Ukrainian-Canadian recipes for the Instant Pot
This traditional recipe works with any kind of dried mushrooms – morels, cepes, or shiitake. And, using the Instant Pot saves more than an entire day of soaking time. If you want to forgo even that hydration time, use fresh mushrooms like cremini.
Continue reading “Instant Pot Pidpenky – Dried Mushrooms with Gravy”
For Christmas Eve, I like to make braised red cabbage. It’s not a Ukrainian recipe – but what Ukrainian doesn’t like cabbage? (Ukrainians are allowed to not like cabbage)
This braised red cabbage is colourful and easy to make ahead of time. Just refrigerate and reheat when you’re ready to serve it.
These beautiful little boiled dumplings (also known as tiny varenyky and ooshka) are filled with tasty mushrooms and dill. The first recipe I’m adding that doesn’t use the Instant Pot! Boiling isn’t recommended in there. But, we’ll save time by using pre-made dumpling wrappers.
These boiled Vushka (вуха) are meant to look like pigs’ ears. They are served inside a bowl of borscht and make the Christmas Eve dinner of Sviata Vecheria special.
Як ви готуєте борщ? (yak veh ho-too-yet-eh borsch) I’ve been learning Ukrainian with Duolingo. It’s been fun and sometimes frustrating. The other day, the lesson asked me Як ви готуєте борщ? How do you cook borscht?
Here it is. This is a vegan borscht with a lot of flavour, and it’s pretty straightforward. I save time by using pre-cooked beans and pre-cooked onions. A quick steam for the beets makes them easier to peel. And, dill and beet leaves (or swiss chard) adds a fresh flavour in the middle of winter.
Christmas Eve is coming soon, as they say. I say it’s the most important Ukrainian food holiday of the year. Twelve dishes!
For any cook, Sviata vecheria is an overwhelming meal to make. But, a lot of the cooking time can be sped up using the Instant Pot with the recipes here on Instant Ukrainian. Plus, your vegetarian friends and family members rejoice.
There are a lot of options for making a traditional or more modern version of the Sviata vecheria meal.
Continue reading “An Instant Pot Sviata Vecheria – Ukrainian Christmas Eve Menus”
Beans are a fairly pedestrian thing. This recipe made for Sviata Vecheria, the Ukrainian twelve-dish meatless Christmas Eve meal. As such, it’s made with vegetable oil and is totally vegan. With a cup of Instant Onions, you’ll save even more time on your way to Christmas Eve.
Mashed beans may not look like much but they’re tasty and garlicky. They’re kind of the Ukrainian version of refried beans.
Continue reading “Instant Pot Mashed Beans – Kolocheni Fasoli for Sviata Vecheria”
This is a more modern version of kutia. My baba liked the addition of the dried fruit and nuts – it’s more extravagant than her Traditional Kutia recipe. This is my “healthier” version. Slightly healthier. Continue reading “Modern Instant Pot Kutia”
Whether it’s Kutia or Kutya (pronounced coo-tcha), it’s probably one of the most seminal Ukrainian dishes. It’s also one of the most time consuming.
Kutia is a Christmas Eve dish but – in reality – its roots have very little to do with Christmas. So, let’s travel back a few thousand years to the Ukraine. What was going on? Growing wheat. So, they boiled the wheat.
But, it’s so much more than just boiled wheat. Ukrainians (and everyone nearby) celebrated the winter solstice before they adopted Christianity in 997 AD. Kutia is the centrepiece of this winter solstice dinner that was adapted into what is now the Christmas Eve meal: Sviata Vechera.
This recipe saves the overnight soaking time plus 2 hours of cooking time over the traditional recipe!
Continue reading “Traditional Instant Pot Kutia”
