On our journey through Russian cuisine, we cannot fail to stop at the Ural cuisine, one of the most beautiful areas of the country and which has unparalleled nature that is reflected in its gastronomy.
Ural cuisine: “echpochmak”, “gruzdyanka” and “pasikunchiki”
Pies for all tastes
Ural cuisine has always been famous for its abundance of pies. In the vicinity of Yekaterinburg and Perm, they prepared small “pirozhki” patties, slightly larger than “pelmeni”. Its name comes from the word “cut or chop finely”: this is how the meat was finely cut for the stuffing.
In the Orenburg province, the “king of pies” was called “kurnik”, which was often served at weddings. The filling of such a pie was from different types of meat, mushrooms, eggs, sauerkraut. Layers of different fillings were separated by thin pancakes, and each family had its own recipe for “kurnik”, which was passed down from generation to generation.
The Ural cuisine, union of kitchens
The Urals is a multicultural region, so the culinary traditions of different peoples are mixed here. Russian residents have learned to cook the Turkish “beshbarmak”, a dish of stew and pieces of dough; they put lamb on it, as was the custom among the Bashkirs, or veal and potatoes, as among the Kazakhs.
The Tatars adopted the recipe for echpochmak pie with meat, onions and potatoes, the filling was not prepared in advance, but put raw in the dough.
Shanga
Unsweetened round cheese with a thick filling, the top of which is always open. They make it from unleavened dough. As a filling, cottage cheese and various kasha are often used. In other recipes, a chopped egg is added.
Ural “ukha” soup
“Ukha” soup is considered a Russian national dish, but also in the Urals it enjoys constant success. They cook from various types of fish.
Mushroom soup
In this region of Russia, mixed and coniferous forests grow, so the traditional food was mushrooms. Their soup should be thick and rich. But the mushrooms are not ground, as is commonly done in Europe, but left whole or cut into big pieces.
Kislica dishes
Kislitsa is a perennial plant with white flowers that grows in the mountainous regions of the Chelyabinsk region. It is collected at the end of May. From this boiled plant, jams, compotes are prepared, and it is also used to make filling for cakes.
More mushrooms
Mushrooms are fried with onions and eaten as a separate dish, added to the filling of pies and pelmeni. They are also served with porridge and meat, dried and salted for the winter.
Ural housewives often cooked Georgian soup with fresh or salted forest mushrooms. Despite saying mushrooms, they put not only gruzdi, but also chanterelles, podosinoviki, molasses, cheese – any mushroom that can be found in the nearest forest.
We invite you to enjoy your trip to Russia
If you have plans to travel to Russia, we invite you to visit typical Russian restaurants with our guides in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and other cities.
