Subbotnik Traditional Dishes: Ushnik & Lapshevnik
The Subbotnik Jews have a delicious and authentic national kitchen based on an interesting combination of culinary traditions of Eastern European Jewish communities and traditional Russian food whose recipes were altered in accordance with the laws of kashrut. We’re happy to continue our series of recipes from Jewish communities around the world, and particularly, the Subbotnik Jews of Vysoki. The following recipes and anecdotes are from Maria Leonovna Gridneva, enhanced by memories of her mother, Dina Isaevna Gridneva.
Photo courtesy: Maria Leonovna Gridneva.
Ushnik
– 1 cup of green buckwheat (unroasted buckwheat)
– 3 cups of broth
– chopped cooked meat
– fat
- Put everything in a cast-iron pot and cook in a hot oven
Today, this dish is also cooked, however the oven is replaced by a gas oven or an electric oven.
Hard-boiled lapshevnik
Lapshevnik was made of homemade noodles in broth with some salt and fat. For this dish, people prepared noodles by themselves before Shabbos on any other day.
For noodles:
– sift wheat flour into a large bowl and make a hole in it
– break 5 eggs into the hole and add 0.5 liters of water, knead the dough so that it does not stick to the hands and the table
– divide the dough into several parts and roll out thin round layers from each part with a long rolling pin and lay it out for drying on the fabric for 0.5 hours;
– roll the dried up layer into a tube and cut it across into thin strips 0.5 cm wide or thinner.
– put the obtained long noodles into the pan and for a few minutes put it into the oven for drying. One constantly needs to ensure that noodles are not burnt.