Ukrainian borscht vegan style

This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series Soups

Ukrainian borscht is normally cooked with meat )pork or beef) and is eaten with sour cream of course.

I think that sometimes it comes out way too rich and fatty.

I love to lighten the food and avoid cholesterol and its derivatives by all means.

Vegan borscht is a great analogue of Ukrainian vegan borscht that I published some time ago on my blog.

This soup doesn’t include anything meaty or fried. It’s a great comfort recipe for every day.

Cooking time: 55 minutes 

Preparation time: 25 minutes

Serves: 6 people 

Ingredients:

Pinto beans – 1 cup

Cabbage shredded – 2  cups

Beet shredded – 1 pcs

Carrot shredded – 1 pcs

Potatoes peeled – 6 pcs

Tomato juice – 2 cups

Red bell pepper – 1 pcs

Onion – 1 pcs

Dill – 1/2 cup

Garlic – 2 cloves

Salt and pepper – per your taste

Preparation:

Pre-soak the pinto beans before going to work or going to bed. So that when you are ready to cook the they will be pre-soaked and ready for boiling. Set the pre-soaked beans to boil, pick  4 qt sauce pan for this soup . Meanwhile: peel the beets, potato and carrot. Clean the red bell pepper out of seeds.

Shred the beets and carrots and add it to the boiling beans, then add to the sauce pan the peeled potatoes cut in cubes.

Chop the onion and red bell pepper and add it to the boiling veggies. Pour 2-3 cups of tomato juice into the soup.  Season according to your taste. I normally add 2-3 teaspoons of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper.

While the veggies are boiling shred the cabbage and add it to the saucepan. Stir the boiling soup well.

The soup should be cooking for 25-30 minutes by now.

Let it boil for more 20-25 minutes and when all the veggies ready, finely chop the garlic and dill.

When serving the soup sprinkle the garlic and dill  on top of the soup. It will be just delicious.

This soup is served with special biscuits , but ordinary buttermilk biscuits will also work fine.

I served it with Uzbek flatbread. It’s very delicious and you can find it in pretty much any Asian or Russian store.

You can sprinkle the flatbread with garlic and dill as well.

Serve the soup warm and enjoy the flavors!

I pictured this recipe on my handmade tablecloth. The embroidery is unique  and made by my Grandmother for my 30-th birthday. I just love the colors of it and it’s very traditional pattern for Ukraine. Hope you  love it same as I do and enjoy the vegan Ukrainian borscht!

Love,

Chicken and corn salad

This entry is part 11 of 11 in the series Salad

I love this salad for it’s simplicity and richness. Only 4 main ingredients, what can be better? It’s very dressy as well. You can serve it for the Easter holiday table feast or just cook it for a quiet family dinner.
Four main ingredients are:

Chicken breast- 2 (boiled)

Hard boiled eggs- 3

Canned corn (rinsed) – 2/3 of the can

Boiled potatoes – 3 medium

Plus add to your salad some herbs:

Dill finely chopped – 1/4 of a cup

Lemon basil leaves – 1/4 cup

Salt, pepper and mayo.

Serves 4 people.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes.

Preparation:

Boil in 2 different sauce pans: eggs and potatoes in one and chicken breast in another. It will take about 20 minutes to cook the potatoes and breast. The eggs will be ready earlier of course, so you can just take them out cool them down in cold water and shell them.

When the potatoes are ready let them cool down and then peel the cooked potatoes.

Rinse the corn, cut chicken, peeled potatoes and eggs in cubes. Add salt ,pepper and herbs. Mix everything with mayo.

The salad is good with rice and with meats, it’s good on sandwiches as well.

If you have a number of salads on your table for the Easter celebration this  may be one of them:-)

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Simple country salad

This entry is part 2 of 4 in the series Go Vegan!

This salad is cooked in Ukrainian country very often. It is cheap, delicious and easy to cook. Great for an everyday meal. This salad is also cooked for Christmas eve,because according to Christian orthodox tradition, the table has to consist of 12 vegetarian dishes.  This dish was one of 12 for my Christmas Eve, of course.

Yield: 4 people.

Preparation time: 15 min

Cooking time: 30 min

For the salad you will need:

3 big potatoes ( boiled and sliced);

1 small white onion ( raw, peeled and sliced);

5-6 pickled cucumbers( sliced);

1 teaspoon of salt;

1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper;

2 tablespoons of sunflower oil;

Preparation:

Boil the potatoes. You can boil them overnight then drain and cook the salad next evening.

When you boiled the potatoes drain them and let then cool down, so that you coul peel them easily.P

Peel you potatoes and the slice them as shown in the picture.

Take the dills, and slice them. ***Note from Helen *** You can take the hamburger dills , but for me they are too sour, I prefer to buy Polish dills at the local vegetable store. You can stop by at Russian store and try to find nice looking pickles there:)

Peel and slice the onions.

Mix all the ingredients season with salt and pepper and add the sunflower oil. Mix everything very well.

You can decorate the dish with parsley or lemon basil.

The salad is goohe when it’s just cooked and the next day as well.

It’s so simple yet flavorful and delicious! I just love it. Hope you will too.

 

Seafood salad “Starfish”!

This entry is part 10 of 11 in the series Salad

This dish will be the star of your table for any and every holiday. It’s fast and very simple to cook, it doesn’t require a lot of ingredients and it’s pretty and refreshing.

For the salad you will need:

1/3 cup of fresh lemon juice

1 cup of crab meat (seafood mix)

1 potato

7-8 oz of sliced smoked/or freshly salted salmon

1/2 cup of pitted olives sliced

1 cucumber (shredded)

1-2 eggs

2 tablespoons of mayo

1/2 cup of provolone or swiss cheese ( cut into cubes)

salt, pepper (according to your taste)

 

Boil potato and eggs, cool down and shell the eggs and potato. Cut the whole cheese piece into the cubes you will need about 0,25 lbs of cheese of 1/2 cup.

Take the cooked crab meat or imitated crab meat or seafood mix (cooked) pour the juice onto it add some salt and pepper.

Shred the peeled cucumber  and add it to your seafid, then mix it with cheese, cut potato and eggs into cubes and add them to the salad as well.

Mix everything very well, then add 2 tablespoons of mayo. Mix very well again and taste for salt and pepper. I normally add a pinch of salt and pepper, but you may need more.

Take the big plate and form a shape of a starfish with you salad, take your time, because  if needs to be realistic!

Decorate your sea star with salmon slices, so that it would look like a real starfish  tentacles. (or arms) and add the sliced olives on top to give your starfish a structure.

The Starfish is ready. And you can serve the salad chilled or just as soon as you cooked it.

If you don’t eat the salad at once the cucumber will give some juice, so just drain it or add less cucumber if you wish.

We ate this salad very fast and I cook it often even without any occasion , hope you will too!

Enjoy!

Helen.

 

Soup with meatballs, mushrooms,spaghetti and cheese.

This entry is part 4 of 5 in the series Soup

This is a great warm winter soup. It takes only 30 minutes to cook, but it vanishes even faster than it took you to cook

 

it.

Cooking time 30 minutes.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Serves 4 people.

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Top 3 Fall Soups

This entry is part 1 of 3 in the series Soups

 These three soups are the best comfort meal for the lunch in fall: it enegrizes, keeps you warm and boosts your taste buds. You can add lots of flavors to these soups by experimenting with herbs: basil, dill, parsley and others.

 

Vegetarian Pea Soup 

Vegetarian pea soup is good those days when you want a rich-creamy soup without any meat component in it. It’s a comfort food perfect right for the days when it’s chilly and drizzly outside. This recipe has simple ingredients and doesn’t require to be a skillful chef to prepare it.

All in all perfect autumn soup for the family. Read more

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin crème-soup with shrimp, cream cheese and basil.

It’s autumn and it means that it’s time for a great pumpkin soup with shrimp that I just LOVE cooking.

It doesn’t require a lot of effort but it comes out perfectly smooth, bringing in the autumn flavors and colors into your kitchen.

I tasted this soup long time ago in Europe, brought it into my kitchen and my family just loves it. Hope, you will too. Read more

 Zucchini crème-soup

This is a very simple crème soup. It takes 40 minutes to cook and your family will enjoy this meal. It’s a great summer or fall soup for your to enjoy! Simple and flavorful! It takes little effort to cook and it’s a really light  dish. It gives you energy and makes you feel good. Read more

Vegetarian Pea Soup

Vegetarian pea soup is good those days when you want a rich-creamy soup without any meat component in it. It’s a comfort food perfect right for the days when it’s chilly and drizzly outside. This recipe has simple ingredients and doesn’t require to be a skillful chef to prepare it.

All in all perfect autumn soup for the family. 

Cooking time: 1 h

Preparation time: 15 min

Inactive time: 30 min 

1 cup of peas

3-4 qt. of water

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of black fresh ground pepper

3 tablespoons of sour cream

1 tablespoon of cooking oil (vegetable better)

1 medium white onion

1 carrot

3 medium potatoes

1 red bell pepper

2 bay leaves (or 1 teaspoon of crushed bay leaves)

Pre-soak 1 cup of peas for 30 minutes. (Use hot water and twice bigger bowl, in order for you to keep the beans in the bowl not outside of it:-).

Peel and wash the veggies: onion, carrot, potatoes and pepper. Shred the carrot and finely chop the onion and pepper. Cut potato in medium sized pieces. Put the half of the chopped onion aside.

Set a 3 quart saucepan with water and add the veggies plus couple of bay leaves, add salt and black pepper.

Simmer for 10 minutes and then add the peas. Boil the soup for 30-40 minutes at the low heat.

Set a frying pan and add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil and the chopped onion. Fry on medium heat, until golden brown and then add 3 tablespoons of sour cream or cooking cream. Braise for 5 minutes and then pour the sauce into the soup and stir very well.

Simmer the soup for another 20 minutes or until the peas dissolve in the soup, truning it into the rich creme-soup.

Serve this soup warm, you may add some sour cream in each plate separately.

I fry the fine italian bread cut in medium squares with salt and pepperand add it to the soup when eating.

You can choose to do the same if you’d like.

 

Vegan spicy red cabbage

This entry is part 7 of 7 in the series Delicious fried veggies

I hope you love the colors of this dish: it’s so autumn and bright! My family members call this dish “weird braised cabbage”:-)

To me the red cabbage tastes absolutely different, than the ordinary green one. It’s more flavorful, tender…. mmm, it’s more autumn!

 

For this recipe you will need:

1 lb of red cabbage (shredded)

1 onion

1/2  red bell pepper (or yellow one for the color)

1 chili pepper (small)

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

1 pinch of salt

Serves 4 people.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Shred the cabbage carefully, peel, wash and chop the onion, wash and chop the red bell pepper.

Chop the chili separately.(you will throw it in 3 minutes before serving).

Season the cabbage and squeeze it , so that it would be more juicy!

***Tip from Helen*** You can add 1/4 of shredded carrot if you would like to. I sometimes do.***

Start braising the cabbage with onions, then add peppers after 10 minutes of braising and 3 minutes before taking your cabbage off the stove throw in the chili.

*** Tip from Helen*** be careful with chili , wash carefully your hands and don’t touch your eyes when just worked with chili. Wash the knife and your cutting desk very well.

If you need during the cooking add some salt as well, I don’t as I don’t like too much salt in my food.

Olivier salad: simple salad recipe you will love

This entry is part 8 of 11 in the series Salad

This is a traditional recipe for the parties and holidays in Slavic countries. No one knows where it came to former Soviet countries from,(we were a huge country with closed borders for decades), but this was the main salad of every celebration in almost every family for decades.

I cook this salad very rarely and mainly in autumn and winter, as I consider this salad too conservative and even boring to cook it very often. I always experiment with the ingredients as it’s always good to have a different  taste of the same well known dish.

Serves 4.

Cooking time 35 minutes.

Preparation time 15 minutes.

For the salad you will need:

2-3 medium potatoes boiled

1-2 eggs hard boiled

1 medium carrot boiled

7-8 cornichons

2-3 tablespoons of pickled peppers (optional)

3-4 sausages or a cup of chopped ham or chicken breast

1/4 white onion

1 pinch of salt

1 pinch of black pepper

2-3 tablespoons of canned peas

3 tablespoons of mayo (light)

Step 1: wash and boil the potato and carrot. Boil for 20 minutes of until cooked i.e. soft. Boil an egg until cooked.

Step 2: Peel a potato and a  carrot. Shell an egg(s)

Step 3 : Chop in small chunks potato, carrot, sausage (or any meat you plan to incorporate in a dish), egg. Finely chop the onion (1/4 of it)

Chop cornichons and pickled pepper, mix everything.

Step 4: Add salt,pepper and canned peas. Dress with mayo , you can add some dill you you like.

Serve cold.

***Tip from Helen*** The meat may also be substituted with mushrooms. canned in water or fried mushrooms, the taste will be different. Pickled peppers aren’t a must.For dressing you may combine mayo and sour cream or mayo and  ranch dressing. Don’t make the dressing too sour though.***

 

 

Mom’s potato stuffed with beef

         This recipe is my Mom’s recipe; she invented it when we lived in Russian Far East. She had that awesome spiral potato cutter, so she was cutting potato and using it in two dishes, spirally cut potatoes from  the middle of potato were fried (Yummm) and the rest of the potato, (it looked like an empty potato when it was cut) was stuffed with minced meat.

       I was looking for this spiral cutter for quite some time, at last I found it on Ebay, so I hope to get it by mail soon:-)

       When preparing this dish, I was cutting potatoes without it. In order to get the potato shells, where you can put meat you have to cut out the potato inside, thus it will look like an empty shell. It’s a hard work, I shall say. So if you have this spiral potato cutter or if you will decide to be brave and cook this dish without it, this recipe is for you:

Ingredients:

12 medium potatoes

½ lb. minced beef (or pork)

1 medium carrot

1 egg

1 medium onion

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of black pepper

2 tablespoons of sour cream

Serves: 3 people

Step 1: Peel the potatoes

Step 2: Cut out the potato from inside, so that it would look like an empty shell. (It’s better to have spiral potato cutter) see the picture.

Step 3: Prepare your minced meat. Peel, wash and chop the onion, peel, shred and add carrots, add the egg, onion ( ½ of the onion you chopped) and season well.

Step 4:  Stuff the potato.

Step 5: Put the potato in a saucepan, add some water (1/3 of the saucepan, so that your potato wouldn’t drown). Simmer for 20 minutes.

Step 5: Braise your onion with sour-cream and add to the saucepan with potato.

Step 6: Simmer everything for 10 more minutes.

***Note from Helen*** Notice I don’t season the potato before stuffing it, because I like food with less salt. If you like your food to be very well salted, add salt when simmering your potato and/or season the raw potato before stuffing it.***

Serve the dish warm. I like to serve it with steamed broccoli and covered with cheese.

Enjoy!

It’s a very nice, comfort dish. It takes some effort to cook it, but if you have the potato cutter - life is easier. Plus you can stuff this potato with cottage cheese and herbs it should be nice. tell me what you think?