Ukrainian-Canadian recipes for the Instant Pot
“Why are you baking babka now?” my mom asked. It’s a few days into Lent so Lenten babka threw her. Babka is an Easter bread, and I wanted to bake it and post a recipe for #CookForUkraine.
There aren’t words that can describe the invasion of Ukraine. #CookForUkraine aims to increase awareness of the humanitarian crisis the world faces right now, as well as raise the funds needed to aid children & families in Ukraine who have been displaced by the current situation.
Here’s a Canadian interpretation of kutia [koo-tcha], also spelled kutya. Using a traditional recipe but adding some maple flavour, this kutya is really easy in the Instant Pot. Plus, it saves so much time when you’re busy getting other 11 dishes of your Christmas Eve dinner together.
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”
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”
