Instant Pot Marinated Beets

These marinated beets are very simple to make in the Instant Pot.  They’re easy to make ahead (you kind of have to make them ahead to allow them to marinate), and they’re easy to serve as a colourful side dish in the winter.  Also, a great addition to your table for Sviata Vecheria.

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Instant Pot Beets and Mushrooms with roasted garlic

These beets and mushrooms are a great side dish – or one of your twelve dishes for Sviata Vecheria.  It works for summer as well as it does for Christmas.  Bright and colourful.  Make-ahead and served cold or at room temperature.  It’s easy and no-fuss.

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Instant Pot Creamy Beet Salad with dill and spring garlic

This is an easy salad and side dish for the spring and summer.  Like many Ukrainian recipes, it has cream and then you add a bit more cream.  It’s a rich salad with great garlic and beet flavours.

The Instant Pot speeds up the cooking time on your beets (or in my case, one giant beet).  And, you can take advantage of spring garlic if you can find this special springtime treat.

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Instant Pot Golden Borscht with duck

Several years ago now, I was intrigued by Olia Hercules’ recipe for Green Borscht that appeared in The Guardian. It was full of sorrel and beet greens but no beets.  But, the protein was duck.

I decided to make a duck-based borscht like Olia’s but with what I had on hand. If you have sorrel and beet greens, her recipe looks amazing.  This recipe uses yellow/golden beets and red chard and gets topped with some crispy duck skin.
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Instant Pot Beets with herb pesto

This recipe isn’t a traditional Ukrainian-Canadian recipe.  But, it’s all beets so you’re most of the way there.  I’ve combined red and golden / yellow beets here but either kinds work.  If you’re using both, keep them separated while marinating in the sauce – because red beets make everything red.

These beets can be made a day ahead.  With some time overnight in the fridge, they become even more flavourful.  A great make-ahead side dish for Easter. Continue reading “Instant Pot Beets with herb pesto”

Gluten-free Instant Pot Traditional Kutia

Kutia, a sweet mixture of cooked wheat, poppy seeds, and honey, is the most important dish of the Ukrainian Christmas Eve meal.  Part of the tradition is for everyone to eat some.  But, what if you have friends or family members who are celiac or avoiding gluten?

Here’s a kutia recipe that uses oat groats instead of wheat kernels. And, you’ll be done in 60 minutes!

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Instant Pot Bukovinian Nachinka – Ukrainian Cornmeal Casserole with Bacon

Bukovinian Nachinka (known as Bukovynska nachynka) is similar to my traditional nachynka recipe for the Instant Pot. This is just as easy and has just a few extra steps to add bacon.

Bukovina? It’s one of those in-between-places in Eastern Europe. The northern portion of Bukovina is part of the Ukraine. I’m not sure what makes the addition of bacon more Bukovinian but that’s how it’s called in my recipe books.

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Instant Pot Studenetz – Head cheese – Jellied Pork Meat

Studenetz is a Ukrainian version of head cheese – with garlic. Studenetz is a staple all year round but mostly pops up at Easter. If you’re a vegetarian – look away and head over here now.

A traditional recipe takes way over four hours to cook on the stovetop plus assembling time – but less than half that time in the Instant Pot. It’s not “instant” but end-to-end I made this recipe in 4 hours total (then refrigerated everything overnight). This recipe uses the same ingredients as my baba’s recipe.

You either love studenetz or don’t touch it. But, this has turned out to be one of my most popular recipes.  So, there must be at least a few people who love it.

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Instant Pot Sour Cabbage Rolls – Holubtsi

Yet another variant of holubchi (holubtsi, golubchi, golubtsi, Голубцы).  There are as many ways to spell cabbage rolls as there are to make them.  These are vegetarian-vegan – it’s what I made for Christmas Eve.  If you’re looking for meat then check out my recipe for Instant Pot Buckwheat and Pork Cabbage Rolls

This uses sour cabbage which you can either spend a few weeks making in a barrel – or buy a sour cabbage head at a grocery store.

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Instant Pot Braised Red Cabbage

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.

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