2022
Hello local guides !!!
My post is a response to #TeamChallenge 'Showcase your country' by @ermest from #TeamBelarus.
Well, today, my dear local guides, let's talk about national Belarusian cuisine. You understand, writing about a country and not describing its cuisine is nothing. I will not be able to fully describe all Belarusian cuisine, just take a quick look. Belarusian cuisine is very hearty, includes many dishes prepared from potatoes, cereals, vegetables, pork. There are practically no seafood in Belarusian cuisine. Fish is present mainly from freshwater bodies. Belarusian cuisine is very similar to Lithuanian and Ukrainian.
The first dish I’d like to talk about is called kliocki z dušami (dumplings with souls). This is a Belarusian analogue of Lithuanian cepelinai. These are boiled balls of raw grated potatoes inside with meat. Kliocki z dušami is served with sour cream. This dish is inexpensive and very satisfying. Perhaps this is the secret of its long life. The dish is widespread in the north-west of Belarus. I cooked these kliocki z dušami myself.
Another great dish is syrniki (cheese pancakes). Syrniki are pancakes from cottage cheese with the addition of flour, eggs, as well as raisins. This dish is present in Ukrainian and Russian cuisine. I love this dish for breakfast. It is very satisfying and low-calorie.
Haračaja patelnia (hot pan) and jaječnia (scrambled eggs). This is a dish from peasant cuisine, something quick when unexpectedly a guest comes into the house. Fried potatoes with sausage, bacon, egg or just fried eggs on bacon with onions. Home-made sausage is called in Belarus 'kaŭbasa palcam pkhanaja'. This is a sausage made from fresh minced meat in a natural shell.
Another dish without which it is simply impossible to imagine Belarusian cuisine is draniki. Grated potato pancakes with or without filling. The filling is made from meat or mushrooms. Served with sour cream or mačanka (something like sauce). Mačanka is prepared from chopped lard, ham, sausage, flour and water. Also add onions, mushrooms, dill. Pancakes need to be dipped in the mačanka.
Now about the soups. Another national dish is a khaladnik. This dish is also national in Lithuanian cuisine. The haladnik is a soup that is served cold. It is made from grated boiled beets, fresh cucumber, boiled egg. To all this add green onions and dill. Served with sour cream. The haladnik is eaten with boiled potatoes. This haladnik was prepared by my friend and she kindly invited me to try it.
Saroka (magpie). This dish is not found in any culinary guide, nor in any guidebook on Belarus and its national cuisine. This dish is purely regional, and maybe even family. It is cooked by my mother and it was cooked by my grandmother. The saroka is a cross between omelet and pancake. Either this is an omelet with flour, or a thick, thick pancake. The saroka is cooked in a real oven. The set of products for this dish is the most ordinary, but the taste is special.
Belarusian national cuisine is becoming increasingly popular. They open more and more restaurants with national cuisine. Restaurateurs and chefs delve into the history of Belarusian cuisine in order to find something traditional, characteristic only for this region, something that would distinguish Belarusian cuisine from the cuisine of its neighbors.There are many restaurants in Minsk and other cities where Belarusian cuisine is wide and varied. This is the restaurant of Belarusian and Lithuanian cuisine ‘Kuhmistr’, a chain of restaurants ‘Vasilki’, a restaurant ‘Kamyanitsa’, restaurant 'Slavianski Kut' a cafe ‘U Frantsiska’.
