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.

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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.

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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!

Mysterious Mak - Poppyseed

amk2012

The poppy flower is but the beginning of a delicious journey in the human tradition.  Red, beautiful, growing, scattered by the wind, seeded by nature or by hands, the poppy is essentially a weed, a hardy wild flower that has possibly 6,000 years or more Ukrainian culinary tradition.

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First, grow a lot of poppies to maturity.  Enjoy the beauty.  The petals will fall and the seeds will gradually dry to maturity. Before the holes in the top of the head release the seeds, bring in a bouquet of dried poppy stocks to dry further.  Pop the tops off and drain the seeds into a bowl, then sift out all the excess bits.  Keep the seeds frozen until use.

Before modern technology, in traditional use, one would grind the poppy seeds using a mortar and pestle, a large one called a makitra, макітра, and makohon, макогон.  The poppy seed releases a white liquid that smells a bit like almonds.

I have seen recipes using dried poppy seeds, but the product is much different from traditional East European cooking. While Baba used the makitra and makohon, it is safe cooking practice to quick scald the seeds before use.  Moistening the seeds, then grinding them in a blender produces a creamy, soft and white paste that makes for delicate and delicious culinary use.

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Being present in the moment, you have to consider how much time, care and love traditional delicacies require.  Imagine grinding your poppy seed in this tool, which sits nobly on my shelf as a reminder of how Baba spent a lot of her winter evenings.

Can you recommend a method that has worked for you?




http://ukrainiancalgary.blogspot.ca/2012/12/little-black-poppy-seeds.html

Little Black Poppy Seeds

amk2012

Poppies are such beautiful flowers, they like to volunteer in gardens so often they are considered a garden weed!  But  if you had a lovely poppy flower crop this summer, I hope you let them dry on their stems! Watching the flower bloom, loose its petals to the wind, and then seeing the dried crowned poppy heads on their long stem - just makes it easy to get poppy seeds! It's an example of nature's beauty once, and then once again, and then once again!

The poppy is a biennial herb of the Mediterranean and Asia Minor regions just south of Ukraine. Poppy seed is an oilseed that comes from the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). Actually, historical records assert that use of poppy seeds may be more than a 6,000 year tradition. It is mentioned in ancient medical texts as a sedative and a folk remedy to aid sleeping, promote fertility and wealth and even provide magical powers of invisibility.

The poppy seed itself is less than a millimeter in length, so it takes over 3 thousand seeds to make a gram and 1-2 million seeds to make a pound. Clearly, harvesting is meticulous work! Poppy seeds taste nutty and pleasant - they are nutritious and entirely free from the side effects of other poppy plant products. The color of dried poppy seeds depends on their area of harvest. The blue seeds come from Holland stock. The gray and white are used as thickeners and the most common - the black seeds is used in a variety of baking - pastries and the such. Poppy seeds are used as a spice, a condiment, a garnish, a thickener and a main course. It is really very versatile!

And in the culinary traditions of Ukrainians poppy seeds are used, and have so much meaning - more to come.

http://ukrainiancalgary.blogspot.ca/2012/12/mysterious-mak-poppyseed.html

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