoa and vanilla, shaped into little potatoes, rolled in cocoa and finished with two dabs of pale butter cream for the sprouts. They are fudgy and dense like a brownie truffle, need no oven, and children love making them. Traditional bakers added a spoonful of rum, an optional extra for adult batches only; this version is alcohol-free with vanilla. The usual slip is coarse crumbs, which make the potatoes crack, so blitz them as fine as sand. Chef's tip: chill the shaped potatoes for at least 20 minutes so they hold their shape and slice cleanly.
Russian
Undu walaluFried urad dal rings in treacle
Walalu means bangles, and these dark, sticky rings of fried urad dal soaked in kithul treacle are a sweet that Sinhala families bring out for Avurudu and for special almsgivings, often made in large batches by an aunt known for her steady hand. A thick, fluffy paste of ground black gram is piped into loops and fried until crisp, then plunged straight into warm treacle, so the rings stay crunchy on the outside while drinking up the syrup. They taste a little like a darker, smokier jalebi, with a toffee finish from the palm treacle. Watery batter is what ruins them; it spreads into flat blobs, so grind the soaked dal with as little water as possible and beat it until light. This recipe uses no asafoetida, so it is naturally gluten free. Chef's tip: pipe the rings onto small squares of baking paper and lower them into the oil paper and all; the paper peels away in seconds.
Sri Lankan
MarquesitasCheese and cajeta crepes
Evening in Mérida's Plaza Grande means the smell of marquesitas: thin batter pressed in hot hinged irons until crisp, then rolled like a cigar around grated Edam cheese and a sweet filling such as cajeta, chocolate-hazelnut spread or jam. Edam came to the Yucatán through the port trade with the Netherlands and became part of the local cooking, and the salty-sweet combination is the whole point. At home you can cook them in a thin, wide frying pan. Edam is usually made with animal rennet, so check the label or use a vegetarian Gouda-style cheese. Chef's tip: roll while the crêpe is still in the pan and hot; within seconds it hardens and will crack.
Mexican