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Recipes with kefir

6 recipes that use kefir, with photos, step-by-step instructions and cook times. The quickest, Kama, takes 5 minutes. It is most often cooked with butter, onion and plain flour.

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Proziaki

Farm kitchens around Rzeszów and Krosno made proziaki when there was no time to wait for yeast: sour milk, flour and a spoon of soda, patted into rounds and cooked on the hot iron top of the stove. They rise into soft, scone-like breads about 2 cm thick, lightly charred outside, with a tender, faintly tangy crumb, and they are split while hot and spread with butter or jam, or eaten with soup. A common mistake is overworking the dough, which knocks out the gas and makes them tough. Chef's tip: keep the pan on a medium-low heat; if they brown in under 3 minutes, the middle will still be doughy.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Prażonki

Come late summer, villages around Kraków, the Jura uplands and the Beskid foothills hold prażonki parties, where a heavy cast-iron pot called a kociołek sits in the embers of a bonfire and everyone waits for the lid to come off. Inside are layers of smoked pork belly, onion, potato, cabbage and smoked pork sausage that steam in their own juices with only a splash of water, so the potatoes turn buttery and the cabbage sweet and smoky. It is eaten straight from the pot with buttermilk or kefir and a pickle. The usual slip is adding too much liquid: the pot should hiss and steam, not boil, or you end up with soup. A heavy casserole on the hob works just as well as a campfire. Chef's tip: put the bacon and onion at the very bottom; they protect everything above from burning and season the whole pot as their fat melts.

120 minPolishMeatGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Kartofdzhyn

Ossetian pies come in threes at every celebration in Vladikavkaz, stacked on one plate for the sun, earth and water, and kartofdzhyn, with potato and cheese, is the everyday family favourite of North Ossetia. Soft kefir-yeast dough is wrapped around a ball of filling and patted flat by hand into a wide, thin round, so dough and filling are each barely a centimetre thick, then baked hot and soaked with butter. Ossetian cheese is a fresh brined cheese made with animal rennet; for a vegetarian pie use a feta-style or young brined cheese labelled vegetarian. The usual slip is overfilling, which makes the pie burst as you flatten it; aim for about the same weight of dough and filling. Chef's tip: stack the hot pies and butter each one, so the butter soaks through and they stay supple.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Irimshik

Irimshik is the sweet, caramel-coloured dried curd that Kazakh herding families make in summer on the jailau pastures: milk is soured with a little starter, heated until it splits, and the curds are cooked slowly in their own whey until they turn golden and fudgy, then dried in the sun. It is nibbled with tea in winter, from Almaty flats to steppe villages. This version needs no rennet, so it is vegetarian. A common mistake is draining the curd too soon; the long cook in the whey is what browns and sweetens it. Chef's tip: stir more often as the whey reduces, because the curd catches easily at the end.

180 minKazakhBasicsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Kama

Kama is a uniquely Estonian food: a fine flour of roasted barley, rye, oats and peas, sold in every Tallinn supermarket, stirred into kefir, buttermilk or yogurt with a little sugar or honey and berries. It was once farmers' food for the fields; today it is a fast, filling breakfast and the flavour of Estonian ice creams and sweets. If you can't find kama, roast equal parts barley, rye and oat flour with a little pea flour in a dry pan until nutty. A common mistake is eating it at once; give it a few minutes to thicken. Chef's tip: stir in the kama, leave for 5 minutes, then add the berries, so it thickens like a mousse.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Mulgipuder

Mulgipuder comes from Mulgimaa, the old farming region of southern Estonia around Viljandi, and it has become one of the country's national dishes: potatoes and barley groats boiled together and mashed into a thick, nutty purée. It is normally topped with fried bacon and onion; this version uses mushrooms and onion fried in butter. It is eaten with sour milk or kefir and pickles. A common mistake is using too little water, so the barley stays hard while the potatoes are already soft. Chef's tip: start the barley first and add the potatoes after 20 minutes, so both are tender at the same moment.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Goes well with kefir