ring my belarus, part 2

mir castle. thanks, unesco.org!

YUM. So the first time you rang my Belarus, we made mochanka, which is a deliciously pork-ified soup-stew thingy. It’s almost always served with draniki, which, unsurprisingly, features the humble potato.

Eastern Europe kinda always knew how to get the best out of the potato—fry or ferment, and it’s your bestest friend.

Here’s how.

the stuff

5 large potatoes (use starchy ones)
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 large egg
pepper
salt
olive oil (for a-fryin)

the moves

1. Grate OR combine in a food processor the following: potatoes, garlic, onion. If it’s too liquidy, sprinkle in some flour, or strain.
2. Add egg, salt & pepper.  Stir it up.
3. Heat olive oil in a large pan, over medium temperature.
4. Drop spoonfuls of this onion-y smelling yum into the oil and fry until golden brown and cooked through.
   

   mmmm, frying potato-y goodness!

5. Line a dish with paper towels, and transfer the finished draniki to it to hang out/degrease while you make more.
6. Shove into your face with mochanka. (You can serve with sour cream. We’re obsessed with greek yogurt as a tangy & healthier alternative, even if it’s not at all authentic to this dish, but no judgements here.)

thanks, wikipedia.org!

you can ring my belarus

YOU GUYS THIS IS EXCITING. We’re breaking into Eastern Europe with this meal, and I’ll say: it’s enough to make me sign up for Communism.

Karl Marx Street, in Minsk. thanks, wikipedia.org!

KIDDING. Only 8 parliamentarians in Belarus belong to the Communist Party these days. But still, since its “official” birth as a nation in 1990-91, Belarus HAS been rather questionable in its record of being what one might call a “free state.” Apparently, it ranks the lowest in Europe on the democracy index, and also ranks by FAR the worst for free press. Authoritarian rule, cuddles with Russia, ain’t too friendly with outsiders… yikes.

But Minsk is a fun capitol to say, and here’s the part that we’re really concerned with at the moment: THE FOOD. Belarusian dishes often involve one or more of the following: PORK, potatoes, and mushrooms. I’m in.

We’re gonna start out with mochanka, which is a deliciously pork-ified soup-stew. Really basic, it’s essentially pork & onion simmering for a few hours, and who can argue with the fundamental delicious of that?? Certainly there are variations, and we decided to get a little cray cray and do the following:

1. use pork AND kielbasa
2. include the almighty mushroom.

Seriously: this stuff was AWESOME, and earthy, and hearty. Served with draniki, which is a potato pancake thingy that we’ll tackle in part 2.

the stuff

1 tbsp lard* (*we used olive oil; people don’t usually have lard just sitting around these days…)
½ – 1lb stewing pork, cut into chunks
2 large kielbasa, cut into chunks
1 medium onion, diced
8 oz white mushrooms – separate stems; slice caps
1/3 cup flour
5 bay leaves
pepper
1 cup beef stock
2 cups water
Salt, to taste

the moves

1. In a blender or using some other blendy instrument, throw in the mushroom stems & stock and blend away!
2. Heat the olive oil in a large pot and fry the pork, until brown.  Remove and place on a paper towel. Repeat for our friends kielbasa.
3. Fry the onion over a medium heat in the same pan. Mmmm meat juices. Throw in the sliced mushroom caps.
4. When onion is translucent, add the pork, kielbasa, stock, bay leaves and 1 cup of water.
5. Dissolve the flour in the other cup of water (should be warm).  Add to the pot.
6. Simmer the stew over a low heat for 1-2 hours, or until the pork is almost soft.  Add more water is mixture becomes too dry.
7. Add pepper and salt.  Taste, nod approvingly, simmer for another half hour/hour.
8. Top with fresh parsley or dill, pour a HUGE bowl on a cold evening, and shove in your face with a side of draniki!

Mmmmm:

mochanka-rific!

 

thanks, wikipedia.org!

azerbaijan is difficult to pun, so instead let’s just make yogurt soup? i guess?

My brain may not have a lot going for it at the moment, but I assure you Azerbaijan actually has a lot going for it food-wise. Also folk-dancing wise, which I find fascinating. The traditional stuff is amazing, complete with outstanding costumes and mustaches!! But even plain-clothed folks get into it. Because I’m easily distracted, check out how Azerbaijani get down:

thanks, natgeo.com!

Fun Fact: I posted this picture on Social Media™ because I enjoyed it so much when we were actually making this dish and I was finding out neat stuff about Azerbaijan, and my Good Friend was all like, “nbd but I have stood in that exact spot before because I’m truly the coolest and hang out in eastern Europe all the time, and also you miss me because I’m a loser (not at all) who lives in DC instead of near you,” and sent me photographic evidence:

thanks, WBS!

Jerk. (Not at all.)

But seriously: Azerbaijan is unique in that it has just about everything food wise, because this ONE country contains 9 out of 11 climate zones. IMAGINE THE PRODUCE. (Imagine it!)  So to honor that, we decided to make dovga, which is a yogurt soup (new territory for my cooking, yay!) freaking jam-packed with herbs and greens. I mean, you don’t HAVE to be crazy-go-nuts and use every herb ever, but… why wouldn’t you?!? Granted, the labor in preparing all the herbs is a little obnoxo, but if you throw on some tunes, make really bad puns (“I dill believe we’ll finish soon! HYUK!”), maybe dance a little… it’ll be done in no time. But you can whittle down the list and still have a yummy soup.

This can easily kick it as a veg dish suitable for your strange friends that don’t eat meat, but naturally it just didn’t feel quite right ‘til we threw some balls of meat in. The choice, of course, is up to you (GO WITH THE BALLS OF MEAT).

the stuff

le soup
1 qt (32 oz!) plain yogurt
1 qt (32 oz!) water
½ cup short grain rice
1 egg, beaten [insert poor joke about being mean to the egg here]
1 bunch scallions, chopped
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 bunch dill, chopped
1 bunch parsley, chopped
1 bunch arugula, roughly chopped
1 bunch spinach, roughly chopped
½ bunch mint, chopped
pepper
salt

le balls of meat
½ lb ground lamb
1 onion, chopped pretty finely
2 cloves garlic, minced
pepper
salt
smidge-o-oil

the moves

le soup

1. Put the yogurt in a large pot. Add beaten egg and water and mix well.
2. Add rice.
3. Over med-high heat, bring it all to a boil. Here’s the thing with this part: you simply have to stand over it, stirring, basically the entire time you’re waiting for it to boil. You don’t want it to get a separated and blobby and gross.
4. As soon as a coupla bubbles fight their way to the surface, throw in ALL the herby deliciousness, and pepper to taste.
5. Simmer for about 15 minutes, uncovered, stirring super super frequently. Seriously, just give in and camp out next to the stove. Maybe get some tunes going, do a little dancing… that’s what I did.
6. When the rice is done cooking, SO ARE YOU. Throw in a little salt, to taste, and DONEZO. (Unless you want to add meatballs, in which case look right below for some magic!)

Two quick things:
Thing 1 – This can be served warm OR cold. So get crazy & do what feels good.
Thing 2 – Don’t salt during the cooking process as it can make the yogurt funky (aka curdle) and that’s no fun for anyone.

le balls of meat

1. In a bowl, combine the lamb with onion, garlic, salt & pepper and mix well. Just get in there with your hands, savory meat between fingers… YUM, right?!?
2. Form small balls—I recommend the small size so each easily fits on a spoon with some soup. Thinkin’ ahead.
3. In a pan, heat up a smidge-o-oil med-high and quickly sear your little balls (teehee)—this worked better for me in terms of keeping them formed.
4. Finish cooking your little balls (teehee) by adding some water or broth, ‘til just cooked through.
5. Throw ‘em in your dovga and SHOVE IT ALL IN YOUR FACE.

thanks, caspianttc.com!