FOOD FOR RELIGIOUS AND HOLIDAY CELEBRATIONS

Around 85 percent of Ukrainians are Christian. Therefore, the most important holiday in the Ukrainian church is Easter, followed by Christmas. Both holidays are celebrated according to the old-style Julian calendar, resulting in Christmas Day falling on January 7. Christmas Eve is called the Sviaty Vechir (Holy Evening). To celebrate, a ritual meal is traditionally prepared with 12 mostly meatless dishes, which symbolize the 12 apostles who gathered at the Last Supper. In some homes, the supper table is scattered with some hay, in memory of baby Jesus in the manger, with an elaborate tablecloth. Kolach is a traditional bread placed in the middle of the table. The meal usually begins with a small bowl of kutya , a mixture of cooked wheat, honey, poppy seeds, chopped nuts, and apples. This is followed by several fish dishes, mushrooms, holubtsi (stuffed cabbage), varenyky (dumplings), fruits, cakes, such as makiwnyk (poppy seed cake) and bread. Borshch (a hearty soup) is usually included as well.

Kutya (Sweet Porridge)

Ingredients

• 1 cup cream of wheat
• ¼ cup margarine or butter
• 2 cups water
• ¼ cup each honey, poppy seeds, and chopped nuts

Procedure

1. Bring the water to a boil in a saucepan.
2. Add the cream of wheat and chopped nuts. Stir until soft and the water is absorbed.
3. Pour the mixture into a serving dish and add the butter and honey.
4. Mix in the poppy seeds, saving a few for sprinkling over the top.

Serves 2.

Makiwnyk (Poppy Seed Cake)

Ingredients

• ¾ cup poppy seeds
• 1⅓ cup milk
• 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
• ⅓ cup oil
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ½ lemon or orange rind, grated
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2½ teaspoons baking powder
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 Tablespoon sugar

Procedure

1. Soak poppy seeds in milk for 1 hour in a large bowl.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F.
3. Add cornstarch, oil, sugar, vanilla and rind to the poppy seed-milk mixture and stir.
4. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the poppy seed mixture and mix well.
6. Pour into a greased cake pan and bake for 45 minutes.
7. Top with glaze (see recipe).

Serves 6 to 8.

Makiwnyk Glaze (Poppy Seed Cake Glaze)

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 Tablespoon sugar

Procedure

1. Add the lemon juice and sugar to a small saucepan and heat over medium heat.
2. Stir gently until it forms a syrup.
3. Drizzle over Makiwnyk.

A Ukrainian Easter meal also has its ritual foods. In the morning, breakfast foods such as hard-boiled eggs, kovbasa (sausage), baked cheese, breads, butter, and relishes, are placed into a basket and taken to church to be blessed. For Easter dinner, ham or roast pork, vegetable salads, cheesecake, tortes, and other pastries are eaten.

Besides Christmas and Easter, there are special breads for almost every important Ukrainian occasion. A bride and groom are blessed, and the dead remembered with kolach , a rich, intricate, braided bread, which symbolizes good fortune and eternity. For a typical wedding, seven bridesmaids grind flour from wheat grown in seven different fields to bake a korovai , a bread that symbolizes good luck. There are dozens of different ways of preparing and baking breads in the Ukraine.

Date: 2015-01-11; view: 865