Polish Christmas: Tofu á la Grec

One of the Traditional Christmas dishes in Poland is fish with vegetables in Greek style. I tried this receipt with other things besides fish and it works great.

The dish is very flexible in terms of vegetables; you can pretty much use any veggies you have on hand. Another advantage of this dish is that it can be made in advance even 2-3 days ahead. The flavours penetrate the tofu, beans, meat or fish and make it even more delicious.

Ingredients:
1 block of tofu (semi firm)
1 onion
1 large zucchini
1 red pepper
1 large carrot
1 parsnip
4 garlic cloves
1 tsp ground coriander seeds
1 tsp ground cumin seeds
4 large tomatoes
3 tbsp tomato paste
salt, pepper to taste
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Optional: veggie stock, oil



Steps:
1. Sauté onion and garlic for a few minutes
2. Julien all other vegetables (except tomatoes), then add them to the onion. Reduce gas mark to 2.2-2.6.
3. Add 1-2 tbsp of water (or veggie stock or oil). Cook for 10 minutes before proceeding with the next step.
4. Chop tomatoes, and add them to the vegetable. Add tomato paste and all remaining spices and vinegar. Continue cooking on a low gas mark.
5. Slice tofu and place on the baking sheet. Bake at 375F for 30 minutes.
6. Place baked tofu in a baking pan, cover with cooked veggies and its sauce. I like to keep it in the fridge for a day or two before reheating and serving for dinner.
7. Enjoy!

Pierogi Fillings - mushrooms, cabbage and mushrooms, potato and cheese

For Christmas I usually make 3 different fillings, mushrooms and cabbage and mushrooms are traditional filling at Christmas time. My son only likes the potato and cheese filling so I make this most common in Poland pierogi filling as well.

Mushroom filling
Ingredients:
1 cup of dried wild mushrooms, soak (water from soaking can be added to the cabbage stew, cabbage and mushroom filling, or barszcz)
2 cups of mixed mushrooms. Usually I opt for mushrooms like oysters, shittake, chanterelles, or any mushroom available locally
1 large onion
sea salt, pepper to taste

Steps:
Sauté finely chopped onion for a few minutes
Add finely chopped mushrooms (both soaked dried and fresh) to the pot
season with salt and pepper
Usually there is no need to add any water as salt will pull water from mushrooms so you will have enough juice for cooking.
Cook on a very low heat for several hours (gas mark 1.6-2.2 for 4-6 hours), stirring occasionally (once every 30 min or so).


Cabbage and mushrooms filling
Ingredients:
0.5 cup of sauerkraut (drained)
0.75 cup of fresh cabbage
1 large onion
1 cup of mushrooms (dry and fresh)
0.25 tsp caraway seeds
salt and pepper to taste
2 prunes (might be needed if your sauerkraut is very sour)

Steps:
Sauté finely chopped onion for a few minutes
Add finely chopped sauerkraut, fresh cabbage, and mushrooms
Add the spices - caraway seeds, salt, and pepper
Cook on a very low heat for several hours (gas mark 1.6-2.2 for 4-6 hours), stirring occasionally (once every 30 minutes or so).


Potato and cheese filling
Ingredients:
500 g of cooked potatoes (soft like for mashed potatoes)
500 g of quark or pressed cottage cheese (you can make your own with milk and yoghurt)
1 onion
1 tbsp ground cumin
salt, pepper to taste

Steps:
Sauté finely chopped onion for a few minute
Mash potatoes with cheese
Mix all ingredients together

Polish Christmas: Millet with Poppy seeds

Over the last couple of years I made another twist on my favourite Christmas Dish - Pasta with Poppy seeds. I decided to replace pasta with millet; and it turned out to be my favourite version!

Wheat berries that are often used instead on pasta in the traditional kutia, the Christmas dish very popular in the Eastern Poland close to the Ukrainian border, are very hard to find in my region of Canada.



Ingredients:
1.5 cup of cooked millet (I like to rinse it a couple of times before cooking, at times I soak it)
1.5 cup of poppy seeds (soaked in hot water for 2 days and rinsed 4 times)
0.5 cup of dried fruits - I use figs and dates, raising work well too
0.5 cup of nuts - I like the best pistachios and almonds in this recipe
1 lemon - juice and zest
4 tbsp of raw honey






Steps:
1. Place soaked and drained poppy seeds in the blender with honey and lemon juice. Blend until it is fairly smooth and poppy seeds are crushed. This is very important step and may require few minutes. Whole poppy seeds are quite bitter and you may need more honey to compensate if you do not crush them enough.
2. Add all remaining ingredients, and mix well.
3. Traditionally it is a Christmas dessert. I also enjoy it for breakfast after Christmas. It can be stored in the fridge for a week.
4. Enjoy!

Cabbage Stew (Kapusta Wigilijna)

I have been struggling to make a perfect cabbage stew for years. I tried many recipes and modification and could never get it just right...until this year!

Ingredients:
0.5 kg sauerkraut; pour hot water over it to remove excess sourness
0.5 kg fresh cabbage
1.5 cups of dried mushrooms, soaked, retain water
1 large onion, cut into thin strips
100 g butter
4 whole allspice
5 white pepper corns
1 tbs caraway seeds
5-6 prunes

1. Chop fresh cabbage and place it together with sauerkraut in a pot with butter. Cook on a low heat (gas mark 2.4; after 1 hour lower it to 2.2)
2. Roughly chop soaked mushrooms; add them to the cabbage mix. Also add most of the soaking water.
3. Saute onion for a few minutes until softened; add to the cabbage mix. Continue cooking; mix occasionally.
4. Finely chop prunes, add to the cabbage mix together with spices. Continue cooking, and stirring occasionally.
5. Cook for about 6-8 hours over 2 days. You may need to add some water.
6. Enjoy!

Polish Christmas: Honey Cake (Piernik po Staropolsku)

#easyfoodcreations #healthyeating #PolishChristmas

Here is the 12th century recipe I found on the internet for the traditional Polish Piernik a while ago. Unfortunately it was years ago and the printed sheet did not have the credentials.
The spice mix I created myself as I was not be able to find anything similar ready to use in Canada.
I have to say that my son absolutely loves this cake; it is his favourite.

Ingredients:

0.5 kg rye flour

250 g all purpose flour

0.5 kg honey

4 eggs

250g sugar

250 g jar of jam (sour cherry, plum, or black currant are best)

250 g butter

3 tbsp unsweetened natural juice (sour cherry, blueberry, plum are best)

1 tbsp very strong coffee

1 tbsp unsweetened cacao powder

2 tbsp baking powder

1 tbsp baking soda

2 tbsp lemon and orange peel

0.25 c dried fruits and nuts (optional)

Piernik spice mix 

Piernik spice mix:

10 coriander seeds

5 cloves

1 allspice

0.25 tsp grated nutmeg 

3 poss of cardamom

1 tsp grated cinnamon

0.5 tsp vanilla powder

0.5 inch fresh ginger, grated 

1. Heat half of the sugar, honey and butter in a pan (gas mark 2-2.2); mix occasionally. Let it cool off.

2. Egg yolks mix with remaining sugar for about 5 minutes; add flour, soda, baking powder. Then add honey mix, juice, jam, coffee, cacao, and Piernik spice mix.

Mix well.

3. If desired add finely chopped dried fruits and nuts. 

4. Beat egg whites until stiff. Then fold it into the cake mix.

5. Prepare the baking form by spreading a little bit of butter and flour so the cake does not stick.

Pour the cake mix in.

6. Bake in a preheated oven at 180c for about 60 minutes.

7. Let it cool off before removing from the form.

8. Enjoy!

Polish Christmas: Kutia (Wheat berries with poppy seeds)

#healthyeating #easyfoodcreation #PolishChristmas

Kutia is pretty much the same dish as pasta with poppy seeds except that it is popular during Christmas Eve primarily in the Eastern regions of Poland. It is healthier option but I still favour the taste of the pasta with poppy seeds I grew up with.

Ingredients:

1c poppy seeds

0.5c honey

0.25c Dried fruits: apricots, dates, figs, prunes

0.5c nuts and almonds

2tbsp whipping cream (optional)

0.5 (can be more) lemon or orange - juice and peel 

1c wheat berries

spices (optional): 3 cloves, 1 pot cardamom, 0.25 tsp nutmeg - grind into powder

1. Run boiling water through poppy seeds 3-4 times. Then pour 1c of  boiling water into a bowl, add poppy seeds and let it sit overnight.

2. Remove excess water. Place poppy seeds in a blender, add honey and lemon juice. Process for a few minutes; you should see milky liquid. 

3. Chop dried fruits and nuts into small pieces.

4. Cook wheat berries like all grains - 1:3 grain to water proportions, for about 40 minutes on a lower heat. Drain.

5. Mix all ingredients together.

6. Serve warm or at room temperature. If it becomes dry after a couple of days you can stir in more cream, honey, and/or orange or lemon juice. It keeps well in the fridge for a week.

7. Enjoy!

Polish Pierogi

#easyfoodcreations #PolishChristmas #pierogi

Pierogi, one of the most famous Polish dishes. They can be stuffed with vegetables, meat, fish, fruits, or any combination of these. Polish pierogi dough is quite a bit different than Ukrainian dough, it resembles more Chinese dumplings dough. 

Traditional Polish Christmas pierogi are stuffed with either cabbage and mushrooms, or just mushrooms. This year I made three stuffings - cabbage and mushroom, salmon dill, and spinach and feta.

Ingredients:

Dough:

All purpose flour

Hot water

proportions are 2:1 (flour to water)

Filling 1:

0.5kg  of sauerkraut
650 g of fresh mushrooms
100 g dried mushrooms
Cook all finally chopped ingredients for about 4 hours.

1. Make the dough in the food processor. It goes really fast as you can use boiling water; doing the same by hand takes more time as your water is much colder. The dough is fairly hard to work with by hand; even rolling it I find to be quite a workout.

2. Divide the dough into manageable sections, keeping the remaining dough covered so it does not dry out. Roll the dough into thin sheet (about 2 mm), then cut into round shapes with a cookie cutter. You an use pierogi making gadgets that would take the whole sheet at once.
3. Stuff each round sheet with about 2/3 teaspoon of filling.
4. Boil a large pot of water. Cook pierogi in a boiling water for about 5 minutes until start floating on top.
5. In Poland, generally we do not fry them. We serve them with a little bit of fried onion with butter or just butter or olive oil.
6. Enjoy!

Polish Christmas: Pasta with poppy seeds, dried fruits and nuts

#easyfoodcreations #healthyeating #polishchristmas #kluskizmakiem

For me there is no Christmas without this dish! The dish is quite specific as it is not very sweet in comparison to typical western desserts so I know not everyone will like it. Even Polish people who did not grew up eating it at Christmas may not appreciate its taste.

As a kid, I remember waiting impatiently the whole year, especially Christmas Eve for this dish. Since it is a dessert it always came last after we ate almost all 12 dishes. If I had to choose pasta with poppy seeds or gifts as a kid, I am not sure what would I pick...

Ingredients:

1c poppy seeds

0.5c honey

0.25c Dried fruits: apricots, dates, figs

0.25c nuts and almonds

2tbsp whipping cream (optional)

0.5 lemon or orange - juice and peel 

2c pasta (I used home made pasta, see my recipe for pasta)

1. Run boiling water through poppy seeds 3-4 times. I find poppy seeds in Canada quite bitter so it is an important step. Then pour 1c of  boiling water into a bowl, add poppy seeds and let it sit for an hour or so.

2. Remove excess water. Place poppy seeds in a blender, add honey. Process for a few minutes; you should see milky liquid. 

3. Chop dried fruits and nuts into small pieces.

4. Mix all ingredients together.

5. Serve warm or at room temperature. If it becomes dry after a couple of days you can stir in more cream, honey, and/or orange or lemon juice. It keeps well in the fridge for a week.

6. Enjoy!

Polish Christmas: Gingerbread Cookies

#easyfoodcreations #cookies #Polishchristmas

I made gingerbread cookies for the first time this year. I used a recipe that my mom gave me years ago; I believe it came from some Polish cooking magazine she was ordering.

I timed making cookies just right for Christmas, as they develop taste over time. We found that they tasted really good after 3 days; they tasted a little bitter right after baking. They were so good that they were all gone a day before Christmas Eve... nothing left for your guests. But I can promise to make them again next year, probably a larger batch.

Ingredients:

1.5c all purpose flour

4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa

1 inch fresh ginger, grated (or 1 tsp ginger powder)

200g melted butter

2 egg yolks

0.5c brown sugar

Pinch of grated nutmeg

Pinch of salt

For icing:

1.5c icing sugar

3 tbsp lemon juice

1-2tbsp water

1. Mix flour, cocoa, ginger, nutmeg, butter, sugar, egg yolks, salt.  

2. Flatten the dough on the parchment paper and put in the fridge for about 1 hour, or 15-20 min in the freezer.

3. Roll the dough to about 3-4 millimetres thick. Cut shapes with cookie cutters.

4. Place in the preheated oven to 175c for 10 minutes.

5. Prepare icing by heating icing sugar with lemon juice, add water as necessary.

6. When cookies cool down, decorate them with icing.

7. Enjoy! Keep in mind they taste best after 3 days resting uncovered in the room temperature. 

Home made pasta

Pasta is one of the food ingredients that we do not consume often. I find it almost impossible to find any kind of pasta that taste good and truly complements the other ingredients. 

In Poland for years we used to make pasta at home and since it takes more time to make it, it's not an ingredient often featured in the Polish cuisine. At Christmas it used to me by dad's job to make pasta dough, roll it, cut it. I remember it as a very labour intensive activity. However, with today's kitchen gadgets the whole process is a lot less labour intensive and amazing pasta can be produced in just a fraction of the time.

To make pasta I use my Cuisineart food processor with a dough insert. Mixing takes about 5 minutes. Within this time I have a pretty elastic dough with well developed gluten. 

Ingredients:

3 cups of all purpose flour (about 450 g)

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

2 tbsp whipping cream

150 ml warm water

1 tsp salt

Dried herbs (optional)

1. Mix all ingredients in the food processor for about 5 minutes. You will see them all coming together, if they don't you may need to add a little bit more water.

2. On a board sprinkle some flour and roll sections of the dough at a time. With this quantity I do it in 5 batches. Rolled dough should not be thicker than 1 millimetre. 

3. Cut rolled dough into strips of your preference.

4. Sprinkle with more flour, separate each pasta string and let them dry. Once they are dried they can be stored in containers. Fresh soft pasta can be cooked.

5. Cook for about 5 minutes to you liking.

6. Enjoy!

Polish Christmas Eve: Barszcz (vegan beet soup)

#easyfoodcreations #Christmas #healthyeating #PolishFood

Barszcz takes a little bit of time to cook that is why we always make a big batch; It never lasts too long.
I love anything with beets - soups, salads, smoothies, juices, cookies - but peeling beets is one of my least favourite activities as it severely stains your skin and it is extremely difficult to remove. Hence when handling beets I use latex gloves which effectively solve the problem.

Important note - never cover beet soup while cooking it as it will become brown; you want to maintain beets beautiful ruby colour.

Ingredients:

4 carrots

2 parsnips

0.25 large celery root

9 medium sized beets

1 leek

1 onion

3 garlic cloves, peeled and cut in half

3 whole allspice

10 black pepper corns

3-4 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice (helps in preserving the colour)

10 dried mushrooms

1. Peel and clean carrots, celery root, parsnip, leek, onion. Cut into large chunks, it will be taken out later and used in a Polish Vegetable salad.

2. Soak dried mushrooms for about 15 minutes.

3. Place carrots, celery, parsnip, leek, onion, dried mushrooms, and all spices (other than garlic and lemon/vinegar) in a large pot, add 2-3 litres of water. Bring to boil then lower the heat to gas mark 2.4 and cook for about an hour.

4. Peel beets, but into 6-8 pieces each. Set aside.

5. Take out all vegetables from the soup leaving mushrooms in. Set them aside to cool.

Add beets, vinegar and garlic. Cook on a low heat 1.8 - 2.0 for another 3-4 hours. Add more water if needed. If you use too high heat you will lose the ruby colour of beets. 

6. Take beets and all other spices and vegetables out. Since we don't like wasting food we keep the beets and use them in salads.

7. Serve clear soup in a cup or a bowl.

Beet soup can be served with uszka - Polish dumpligs with mushrooms. This way it would be served in a bowl.

Other alternatives are pasztecik - yeast cakes, or kulebiak - cabbage cake. This way we serve it in a cup as a drinking soup.

8. Enjoy!

Polish Christmas Eve: Traditional Vegetable Salad (Saladka Jarzynowa)

#easyfoodcreations #healthyeating #leftovers #PolishChristmas

This is a Polish traditional salad that we eat for Chistmas. It is made of vegetables used in the cooking of the vegetable broth used in the Christmas Barszcz. Quantities of ingredients are quite flexible and each household might have a slight variation. I usually make a big batch so you can easily cut it in half or even quarter. 

Celery root can be quite bitter to some people so you may want to adjust the quantity to your taste.

Ingredients:

Cooked carrots, I had 7 on hand

Cooked celery root, I used 0.25 of large one 

Cooked parsnip, I used 2

0.5 kg of potatoes, cooked

4 medium dill pickles

3 hard boiled eggs

2 apples peeled, core removed

1 small can of peas (you can cook frozen peas and use that instead)

4 tbsp mayonnaise (you an also make a lighter version using greek yoghurt)

2 tsp yellow mustard

Salt, pepper

1. Chop all vegetables and fruits into small pieces.

2. Mix mayonnaise with mustard and salt and pepper. Add to the salad, mix everything carefully so all pieces are covered in the mayonnaise sauce. 

3. Serve as an appetizer or for breakfast.

4. Enjoy!

Note: the salad has to be stored in the fridge; it stays good for up to 7 days.

Christmas: Caramelized Beets

Beets are a very common ingredient during Christmas time in many countries around the world. In Poland we eat a lot of beets in form of soups, salads, juices, and even main dishes.

In this dish we are using leftover beets from barszcz/borscht/beet soup or whatever else you might call it.

Food waste has always been on my mind as I grew up during communism time and back then food was very valuable, many ingredients were scarce which contributed to our economical living.  We used almost as much as possible of each ingredient throwing out very little. This type of economical cooking is quite evident in our Traditional Christmas dishes. We use leftovers from one dish in another - vegetable salad is a great example of it.  

Important note: when cooking beets do not cover them as they will become brown. Even though I knew that I put them in the oven to reheat - the result were delicious beets but they did not look too appetizing so no photo this time.

Ingredients:

0.5 large onion, sliced very thinly

2 pressed garlic cloves

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

3 tbsp brown sugar

1 glass red wine

around 300 g of beets left over from Barszcz/Borsch

2 tbsp butter

1. Sauté onion and garlic with butter for about 3-4 minutes.

2. Add vinegar, sugar. Cook for another 2 minutes, then add wine. Cook on a low heat, gas mark 2.2 for 20-30 minutes.

3. Add beets, glaze them in the onion and wine reduction. Cook on gas mark 2.2 for 15 minutes.

4. Serve warm.

5. Enjoy!

6. If you made this recipe share it and tag it @healthywithjoanna