meat » Yuliya's Blog: Russian Food for Lazy Cooks and More

Uzbek Plov with Pomegranate Seeds

Dec 052012

Plov (aka Pilaf, Pilau, etc) is a prominent feature in the regional cuisines of the former Soviet Republics of Uzbekistan, Tadzhikistan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan, all located in the region called Middle Asia. Each country has its own variation of plov and different methods of preparation. Plov’s main ingredients are meat, rice, carrots, and onions with occasional addition of other goodies like raisins, dried apricots, pomegranate seeds, garlic, and various spices. In Middle Asia, plov is cooked in a thick-walled cast iron pot called kazan, which can sometimes be so huge that it is kept outside and is heated over a Read More…

Colorful Bell Peppers Stuffed With Beef and Rice

Oct 262012

Last week I bought a bag of colorful bell peppers at a local veggie store and immediately thought of our traditional family recipe – stuffed bell peppers. When I was little, my mother made this on so many occasions when we had guests over. She would stuff the peppers with ground beef and rice mixture, simmer peppers in a creamy tomato sauce, then serve with mashed potatoes. I usually make stuffed peppers in late summer or early fall when fresh locally grown peppers are cheap and abundant. I prefer to use medium-sized peppers which look more elegant when stuffed. The Read More…

Holodets (Russian Pork Aspic)

Feb 212012

Holodets, or studen’, is a traditional Russian dish dating back many centuries. Holodets is essentially a meat jelly made by cooking pork parts that contain a lot of bone, skin and cartilage (such as legs, ears, and even hooves). That’s what mom said when I asked her how to make it. My first response was: hooves and ears, eeeeew! Not only is this repulsive, but I also had no idea where to buy them. So my mom suggested using just pork hocks, and to add a bit of gelatin to help it set. Since I was making holodets for the Read More…

Pork Loin Stuffed with Mushroom and Black Currant

Dec 202011

Pork loin is a very versatile cut of meat that can be used in many dishes, but I find its taste quite bland and boring. I feel it needs to be perked up with complex tastes, especially when making pork loin roast. In this recipe, I made a roll-up style pork roast with mushroom, sage, black currant, and prosciutto filling. I liked the note of sweetness from the dry black currants and how it was offset by slight bitterness of sage. Prosciutto, on the other hand, does not add anything to the taste and I would omit it the next Read More…

Beef Curry in a Pumpkin

Oct 232011

Halloween is upon us, and I’m in the mood for cooking something pumpkin-related again. Actually, this is “take two” of last year’s recipe, the previous one being kind of a disaster. See last year’s post here. Although it was edible, my pumpkin certainly did not look pretty last year. I overfilled the pumpkin bowl, and the contents spilled down the sides making for one garish-looking pumpkin. In short, it looked yucky, which was fitting to the Halloween spirit, I guess. This year, I did not use any chickpeas and only filled the pumpkin 3/4 of the way. Success at last! Read More…

Goulash (Hungarian Beef Stew)

Aug 082011

This super-tasty beef stew originates from Hungary, but Russians have introduced it into their cuisine a long time ago. Now it’s pretty much a staple in many Russian households. The key is using copious amounts of paprika. Paprika is a red spice made from grinding sweet peppers or chili. For this dish, a mild sweet Hungarian paprika is used, but any kind of paprika would do. My personal secret to this dish is using Hungarian peppers or banana peppers instead of regular bell peppers. They start to appear at veggie stores in Vancouver in late July and are just loaded Read More…

Beef Patties (Kotlety) in Beer Sauce

Oct 302010

This is a very basic, everyday type of food that a Russian family typically eats for dinner during the week. This recipe can be used to add vegetables to the diet of picky eaters. Vegetables can be mixed in with the ground beef and their taste is usually not discernible after the patties are are cooked. I’m using a carrot in this recipe, but it can be replaced with another vegetable such as zucchini. Just make sure that your vegetable of choice does not produce a lot of juice. If using zucchini, for example, grate the zucchini prior to adding Read More…

Orange and Soy Marinated Pork Tenderloin

Oct 202010

(shown here served with “Fiery Eggplants” and spaghetti sprinkled with black sesame seeds) This is another one of my creations. I was actually pleasantly surprised how well it turned out. The marinade flavours combine well together and permeate the tender pork meat while marinating overnight in the fridge. I then baked the tenderloins covered with foil to make sure the pork does not dry out, and then quickly put it under the broiler to brown a little. RECIPE

Pumpkin Stuffed with Beef Curry

Oct 152010

Every October, mounds of bright orange pumpkins outside the grocery stores have me wondering if pumpkins can actually be used for something other then making a jack-o-lantern or a pumpkin pie. This year, for the first time, I decided to cook a pumpkin. Pumpkin is essentially a squash, and squashes usually work well together with Indian spices such as curry, coriander, or cumin. So beef curry was my choice of stuffing for the pumpkin. Don’t be deterred by the rather “Halloween -ish” appearance of the pumpkin in my picture. I made a mistake of overfilling the pumpkin, and the contents Read More…