Welcome to Russia!

My son and I continue to work our way slowly through our Drawing Around the World Curriculum: Europe curriculum that we reviewed this past year.  
​
​This week we made recipes from Russia.

We've done our video learning about Russia, drawn our maps and learned a few of the basic facts about Russia.   Now it was time to eat some Russian foods.

​We made three (had planned to do four but ran out of time).
​Limonyk (lemon pie), Knishes, and Piroshki.

Lymonyck

​Is a great pie.  It is best served warm.

Ingredients:

• 250 gr/1 cup sour cream
• 113 gr/4 oz unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• Approximately 2 cups of flour (start of with 1 and 1/2 cups of flour)
• 1 and 1/2 lemons (I prefer meyer lemons as they are just what needs to be used)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg yolk (optional)

​For Directions on how to make it GO HERE.  
It has excellent images to walk you through making it.   It wasn't hard to make.   Just lots of different parts.  :)   We found it easy to chop up the lemons rather than use a food processor. 

---

Taylor's Piroshki

​I find these excellent served cold or warm.    Could totally see packing these along as a luncheon.
Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ground black pepper to taste
• dried dill weed to taste
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water

• 1 cup milk
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 cups oil for frying

Directions

• Prep  1 h 30 m
• Cook  20 m
• Ready In  2 h

1. In a medium skillet over medium heat, cook the ground beef until evenly browned; drain. Stir in the onion and cook with the beef until translucent. Sprinkle in salt, pepper and dill weed to taste. Allow to cool before using.
2. Dissolve the yeast in the 1/4 cup of warm water and place in a warm location until frothy, about 10 to 15 minutes. In a medium saucepan over low heat, warm the milk and gently whisk in the eggs, oil, sugar and salt. Remove from heat.
3. Place half the flour in a large mixing bowl and gradually stir in the milk mixture. Then add the yeast solution alternately with the remaining flour, stirring after each addition. Mix well. Knead until the dough forms a ball and does not stick to the bowl. (Note: Start with the 4 cups of flour. You may need to add more, a little at a time, as you knead the dough). Cover the bowl with a clean cloth. Set in a warm location and allow to rise until doubled in volume.
4. Remove dough from bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Pinch off pieces approximately the size of golf balls. Roll the pieces into disks about 3 1/2 to 4 inches in diameter.
5. Fill center of each disk with a heaping tablespoon of the cooled meat mixture. Fold disks over the mixture and firmly pinch edges to seal. Arrange on a flat surface and allow to sit approximately 10 minutes.
6. In an large, heavy skillet or deep fryer, heat the oil to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Deep fry the piroshki in batches until golden brown on one side; gently turn and fry the other side. Remove and let drain on a plate lined with paper towels.

Knishes
Ingredients

• 5 pounds baking potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large onions, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 eggs

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 5 cups all-purpose flour, or as needed

​I have to admit, I made ours different than the recipe.   Same basic process but I made ours to look more like perogies in shape as that's what seemed to work best when working with a 10 year old.