Blini- Staff Favorite Recipe

Every Friday I will post a staff member’s favorite Russian dish, along with the history of the food, cultural traditions, and a recipe. This week our recipe is Блины с икрой (blini with caviar).

Blini are very thin pancakes, traditionally made of wheat, rye, or buckwheat flour. They can be eaten either as a meal or a dessert, adding a very wide variety of fillings or toppings, such as meat, potatoes, mushrooms, honey, sweetened condensed milk, or caviar.

Contrary to popular belief, Russians do not eat blini every day. It is a type of food that is prepared for a celebration of the end of winter, also coinciding with the last week of Lent. The circular, golden colored blini is symbolic of the sun. Cooking and eating blini is thought to bring good luck as well as a plentiful, successful harvest that year. Although many Russians continue to only eat blini at this particular time of the year, traditions are changing. Many restaurants serve blini all year, and you can buy them at stands on the street.

The recipe below is for blini with caviar, although you may use the recipe and add different toppings or fillings as you please.

Blini with red caviar (recipe from foodclub.ru)

200 g. red caviar

3 eggs

50 g. sugar

250 g. wheat flour

60 g. butter

1/2 tsp salt

400 ml milk

60 ml vegetable oil

Mix together the eggs, salt, sugar, flour, and half of the milk. Add the vegetable oil and the rest of the milk until it is the right consistency (similar to the consistency of yogurt). Fry in a hot skillet until they are light brown. Top with caviar and enjoy!

Photo credit: Creative Commons