Street Food Recipe: Russian Beef Chebureki

Never heard of chebureki? Well, if you haven't been to Eastern Europe (and particularly Russia), that's not surprising! Over there it's a massively popular street food, and it's not so different from a Mexican empanada. Chebureki are made from unleavened dough. They're filled with spices, onions and ground meat, and fried in oil. Pop one as a snack or make a plate as an appetizer to share with family and friends. 

No time to make homemade dough? You can also throw these together with raw tortillas from the refrigerated foods aisle at your local grocery store. Read on for our favorite recipe... 

Beef Chebureki

(makes 7 servings)

Ingredients:

2 1⁄2 cups flour

1⁄2 cup water

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon vodka (optional)

1⁄2 teaspoon sugar (white)

1⁄2 pound ground beef

1⁄2 onion (medium, finely chopped)

6 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon parsley flakes (or finely chopped fresh parsley)

vegetable oil (for deep frying)

salt and pepper (to taste)

 

 

Directions:1. In a large bowl, sift together sugar, salt (about 1/3 teaspoon) and flour. Add olive oil and vodka. Add water to the flour mixture (a small amount at a time) mixing it and kneading dough until it's even, soft and doesn't stick to your hands. Add a little more flour if the dough is sticky, or water if it's stiff. Place the dough aside and prepare the filling.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together ground beef, finely chopped onion and parsley. Season the mixture with salt and pepper and stir in milk.

3. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough until it is about 1/10-1/8 inch thick. Cut circles using a small tea plate. Gather the rest of the dough into a ball and roll again. Repeat until you used all the dough.

4. Place about 2 tablespoons of the filling on one side of the circle, leaving 1/2 inch space at the edges.

5. Fold the other half of the circle over and pinch the edges firmly together using your fingers.

6. Make sure there is no air inside chebureki and the edges are closed tightly. 

7. In a large skillet, heat the oil for deep frying (it should cover about 1/2 of a cheburek), reduce heat to medium and place 3 or 4 chebureki into oil (depending on the size of your skillet). Fry chebureki on both sides until nicely and evenly brown (about 5 minutes per each side).

8. Drain on paper towels, let rest for a few minutes. Serve while still hot.

Traditional Hungarian Recipe: Chicken Paprikash

It's always good to have a new stew recipe to enjoy! Today we're sharing a recipe straight out of Hungary: chicken paprikash.

Unlike a gulyas, which is  a Hungarian beef stew, chicken paprikash is much more similar to chicken and dumplings. Swerve this dish with dumpling-like egg noodles (though tagliatelle or rice can work in a pinch). Similar to gulyas, chicken paprikas is cooked with a lot of paprika. For just the right flavors, try to use a sweet paprika. Other than that, the recipe is very simple and unpretentious. Keep reading below for this wonderful Hungarian recipe...

Chicken Paprikash

(makes 4-6 servings)

Ingredients

• 2 to 2 1/2lbs chicken, preferrably thighs and legs
• salt
• 2-3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 yellow onions
• black pepper to taste
• 2 1/2 tablespoons sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tomato, cubed
• 1 cup chopped green pepper
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Directions

1. Pat the chicken pieces with salt and set them aside at room temperature. Cut the onions, halving then slicing thinly pole to pole.
2. Heat a large pot over medium-high heat and melt the butter. Once the butter is hot, pat the chicken pieces dry with paper towels, then place skin-side down in the pot. Let the chicken cook 4-5 minutes untill well browned, then turn over and cook 2-3 minutes on the other side. Remove the chicken from the pan to a bowl and set aside.
3. Add the onion to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally and scraping up any browned bits from the chicken until lightly browned (about 7 minutes).
4. Add the paprika and some black pepper to the onions and stir to combine. Add the chicken broth, tomato, pepper, and bay leaves, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan again and stirring to mix. Nestle the chicken pieces into the pan on top of the onion mixture. Cover and cook on a low simmer for 20-25 minutes. Once the chicken pieces are cooked through, remove the pan from heat.
5. Remove the chicken from the pan and let the pan cool for a minute. Remove the bay leaves then stir in the sour cream, and add salt to taste. If the sour cream cools to sauce too much, turn the heat back on and heat the sauce through. Add the chicken back to the pan and coat with the sauce. Serve the chicken with dumplings or egg noodles.
6. Enjoy!

Soup Recipe: Ukrainian Borscht

Borscht is something perhaps a little strange to most Americans. It's not something we encounter very often, and its deep red color is definitely not what we would expect when enjoying a hearty soup. If it seems a little odd to you, that's all the more reason you should give this dish a try, though. The cold months are almost over, and now's the time to experiment and try out new soups before the season is almost over. Plus, what better country to get cold weather recipes from than one that is notorious for its winters: Ukraine!

Borscht's red color comes from stewing beetroots which also give a sweet, yet earthy flavor that mixes wonderfully with the sourness of the red wine vinegar. For our recipe, we wanted to go for a more traditional, hearty, meaty borscht instead of a lighter vegan one some might prefer. There's something so comforting about the heartiness that comes from the combination of beef broth and cooking with a bone-in beef shank. Keep reading below for this delicious recipe...

Borscht

(makes 6 servings)

Ingredients

• 8 cups beef broth
• 1lb slice bone-in beef shank
• 1 large onion, peeled and quartered
• 4 large beets, peeled and chopped
• 4 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 large russet potato, peeled, and cut into 1/2" cubes
• 2 cups thinly sliced cabbage
• 3/4 cup chopped fresh dill
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 cup sour cream
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Add 4 cups beef broth, the beef shank, and onion to a large pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the meat is tender (about 1 hour 30 minutes).
2. Transfer the meat to a work surface. Trim the fat, sinew, and bone. Discard. Chop the meat, cover, and chill. Cool the broth slightly, then refrigerate the broth at least 4 hours until cold.
3. Spoon the fat from the top of the chilled broth and discard. Add the remaining 4 cups broth, beets, carrots, and potato. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until the vegetables are tender (about 30 minutes).
4. Stir in the meat, cabbage, 1/2 cup dill, bay leaf, and caraway seeds. Cook until the cabbage is tender (about 15 minutes). Season to taste with salt and pepper then stir in the vinegar and honey.
5. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with sour cream and remaining dill.
6. Enjoy!