Hearty Eastern European cooking with deep echoes of Polish, Russian and Tatar traditions. Wheat, buckwheat, beetroot, cabbage, potato and pork sit at the centre; soured cream, dill, garlic and bay finish nearly every plate. Borscht (each family with its own version), holubtsi (stuffed cabbage), varenyky (filled dumplings), salo (cured pork fat) and pampushky (garlic rolls) define the tradition; the table is communal, generous and built around a slow Sunday lunch.
Floury potatoes grate into cold water with a squeeze of lemon (stops browning); a wrung-dry pile of grated potato mixes with finely-grated onion, eggs, salt and a small amount of flour. Spoonfuls fry in butter or oil until each side is crisp and golden, the inside should still be tender. Eat immediately with soured cream and dill.
A whole cabbage is cored and lowered into boiling water; the outer leaves soften and peel off in turn. The filling, half-cooked rice mixed with beef, pork, onion, garlic, herbs, egg, gets a heaped tablespoon onto each leaf, which folds and rolls into a parcel. The rolls layer in a pot with sauce of tomato, stock and soured cream; everything braises for 1 hour. Soured cream and dill at the table.
A simple enriched dough, flour, milk, butter, egg, yeast, rises until doubled. Twelve small balls form, arrange touching in a round tin and rise again. Bake until golden. While they bake, garlic-oil dressing is mashed in a mortar; the rolls come out and immediately get brushed all over with the warm garlicky oil.
Drained dry cottage cheese (or quark, ricotta, farmer's cheese) mixes with eggs, flour, sugar and vanilla into a thick batter. Heaped tablespoons land on a buttered hot pan, flatten to 2 cm thick discs, and fry slowly to golden, the cheese cooks through, the surface crisps. Soured cream and jam on top.