Our quest is for diverse, indigenous cuisine brought by the many ethnic people to St. Maarten from all over the world. We have done well and covered many ethnic groups – not all yet by any means – we have had some input about wines; we have covered high-days and holidays and we have looked at individual foods, resolutions and certain celebrations.
Cuisine in Northern Asia; all of Northern Asia is a part of the Russian Federation.
It is Easter so what more fitting than learning a little about Northern Asia/Russia and Easter. A religious celebration; Easter is often celebrated by non-religious families too.
Easter in Russia is one of the two most important Russian religious holidays. The Russian-Orthodox church uses the old Julian calendar, whereas the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches switched to the Gregorian calendar in the 16th century.
Easter was the only religious holiday that apparently was somewhat celebrated during the Soviet times. Communism and an atheist environment meant there was very little celebrated, according to religious customs, but thanks to the older generations of grandparents, many Soviet children at least learnt about Easter traditions which included dyeing eggs and baking a special Easter yeast cake called kulich and making paskha, a cottage cheese cake in the shape of a pyramid.
In Russia, the 40-day fast of Lent is observed and Lent starts on Monday instead of on Wednesday – tradition preceded by a whole week of pancake dinners, called Maslenitsa. Traditionally, the week-long holiday consisted of dances, songs, games, spring planning, and the burning of a giant scarecrow doll made of straw or rags – the effigy of winter.
The week before Easter, Palm Sunday, is called “Pussywillow Sunday.” Russia doesn’t have too many palm trees, and pussywillows, which traditionally begin to bloom right around Easter, symbolized triumph and victory, just like palm trees did in ancient Palestine. Leading up to Palm Sunday, you can buy pussywillows all over town.
The night before Easter, one will see Orthodox Christians attend the evening church services and perhaps participate in the procession of the Cross. Easter morning, Russians enjoy a wonderful breakfast of brightly dyed eggs, kulichi and paskha. They may also go to church on Easter Day.
Paskha – as Easter is called in Russia – goes back to the Jewish holiday of Pesach. On Easter morning and throughout the day, people congratulate each other by saying “Khristos Voskrese” (Christ is risen) and the reply is “Voistinu” or “Voistinu voskrese” (Indeed or Indeed He is risen). Greeting Russians kiss the other person three times on the cheek.
Easter celebrations don’t take to the streets; it is not a time for parades and large crowds; shops are closed and folk spend time with their families – be it at home or at church. Sounds much the same way as we celebrate Easter here on island.
Orthodox Church services are definitely worth attending and especially at Easter time, beautifully elaborate, hauntingly sombre and yet at times uplifting and hopeful. It is an amazing experience to attend a Russian service. Midnight mass is especially wonderful; many people take Easter food to be blessed by the priests. Everyone lights a candle and at midnight, the members of the congregation walk around the church, carrying their candles, in a solemn procession to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ.
Back in the church, they sit through a very long service that lasts into the early hours of Easter Day. In many Orthodox churches, there are no pews and the faithful stand for the two- to three-hour liturgy service. Generally, a woman’s head is covered with a scarf.
Russians play a traditional game of “egg-rolling” instead of holding the Western tradition of “egg-hunting.” The idea is somewhat similar to the game of marbles, except players use brightly coloured eggs that they roll down a grassy hill. Western Easter eggs are dyed in pastel shades, while in Russia the traditional colour is red.
Why red? Well, the story says, when Mary Magdalene went to Emperor Tiberius with the news of Christ’s resurrection, she, being a very poor woman, took along but a single egg as her gift to the emperor. He did not believe her and exclaimed “How can someone rise from the dead? It’s as impossible as for this egg to turn red.” Of course, just as he said so, the egg Mary Magdalene gave him turned red.
RECIPES
Kulichi- Russian Easter cakes
Kulichi dough makes 4 cakes about 400 g each
Ingredients:
400g flour
125ml milk
180 g sugar
10g (1 packet) rapid rise yeast
2 egg yolks
¼ tsp salt
zest lemon
1 tsp vanilla
250g soft butter
180g mixed fruit – raisins, sultanas, candied cherries, currants, apricots, pineapple and citrus peel
50ml rum – you can sub with brandy
Icing:
200g icing sugar
juice 1½ lemons
Method:
Soak fruit in rum, set aside.
Heat milk till body temperature.
Mix half milk with yeast and a teaspoon of sugar; cover and leave for 15 minutes. The yeast should start bubbling. Do not skip this step – the recipe will work best if you do not skip this step.
Combine rest of milk with remaining sugar, egg yolks, salt, lemon zest and vanilla, stir till sugar dissolves.
Place flour in a bowl, add milk and yeast mixtures.
Stir everything together until dough is formed.
Knead dough 10 minutes by hand or 5 minutes with a dough hook.
Cover dough; allow to rest in a warm place until doubles in size 30-45 minutes.
Once dough has risen, add soaked fruits and softened butter.
Using dough hook will make it easier.
Kulichi pans are mug-shaped (tall, cylindrical, approximately 400 ml in volume) – the recipe is enough for four of these. Two 9-inch loaf pans lined with baking paper can be used instead. You can also make small muffin kulichi in a muffin tin using cupcake papers.
Fill your pans with dough to 1/3 of their height (not more, the dough will rise a lot).
Cover with cling film, allow to stand in a warm place till dough doubles in size.
Preheat oven to 350° F.
Place risen kulichi in oven.
Baking times: 400 ml each – around 50 minutes.
Loaf pan will take longer.
Muffin cups – around 30 minutes.
Cover kulichi with foil 20 minutes after you start baking to prevent them from burning on the top.
Kulichi are ready when they are dark brown on top and a wooden stick inserted deep in the middle of the cake comes out clean and dry.
Take them out of the oven, cool on rack.
When kulichi are cool, remove from pans and ice.
Icing: Add icing sugar to a bowl.
Add enough lemon juice to get thick and creamy paste.
Spoon paste on kulichis.
Let set 15-20 minutes.
Kulichi and tea go perfectly together.
Paskha - Russian Easter dessert, the name means “great night.” There are many variations to this traditional cheese cake, this one is fairly easy. The traditional moulds used are small pyramid shaped but regular moulds will work just as well.
Ingredients
300g ricotta cheese
250g mascarpone
100g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla
75ml double cream
50g toasted almonds, chopped fine
50g good-quality chocolate, chopped fine
125g glace fruits, apricots, cherries, peaches, chopped fine (my preference is no fruit)
Honey-baked figs, to serve
Method
Begin this recipe 1 day ahead.
Line pots with a double layer of muslin cloth, allowing excess to hang over the sides.
Place ricotta, mascarpone, caster sugar and vanilla in food processor, whiz until smooth.
Transfer to a bowl.
Lightly whip cream, fold into cheese mixture with almonds, chocolate (and fruit).
Spoon into prepared pots and fold over the excess cloth.
Cover with cling film and place a weight on top.
Refrigerate overnight.
Remove saucer and weight from the paskha and unfold the cloth.
Invert pots onto serving plates, peel off the muslin cloth and serve with baked figs.
Chicken Pie – This pie is easy and lean and not very expensive. It serves four but can easily be doubled.
Ingredients
2 large knobs butter
1 large leek washed – chop into 2cm pieces
200g mushrooms, roughly chopped
4 x 250g chicken breast fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces
250ml chicken stock
1 tbl cornflour
100ml double cream
2 large handfuls of baby spinach leaves
About 6 sheets of filo pastry
Drizzle of olive oil
Salad or veg, to serve
Method
Preheat oven to 375° F
Heat butter in a frying pan.
Add leek and mushrooms, fry for 2-3 minutes.
Turn heat to high, add chicken pieces cook 2 minutes.
Pour in chicken stock, let it simmer.
Mix cornflour with 2 tablespoons of water until smooth, pour over chicken
Add the cream.
Bring back to the boil, stir gently until sauce thickens.
Remove from heat, stir in spinach.
Turn into a 28cm x 15cm pie dish and allow to cool.
Roughly crumple a sheet of filo pastry, place on top of chicken filling.
Repeat with remaining filo sheets.
Drizzle with olive oil, bake about 20 minutes.
Serve with fresh salad or vegetables.
Blini - Russian Pancakes; quick and easy.
Beat 2 eggs well
Add a pinch of salt and 1 tbl of sugar
Add ½ tsp baking soda to 200ml hot water, mix well and stir into egg mixture
Mix in 2½ cups whole milk (can sub buttermilk)
Add flour until the batter reaches the consistency of thin sour cream.
Add 2 tsp melted butter to the batter.
Allow batter to rest 20-30 mins.
Fry a ladle full at a time in a non-stick pan until cooked underneath.
Flip and fry until the second half is done.
Rub the pan with butter or lard after frying every 4 blini.
Suggested fillings: cooked minced meat, mashed potatoes with onion, berries, or chocolate sauce.
By Lucinda Frye
