Skip to content
LoginRegister
WhatToEat.Today
Recipes

All recipes

Vegetarian, or something you can't eat? Set your diet once and we'll hide recipes that don't fit.

431 recipes

Grechka s molokom (buckwheat with milk)

Grechka s molokom, buckwheat groats cooked soft and served in a bowl of warm milk with a little butter, is the breakfast or light supper that generations of Russian children have eaten at home and in nursery school. The groats are earthy and nutty and the milk makes them gentle and sweet-tasting, without any sugar. Buckwheat is naturally gluten free (despite its name); the dish contains milk and has no egg, nuts, soya, sesame or fish. Chef's tip: use toasted buckwheat (the brown kind sold for kasha), which has the rounder, nuttier flavour.

25 minRussianBreakfast & Brunch
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Stolichny keksRaisin loaf cake

Stolichny keks, the 'capital city' cake, was made to a fixed state recipe in Soviet bakeries and sold in waxed paper in every Moscow grocery: a tall, buttery loaf with a cracked top, a fine yellow crumb and so many raisins that each slice is studded with them. People still bake it at home for New Year and for guests, and it keeps well for a week, wrapped, next to the teapot. Some cooks plump the raisins in brandy or cognac; this recipe soaks them in hot water and lemon juice instead, and a spoonful of brandy can go into the soak if you like. Under-creamed butter is the usual problem: the cake comes out heavy and greasy, so beat the butter and icing sugar until really pale. Chef's tip: dry the soaked raisins on a towel and roll them in flour; wet raisins all sink to the bottom.

95 minRussianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Pan chutaAniseed round bread

The small town of Oropesa, half an hour from Cusco, calls itself Peru's bread capital, and its wood-fired bakeries are famous for chuta: big, flat, round loaves as wide as a dinner plate, glossy on top, with a faint sweetness and the warmth of aniseed. Travellers on the road to Puno and Bolivia stop to buy them by the bagful, and families bring them home for All Saints' Day and for sharing with hot coca tea or coffee, fresh cheese and butter. The bakeries traditionally use lard; this version uses vegetable shortening and butter, so it is vegetarian. The make-or-break moment is the proof: chuta is large and flat, and if it goes in under-risen it bakes dense and splits at the rim. Chef's tip: toast the aniseed for a minute in a dry pan and crush it lightly before adding, for a rounder, sweeter perfume.

240 minPeruvianBreads & Parathas
by KrazyBadal 0 views

ChaplasHollow puffed Andean bread

Walk through Ayacucho's central market at seven in the morning and you will see women selling stacks of chaplas from cloth-lined baskets, still warm from the wood-fired ovens of the Andes. These round wheat breads puff up like pita in the fierce heat, leaving a hollow pocket inside a thin, soft, lightly floury crust. In Ayacucho and Huancavelica they are eaten with sweet coffee or hot emoliente for breakfast, or split and filled with queso fresco, avocado or a spoonful of rocoto sauce. Highland bakers traditionally work in a little lard; vegetable shortening gives the same tenderness and keeps the bread vegan. A cool baking tray is the reason chaplas stay flat, so preheat it thoroughly. Chef's tip: let the rolled rounds rest before baking and flip them upside down onto the tray, so the smooth, dry side meets the heat first and the pocket opens evenly.

149 minPeruvianBreads & ParathasVegan
by KrazyBadal 0 views

KrendelSweet pretzel-shaped bread

Name days and birthdays in old Russia called for a krendel: one huge pretzel-shaped sweet loaf, carried to the table whole and torn apart over tea from the samovar. The shape is said to come from Baltic and German bakers in St Petersburg, but the bread itself is very Russian, a buttery yeast dough rolled around cinnamon sugar so the crumb streaks with spice. Serve it with tea, jam or honey and a bowl of sour cream. The pretzel is made from one long filled roll, slit open down its length so the layers show; forgetting to chill the filled roll before slitting is what makes the filling smear and the shape slump. Chef's tip: shape it straight on the lined tray rather than lifting it afterwards, as a filled rope this long tears easily.

180 minRussianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Borodinsky breadDark sourdough rye with coriander

Moscow's darkest everyday loaf is said to be named after the 1812 Battle of Borodino, though the recipe bakers follow today was fixed by the city's bread trust in 1933. Borodinsky (Бородинский хлеб) is a dense, moist sourdough rye, sweet-sour from molasses and red fermented rye malt, with whole coriander seeds crackling on the crust. Russians slice it thin for breakfast with butter and salted cucumbers, alongside borscht or herring for meat-eaters, or under a slice of cheese with strong tea. The method looks long, but most of it is the starter and the scald quietly working on their own. The usual mistake is cutting it on baking day: rye crumb needs a full day wrapped in a cloth to set, and a warm loaf is gummy right through. Chef's tip: red fermented rye malt gives the colour and the deep flavour; plain diastatic malt will not do the same job, so look for the reddish-brown 'fermented' kind in Eastern European shops.

1120 minRussianBreads & ParathasVegan
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Glazirovanny syrok (chocolate-glazed curd bars)

Glazirovanny syrok, the chocolate-coated curd cheese bar, has been sold in Russian dairy aisles since Soviet times and is still what children across Russia, Ukraine and the Baltics grab after school. Made at home, it is a firm, creamy, gently sweet vanilla tvorog filling under a thin snap of dark chocolate, like a tiny cheesecake bar. This version uses less sugar than shop bars. It contains milk (and may contain soya in the chocolate). Chef's tip: press the tvorog through a sieve first; it is the only way to get the smooth, dense texture of a real syrok.

30 minRussianDessertsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Fried courgette with garlic mayonnaise

When the dacha beds in the Moscow region overflow with courgettes in July, this is what appears on the veranda table: rounds of courgette dusted in flour, fried until golden, then stacked in a dish with garlicky mayonnaise, tomato slices and dill. It is served cool as a zakuska with bread or beside new potatoes, and it tastes even better after an hour in the fridge. The common mistake is cutting the slices too thin, so they fall apart and soak up oil. Chef's tip: salt the slices for ten minutes and pat them dry before flouring; they fry crisper and spit far less.

30 minRussianSnacks & Starters
by KrazyBadal 0 views

RybnikFish pie

Along the shores of Lake Onega in Karelia and through the Russian North, rybnik is the Sunday and holiday pie: a whole cleaned fish, traditionally pike-perch, bream or whitefish, sealed in rye dough with butter and onion and baked until the crust turns into its own oven. At the table the top crust is cut away like a lid, the fish is eaten from the bones with the juices, and the crust soaked in them is the best part. The common mistake is underbaking, which leaves the fish raw by the spine. Chef's tip: use a fish no thicker than 4 cm and score it on both sides so the heat reaches the middle; it is done when the flesh is opaque and flakes from the bone.

120 minRussianFish
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Kartofelnaya zapekankaBaked mashed potato

Kindergarten kitchens across the USSR baked this in huge trays, and it is still the Wednesday supper many Russians remember: a layer of soft mashed potato, a layer of minced beef fried with onion, more mash on top, brushed with egg and sour cream so it browns in the oven. It is Russia's answer to cottage pie, eaten with pickled cucumbers or a beetroot salad. For a vegetarian version, swap the mince for 500 g chopped mushrooms fried until dry. The common mistake is a wet mince layer, which makes the potato slide off when you cut it. Chef's tip: let the bake rest for ten minutes after it leaves the oven; it slices into neat squares instead of collapsing.

75 minRussianMeatGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Lenivye golubtsyLazy cabbage roll patties

Rolling proper golubtsy takes an afternoon, so Soviet working mothers invented the lazy version: shred the cabbage, mix it straight into the mince and rice, shape oval patties and braise them in a tomato and sour-cream sauce. It became a staple of factory canteens in Leningrad and Kyiv and is now a weeknight dinner across Russia, served with mashed potato or just bread. The patties taste exactly like stuffed cabbage, only softer. The mince is beef and pork. The common mistake is using raw rice, which stays hard inside the patties; it must be part-cooked first. Chef's tip: squeeze the blanched cabbage hard in a cloth, or the patties will be too wet to hold their shape.

70 minRussianMeat
by KrazyBadal 0 views

TefteliMeatballs in tomato sauce

Ask anyone who went to a Soviet school canteen and they will remember tefteli: soft meatballs studded with rice, served in a ladle of tomato sauce with buckwheat or mashed potato. They are still the go-to dinner for small children from Moscow to Yekaterinburg because they are tender enough to cut with a spoon. They are softer and plainer than kotlety and are always cooked in sauce, never just fried. The common mistake is boiling the sauce hard, which breaks the meatballs apart. Chef's tip: roll each ball with wet hands and leave them in the fridge for 15 minutes before cooking; they hold together much better.

55 minRussianMeat
by KrazyBadal 0 views

BarankiTea bread rings

Strings of baranki once hung on poles at every Russian fair, and you still see them threaded on twine in Moscow markets and station kiosks. The dough is boiled briefly like a bagel, then baked until hard, golden and glossy, so the rings keep for weeks and soften only when dunked in hot, sweet tea from the samovar. This version is vegan, made with oil instead of butter and eggs. The common mistake is a soft, wet dough, which makes puffy bread rolls instead of crunchy rings. Chef's tip: knead the dough stiff and leave the shaped rings uncovered for 20 minutes to form a skin before boiling; that gives the shine.

100 minRussianBakingVegan
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Prague cake

Despite its name, Prague cake was born in Moscow, created in the 1950s by the confectioner at the Praga restaurant on the Arbat, and it became one of the most coveted cakes of Soviet celebrations. Three layers of dark sour-cream chocolate sponge are sandwiched with silky chocolate buttercream made with condensed milk, then brushed with apricot jam and covered in a shiny chocolate glaze. It is served for anniversaries and birthdays in thin slices with black tea. The common mistake is glazing a warm cake, so the glaze slides off the sides. Chef's tip: chill the filled cake for an hour before the jam and glaze go on; the surface sets smooth and glossy.

100 minRussianDesserts
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Tawa chickenGriddle-fried chicken

At night on the motorway service roads and Lahore's Gawalmandi, cooks drum their metal spatulas on huge round tawas as they chop and fry chicken to order: boneless pieces scraped about the hot iron with tomato, onion, green chilli and spice until dry, smoky and coated. The noise is half the show, and the chicken is eaten straight off the griddle with naan or paratha. The mistake at home is using a small non-stick pan over a timid flame, which stews the chicken; use your widest heavy pan or griddle and keep the heat high. Chef's tip: chop the chicken into small pieces with the edge of your spatula as it cooks, the way the stalls do, so every bit picks up the charred masala.

60 minPakistaniChickenGluten freeSpicy
by KrazyBadal 0 views

ZefirApple marshmallow

Zefir sits in a paper box on almost every Russian tea table: pale, airy halves of apple marshmallow pressed together in pairs, softer and fruitier than any marshmallow. Factories in Moscow and Belyov made them famous, but home cooks pipe their own from baked Antonovka-style sour apples, sugar, egg white and agar. Agar keeps them vegetarian, unlike gelatine. The common mistake is undercooking the agar syrup; if it doesn't reach 110 °C, the zefir never sets and weeps. Chef's tip: bake the apples rather than boil them; the purée is thicker and the zefir far lighter.

1500 minRussianDessertsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

KorzhikiShortbread rounds

Every Soviet schoolchild knew korzhiki, the plump scalloped biscuits sold at the canteen counter for a few kopecks with a glass of milk. Made with sour cream and a little honey, they are firm on the outside and soft and cakey inside, pale gold, with a fork-pricked top. Russians still bake them at home for after-school snacks. The common mistake is rolling the dough too thin, which makes hard biscuits instead of soft little cakes. Chef's tip: roll to a full 8 mm and pull them from the oven while the edges are still pale; they firm up as they cool.

35 minRussianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

PastilaBaked apple sheets

Long before chocolate reached Russia, the merchants of Kolomna near Moscow and Belyov in the Tula region were drying whipped apple into thin, cloud-soft sheets in their stove ovens and selling them in tins at winter fairs. Today pastila is again a souvenir and a tea-table treat: whipped baked-apple purée is spread thin, dried slowly until leathery yet tender, then stacked in layers and cut into bars. It is fat-free and naturally gluten-free. The common mistake is too hot an oven, which browns and cracks the sheets. Chef's tip: dry it with the oven door wedged open with a wooden spoon; it needs gentle warmth and escaping steam, not baking.

480 minRussianDessertsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

MuraveynikAnthill cake

Muraveynik is the 'anthill' that Soviet home bakers built for birthdays when shop cakes were hard to come by: crisp shortbread is baked, broken into crumbs, bound with boiled condensed milk and butter, then heaped into a little mountain and sprinkled with poppy seeds for the ants. It needs no tin and no layering, sets in the fridge, and is still a favourite at children's parties from Moscow to Omsk. The common mistake is crumbling the biscuit too fine, which makes a dense block instead of a craggy, crunchy heap. Chef's tip: break the dough through the coarse holes of a mincer or grater before baking so the crumbs are uneven and crisp.

50 minRussianDesserts
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Fried potatoes with mushrooms

Every late August, when families come back from the birch woods outside Moscow and Tver with baskets of boletes and chanterelles, the first supper at the dacha is a black iron pan of potatoes fried with those mushrooms. Through the Soviet years the same dish fed students in dormitories and night-shift workers in Ural towns, usually eaten straight from the pan with a jar of salted cucumbers and a spoon of sour cream. The potatoes should be crisp at the edges, the mushrooms browned and the onion sweet. Buy wild mushrooms from a reliable source only; cultivated chestnut mushrooms work very well. The common mistake is crowding the pan and stirring constantly, which steams the potatoes into mush. Chef's tip: fry the mushrooms first and set them aside, then fry the potatoes alone and only combine them at the end.

40 minRussianVegetarianGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Doodh pattiStrong milk tea

Doodh patti is poured from a dented pan at every truck stop, university canteen and street-corner dhaba in Pakistan, from Karachi's Saddar to the Murree road, and it is drunk at all hours: before work, after cricket, at midnight with a paratha. The tea is made without any water at all, boiling loose black tea and sugar in milk until it turns a deep caramel colour and tastes rich, malty and strong. The mistake is simmering too gently and pulling it off too soon, giving a weak, milky drink; it needs a proper rolling boil, more than once. Contains milk. Chef's tip: lift the pan off the heat each time the tea froths to the top and return it, three times; each rise deepens the colour and flavour.

11 minPakistaniDrinksGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Anday wala burgerEgg and beef burger

After dark, Karachi's burger carts on Burns Road, Tariq Road and outside every college fire up their griddles for the anday wala burger: a thin, spicy beef patty and a fried egg in a soft buttered bun, with shredded cabbage, onion, ketchup and a sharp green chutney. It is cheap, messy and the city's favourite late snack. A cousin of the anda bun kebab, which uses a lentil and potato patty, this version is all about the meat. The common slip is pressing the egg too thin until it is leathery; cook it in the patty's fat just until the white sets. Contains egg, wheat and milk. Chef's tip: dip each patty in beaten egg before it hits the griddle, as the cart cooks do, so a thin egg jacket forms and keeps it juicy.

35 minPakistaniFast Food
by KrazyBadal 0 views

OladyiKefir pancakes

Saturday breakfast in a Soviet flat often began with the sizzle of oladyi: thick little pancakes, no bigger than a saucer rim, made from kefir that had soured a day too long. Grandmothers from Samara to Novosibirsk still drop spoonfuls of the batter into hot oil and stack the puffed, golden rounds on a plate to eat with smetana, honey or a dish of cherry varenye. Unlike blini they are fat and spongy, with a lacy crisp edge. The common mistake is beating the batter after the soda goes in, which knocks out the bubbles and gives flat, rubbery pancakes. Chef's tip: warm the kefir slightly before mixing; the soda reacts faster and the oladyi rise noticeably higher.

30 minRussianBreakfast & Brunch
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Crab stick salad

On 31 December, alongside Olivier and herring under a fur coat, almost every Russian table carries a bowl of crab stick salad. It arrived in the 1980s when cheap crab sticks reached Soviet shops, and it stayed: chopped surimi, hard-boiled egg, sweetcorn, cucumber and rice bound in mayonnaise, eaten through the New Year holidays. Crab sticks are made from white fish, so this salad is not vegetarian; check the label if you need it gluten free, as some brands add wheat starch. The common mistake is dressing it hours ahead, which makes the rice soggy and the cucumber watery. Chef's tip: mix everything except the mayonnaise in advance and stir that in just before the salad goes on the table.

35 minRussianSaladsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Showing 24 of 431 recipes

Show more recipes

Page 1 of 18