Tag: Instant Pot

Instant Pot Buckwheat and Pork Cabbage Rolls / Holubtsi

I don’t often make cabbage rolls (or holubtsi or golubchi or whatever) with meat.  Ground meat is hard to roll.  Even if you have a small amount of rice, it just doesn’t hold together like 100% rice cabbage rolls like my traditional-Instant Pot cabbage roll recipe or even the beet leaf holubtsi recipe.

Enter buckwheat or kasha! Buckwheat filling in cabbage rolls is also great – and healthy.  But, on its own it’s not spectacular though it’s a great alternative for dairy-free and gluten-free vegetarians.  Here, I’ve combined some ground pork along with buckwheat to make a unique filling for your Instant Pot.  You could also use ground beef or a vegan ground meat product.

Continue reading “Instant Pot Buckwheat and Pork Cabbage Rolls / Holubtsi”

Instant Pot Beet Leaf Holubtsi

Beet leaf cabbage rolls may not make a lot of sense but they’re delicious and completely unlike cabbage holubtsi (holubchi, golubchi, golubtsi, whatever).  Replacing the cabbage with beet leaves is a summer time treat.

Beet leaf holubtsi arranged in a casserole. Red veins in the leaf contrast the bright green leaves.

Like many awesome Ukrainian recipes, this one finishes with being baked in cream.  So, it needs to be finished in a regular oven because that cream totally curdles in the Instant Pot.  A little extra time but totally worth it.

After some research, there are plenty of recipes around called beet leaf holubchi but with bread dough wrapped in beet leaves.  My family always makes beet leaves filled with rice and plenty of dill.  If you’re used to the bread dough version, try this one out!
Continue reading “Instant Pot Beet Leaf Holubtsi”

Instant Pot Cabbage Rolls / Holubtsi

The Ukrainian word for cabbage rolls have a lot of different spellings when it’s transliterated into English. Holubtsi, holubchi, holubchy, golubchi, golubtsi. Why the h and g? Regional differences, I suppose.

In my family, holubtsi are more often meatless than meaty. This applies especially to Sviata Vechera, the meatless 12-dish Christmas Eve dinner.  In this version, they are also gluten-free and could go vegan by swapping out the butter for vegetable oil.

While you could finish the rolls in the oven, this recipe in the Instant Pot helps you save some time by speeding up the fillings and the final cooking.

This recipe saves almost 2 hours of cooking time!

Continue reading “Instant Pot Cabbage Rolls / Holubtsi”

Modern Instant Pot Kutia

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”

Traditional 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.

The history of kutia

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.
Wheat berries meet the Instant PotThis recipe saves the overnight soaking time plus 2 hours of cooking time over the traditional recipe!
Continue reading “Traditional Instant Pot Kutia”

More than borscht

There are too many bad borscht recipes for the Instant Pot on the web.  And, there’s more to Ukrainian food than just borscht.

Instant PotThis blog is going to change the way you think about Ukrainian food.  Generally, it’s very time-consuming and labour-intensive to make.  But, the Instant Pot is a way to speed it up.

Smachnoho! (Bon appetit in Ukrainian)