Holubsti of Spinach Leaves and Millet Голубці-просо з шпінатом

With all the trends in nutrition heading away from gluten and dairy, I have been trying a new diet lately. Eliminating the "wheat belly" and the dairy issues isn't easy in the North American diet, much less the Ukrainian North American diet.  But I try.  It seem though that these particular ingredients aren't traditional offenders in the ancient Ukrainian diet.  The wheat grown on the Ukrainian steppes was a short stock wheat, with few kernels, nurtured as it was over the centuries to produce multiple seeds.  Today's North American wheat can be considered "Franken-wheat" because the plant itself is now twice in height and produces many-times the 'seeds per stock'.  Genetically modified, it has also acquired multiple times the gluten, too. Gluten is the elastic property that allows dough to be shaped into loaves, rolled into buns, and gives it a sensuous feeling on the tongue.  

So if wheat is a non starter for those cautious of the "wheat belly", what can the ancients teach us?  Well, the traditional Ukrainian diet included a variety of grains, seeds of the soil that provided quality nutrition at a budget price.  One of them is millet, просо.  And millet is on the "gluten free" list!

Freshly rolled spinach/millet holubtsi.
amk2013

Today sold as a health food, due to its lack of gluten and therefore of benefit to those whose diets cannot tolerate wheat, panicum miliaceum is a wild ancestor that appears as a crop on the north eastern shores of the Black Sea about 7,000 years ago. With fertile plains, steppes and plateaus, the subtropical climate enjoyed by the indigenous people of the Trypillian Трипілля culture (4500 to 2000 BC) was well adapted for the proso, просо, an annual grass with the lowest water requirement of any major cereal, excellent for dry land or no-till farming.   Proso-millet is a cereal crop rich in nutrients, cultivated in many regions of the world, including ancient Ukraine. The small, cream-coloured grains with a small dot-like mark, used as food source and fodder, is believed to be one of the oldest foods used throughout the ages. An important food staple in Ukraine, today millet is used in bird seed, and my grandparents used it to feed the chickens on the farm north of Edmonton. Millets are high in carbohydrates, somewhat strong in taste, and cannot be made in leavened breads. They can, however, be made into flatbreads and porridges, and used much like rice. 


Come to think of it, though Ukrainian lands may have played a huge role in the important Silk Road trade routes, connecting Arabia, Europe, and Asia all those centuries ago, the common folk, the indigenous people probably didn't import rice for holubtsi, they used stuff like millet!

So today I looked at my generous crop of spinach and decided to try Ukrainian  Голубці holubtsi, but with spinach leaves and millet. I took 1 1/2 cups of millet cereal, 3 cups water, and cooked on high in the microwave for 15 minutes, almost to porridge state. I fried up about a half cup of finely chopped onion and a few finely chopped mushrooms in oil and a bit of butter.  I scalded the fresh spinach leaves to wilt them, then began rolling my holubtsi (bundles of joy!) into an oiled, prepared, short casserole dish.  A teaspoon of filling, and a tight small roll of spinach leaf, followed with more soldiers lined up like little green presents in my casserole dish.  

Then I fried up more onion in oil and butter, added a bit of home-made chicken broth, added a bit of crushed dried mushroom, salt and pepper, and a bit of fresh dill.  When that was prepared I poured the juice over the rolls, just until the liquid peeked over them.  Covered with foil, and baked for an hour at 325 F. "Delicious", my husband raved about the lovely spinach/millet holubtsi. I think next time there could be a cream sauce, but that might involve dairy. We'll see! 

Смачного!

Halushky - the Gluten Free Varennyk (Pyrogy)



n.kryschuk



Craving pyrohy (varenyky) is an issue for people with gluten intolerance issues. But there is a way around it - truly there is. Here is a recipe to try, delicious and easy. Tastes almost like the real thing!! Enjoy!

 

Potato Halushky
1 cup mashed potatoes
½ cup flour (try non gluten flour with 1/8 tsp of xanthum gum)
1 egg beaten
½ teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Shape mixture with fingers into finger lengths. If you get creative, try varenyk shaped, little half moons or tiny triangles.  They will be sticky, but resist the temptation to add more flour. (makes about 10 fingers)

Drop them into rapidly boiling water. Cook for 5 minutes.

Remove with colander. Place on a serving dish with melted butter (margarine). (fried onions optional)

This quick and simple meal is for those who like pyrohi (vareniky) but are concerned about the amount of flour needed for the dough. With only ½ cup flour to one cup of potato, this is a good alternative. It’s probably not wise to make a big recipe.

Primitive and Delicious

Feeling a little thwarted in my Paleo Ukrainian Christmas planning lately.  Puzzled and trying to find ancient solutions with today's tools.  Cultural anthropology anyone?

Armed with a recipe for non gluten varenyky that requires non gluten all purpose flour from the health food store.  Not sure I am going to like garbanzo bean flavoured dough.  Sure enough, pyrohy don't stick! Back to the health food store for another variety that uses rice, tapioca, quinoa and something else.  Doesn't sound like something pra-baba used.

amk2013

It got me thinking about this whole wheat issue.  If it is true that wheat has been around for thousands of years, clearly the first farmers harvested only small amounts, and used what they had.  Milling would have been way to much a process for the ancients, not in a big way at least.  So they must have ground what they needed, as they needed. 

I've discovered that wheat doesn't instantly produce gluten, it needs to be worked - ie kneaded to produce the gluten properties, then....Well, it seems that rolling dough thin enough for sticky dough varenyky was probably not easy for the ancients.  And compounded with that, finger pinching pyrogies in the coldest, darkest time of winter was probably not all that comfortable. 

So, it got  me thinking about  korzh  iz makom - корж із маком, the way my mom makes it.  Actually, this recipe is probably something her grandmother brought from her mother, when she left to be married at 12 years old.  Yah, that's my pra-baba, and that's an old recipe.

amk2013

It's a basic dough for varenyky, kneaded soft, and rolled out onto a greased pan, like a flatbread.  No yeast involved.  Bake it, cool and break into chunks while warm and dress it with a warm liquidy mixture of poppy seed, honey and water.  Suitable for a meatless meal anytime!

So, in all practicality, the Ukrainian kutia кутя is probably a real starting point in culinary tradition.  And varenyky вареники are probably based on the enhanced properties of gluten wheat flour.  Interesting. Korzh iz makom корж із маком is probably somewhere in the middle of the journey in Ukrainian cookery - hope you enjoy the recipe.  In my eyes, this is truly winter lenten fare - primitive and delicious.

Try this recipe for a lenten korzh корж - 3 cups flour, 1 tsp salt, 3 tsp baking powder, 1 cup soya milk.  Mix the dry ingredients and add the wet, mix and knead well.  Roll to 1 cm thick and place on sprayed baking sheet.  Prick all over with fork and bake for 45 minutes in medium oven.
Or try this recipe for a non lenten korzh - 3 eggs, well beaten, 1 cup milk, 1 tsp salt, 3 tsp baking powder, 4 cups flour.

Beat the liquid ingredients, add the dry and knead until soft and pliable.  Roll thin and drape in vegetable oil sprayed cookie sheet, pricking the dough in several places.  Bake in medium oven for 45 minutes.  After the palyanitsia паляниця cools, break chunks into a bowl and set aside.

Meanwhile, soak 1 cup poppy seed in boiling water, drain the water and grind the seeds.  Add sugar or honey to taste.  Moisten the palyanitsia паляниця chunks with boiling water, adding the sweetened, ground poppy seeds and mix.  Serve warm.

Still have to find solutions to the non gluten varenyky problem - help!

A Paleolithic Feast - Sviata Vecherya Свята Вечеря

Today, with so many dietary restrictions, it can be difficult navigating the Christmas feast season.  So here is a Ukrainian Christmas meal from the ancients!  Khrystos Razhdayetsia!
Христос Раждається!

After a 40 day fast in preparation for the feast, one comes to Ukrainian Christmas Eve Supper, Sviata Vecherya,Свята  Вечеря. A traditional meal that is meatless, it is also dairy less. Turns out that the meal is really quite Paleo - derived from Paleolithic times - a time before wheat and celiac disease.

The traditional menu varies by region, and of course dietary preference, but there are usually 12 dishes, the number referring to important lunar symbolism from ancient times.

The Ritual Grain and Poppy Seed Pudding called kutia  кутя is the first.  Then borsch борщ,  fish, varenyky/pyrohy вареники/пороги with potato filling, cabbage filling, and a sweet fruit filling, cabbage roll holubtsi голубці made with sweet cabbage, another with sour cabbage, each stuffed with either buckwheat or rice, mushrooms- either pickled or in sauce, bean puree колочена фасоля much like humus, fava beans біб Greek style, uzvar узвар - the compote of dried fruits, and a couple of traditional sweets.

The essential part of this meal is planning.  Remembering the ancients relied on nature for preserving food, absolutely everything gets used, even the liquid from reconstituting dried fruit, grains, or mushrooms.

First, the kutia кутя.  Imagine Paleolithic times, and the nutritional miracle of dried, boiled grains!  Though wheat is commonly used, from traditional regional preferences we already know people have served a similar pudding millet or barley - and it turns out they are good non gluten substitutes.

Then borshch борщ can already be considered a vegan recipe, originally based on a dried mushroom broth, fish stock, or fermented beets and the kvas - beet liquid.  Ukrainian Albertans generally serve delicately slivered vegetables floating in a ruby red broth. Since the meal is already quite fiber rich, some people strain out the cooked vegetables to serve only the broth.

Some people serve petite baked buns called pampushky пампушки filled with sauerkraut or mushrooms, or even buckwheat kasha with the borshch broth. Dipping the pampushky in a flavourful garlic (or other) infused olive or hemp oil is also traditional.

I have been served the most innovative recipes for varenyky вареники.  Substitutes for the dough abound.  Once I was served varenyky made with rice wonton wrappers - delicious, and delicate (must have been a really tender cooking process).  Remembering not to stuff the varenyky with any cheeses, the filling has to be tasty. Traditional varenyky rely on saurkraut, cabbage, mushrooms or a combination of the three.   Little tiny varenyky вушка with mushroom are served floating in the borsch. And sweet fruit or berry filled varenyky of plums, prumes, sour cherries, pears and poppy seeds ground and flavoured with sugar or honey are served as a dessert course.

Holubtsi голубці  (cabbage rolls) can be stuffed with buckwheat kasha, corn and garlic in some regions, rice or barley.  Freezing garden fresh cabbage heads, and then thawing them to use the leaves makes Paleo sense, as does sour cabbage leaves - relying on a whole cabbage head pickled like sauerkraut.

Mushrooms гриби. are such an important part of the meal - especially for the wonderful flavours that infuse the holubtsi and varenyky fillings. The traditional Boletus, porcini, cepes, bilyi hryb, borovyk and others (Canadian honey agaric - pidpenky) are expensive to purchase, but the resultant flavour is amazing. Using the most flavourful for the vushka - petite vareynyky to float in the borsch broth garners the cook compliments early in the meal!

Cabbage is also served in other ways in the meal.  Cooked finely shredded kapusta  капуста (cabbage) may  include dried peas, garlic and mushrooms.  You can also serve hodgepodge горо з капустою.  (horokh z kapustoyou), a baked casserole of sauerkraut and dried peas.

My family enjoys the dried bean puree колочена фасоля (kolochena fasolia ) which is easy to make by mashing canned white pinto beans, adding flavours like pan fried onions and garlic.  Large dried broad beans біб (fava) are served either panfried or casserole baked with garlic and onions, too.

The meal is concluded with uzvar узвар, a compote of dried fruits, however in my home it has become the tradition to serve the stewing liquid as a punch, and the mashed fruits as filling for sweet pastries including makivnyk - the poppy seed roll.

Spadschina Predkiv

The ancient tradition of singing for one's supper has always concluded the Sviata Vecherya with Ukrainian Christmas carols коляди..  Greetings and wishes of good health, good fortune and God's blessing on all the members of the family, whether present or departed,  requires vinchuvannya  віншування, reciting of verses, and toasting with the water of the Slavs - (horilka  горілка) vodka.

This Paleolithic meal full of reverence, beauty and tradition descends from the ancients, wishing health and long life upon us, and our progeny.  As we celebrate this special Good News  with "gathering of the shadows of our ancestors" may we honor this inheritance with wisdom, love and generosity!  Sviata Vecherya! Свята  Вечеря !  May we, therefore, be remembered in the future by our descendants! Grant this, we pray! Slavimo Yoho! Славімо Його!