What’s up?

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It’s Christmaaas!

 

What’s for dinner?

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Just a rehearsal for Christmas dinner.

As usual the most of the food on the table will be from traditional Russian cuisine.

 Here is one of the favourites : Herring under a Fur Coat

You might raise your brows:  under a fur coat?

That’s right, it is a literal translation of the name.  Sometimes we call it SHUBA , which is the word for a fur coat in Russian. And of cause there is no fur on a plate. It is simply diced smoked or cured herring filets dressed 🙂 with root vegetables, egg and mayonnaise, one of those dishes that you either love or hate. Though I can definitely say that I don’t know any Russian who does not like it.

 

 

What’s up?

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It’s miserably cold and wet outside today: TIME FOR COMFORT FOOD!

 

Egg and Bacon! Just what was needed!

You love it now!

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– I absolutely love this red cabbage! It’s delicious!

-We have not served red cabbage today.

-What is it then?

-This is beetroot home recipe.

-But I don’t like beetroot!

-You’ve just said that you ABSOLUTELY love it 🙂

This conversation has happened a few years ago, when one of our guests having dinner rediscovered BEETROOT.

The lady said that if I told her that there was a beetroot on her plate she would not have touched it, as she never liked beetroot . She ‘s obviously changed her mind.

Over the years we’ve had many visitors like this and my Russian style beetroot has never failed to impress. Following several requests for a recipe, I decided to include it in Galya’s kitchen Menu.

Here it is.

Enjoy!

For 1 kg of RAW beetroot you need:

0.3 kg of onions finely chopped
0.5 part of raw carrots grated on a large grater
1 x 800gr tinned hole tomatoes in tomato juice
sunflower oil
garlic ( I put a lot, but you can have it as much as you like)
2 table spoons of walnut oil ( or 2 teaspoons of sesame oil)
2 Bay leaves
bunch of fresh parsley finely chopped ( if you like it)

Heat the sunflower oil in a deep frying pan until very hot.
Sauté onions until they start to change the color.
Add grated carrot and grated beetroot. Season with salt and pepper.
Cook on a medium heat until nearly all the juice evaporated.
Meanwhile process the tomatoes in a food processor into a passata ( no need to sieve it)
Once the juices in the frying pan have evaporated add the tomatoes + 2 table spoons of Ketchup (or 1 table spoon of sugar).
Cook on a small heat until the tomatoes well integrated into the beetroot and the juices nearly evaporated again.
Add finely chopped garlic, stir, add bay leaf, walnut ( or sesame) oil and chopped parsley just before turning it off.
Eat hot as a garnish to any meat or fish or veggie dish.

I like it cold, just with a piece of bread.
It tastes better on the second day!
Bon appetite!