Main ingredients
Yoghurt recipes
Marinade, sauce, and cooling counterpoint.
Yoghurt does two jobs in cooking and they pull in opposite directions. Cold, it is an acid and a coolant, and its lactic tang does what lemon does without the sharpness. Hot, it is a problem: the proteins curdle above about 85°C unless they are stabilised, which is why so many recipes in this section either add it off the heat, temper it first, or fold in a little cornflour. It is also one of the most effective marinades there is — the acid and the enzymes both tenderise, and the fat carries spice into the meat. The recipes here say which job the yoghurt is doing and how to stop it splitting.
21 recipes
Rassolnik
Barley and pickled cucumber soup, sharpened at the end with the pickle brine itself rather than with vinegar.
Pelmeni
Small meat dumplings in thin dough, boiled until they float and served with smetana or with butter and vinegar.
Okroshka
A cold soup of raw vegetables, ham and egg poured with sour kvass at the table, so nothing in the bowl goes soft.
Mujaddara
Lentils and rice cooked in one pot under a mound of onions fried well past golden, which is where the whole flavour comes from.
Medovik
Honey layer cake of thin baked discs, filled with soured cream and left overnight until the layers soften into cake.
Garlic Naan
A yoghurt-enriched yeasted dough cooked in a screaming hot pan and blistered under the grill, which stands in for a tandoor.
Zharkoye
Beef, potato and root vegetables braised slowly in one pot until the meat pulls apart under a fork.
Vareniki
Larger Ukrainian dumplings filled with potato and fried onion or with sweetened curd, boiled and dressed in butter.
Tvorog
Fresh curd cheese drained from gently warmed soured milk, the base several Russian sweet and baked dishes are built on.
Syrniki
Fried curd-cheese fritters made from drained tvorog, crisp at the edge and soft in the middle, eaten with soured cream.
Solyanka
A thick sour-salty soup of mixed cured meats, brined cucumbers, olives and lemon, built on their brine as much as stock.
Skillet Flatbreads
Soft stovetop flatbreads cooked in a dry pan in about two minutes each, ready in the time a pot of dal takes to simmer down.
Shchi
Cabbage soup simmered in meat broth, made sour with sauerkraut in winter and with fresh cabbage in summer.
Oladyi
Small thick pancakes raised with kefir and bicarbonate of soda, fried in a shallow film of oil until the edges set crisp.
Mushroom Julienne
Mushrooms baked in a bechamel-style sauce under grated cheese, in individual dishes, browned under the grill.
Mushroom and Barley Soup
Dried mushrooms soaked and their soaking liquor used as the stock, with pearl barley cooked in it until the pot turns thick.
Golubtsy
Cabbage leaves rolled around seasoned mince and rice, then braised slowly in tomato and soured cream.
Buckwheat Kasha with Mushrooms
Buckwheat toasted dry, then cooked pilaf-style with onion and mushrooms so the grains stay separate.
Borscht
Beetroot and cabbage soup built on beef broth, with the grated beetroot added late and with acid so it stays red.
Blini
Thin yeasted pancakes of buckwheat and wheat flour, cooked in a hot pan and served with soured cream, butter or salted fish.
Beef Stroganoff
Strips of beef seared fast and finished in a soured-cream and mustard sauce that is warmed through rather than boiled.