Christmas table traditions. Christmas Table Traditions Twelve Lenten Foods for Christmas

29.11.2021

Christmas is the most beautiful, mysterious and magical holiday of the year. There are many traditions and signs associated with this holiday. Christmas Eve is called Holy Evening. Each hostess tries to set as many treats as possible on the table.

Traditionally, all Christmas meals have to be prepared before the evening of January 6th. After the first star appears in the sky, the holiday begins. According to Orthodoxy, it is necessary that there are 12 dishes on the table. All meals should be lean. Each housewife decides what dishes to cook for Christmas, but the main and obligatory dish of this holiday is kutia. There is also a recommended list of delicious dishes that will delight any household or guest at home, and there can be a lot of guests on Holy Evening.

In the evening, according to tradition, dinner is necessary with lenten dishes, and a Christmas meal may include meat dishes, but it, like an evening meal, must necessarily begin with kutya.

What is cooking on January 6

As we already know, there should be 12 dishes on the table, according to the number of the apostles. It is customary to cover the table with a white tablecloth. Place hay under the tablecloth. In the center, knead the Christmas grease, into which you need to stick a lighted candle. Dinner began after the first star appeared in the sky. This moment, very fond of children, they like to wait for the appearance of a miracle in the sky. The most important dish is kutia. Kutia is a cooked porridge made from whole wheat grains. The finished porridge is poured with honey water or sugar syrup and nuts, poppy seeds, dried fruits, preserves, and jams are added to it. Millet can be replaced or rice. This food is traditional, no Christmas Eve should be without it.

There are many recipes for preparing this ritual dish. Experienced housewives have their own family recipes for cooking this porridge, passed down from generation to generation. Young housewives can try new recipes, of which there are a great many now, thanks to the vastness of the Internet.

Traditional Christmas sochivo

1 cup whole wheat
3 glasses of water
80 grams of honey
50 grams of raisins,
100 grams of poppy seeds.

Wheat, before cooking, it is necessary to rinse, sort out and pour boiling water over it. Drain the water, send the wheat to the pan in which the kutia will be cooked. Cook until tender, until the water evaporates. Kutia cook like porridge.

Poppy needs to be steamed by pouring boiling water. If desired, it can be crushed in a mortar. You can also mince the poppy seeds.

In addition to raisins, various candied fruits, nuts, pieces of chocolate, halva can be added to kutya. It is allowed to fill the kutya with a tablespoon of rum. Improvise. Choose ingredients according to your taste, desire and availability.

Uzvar

Traditionally, the uzvar is considered the master of the Christmas table. It is always paired with kutya. Uzvar is an old drink that is able to give strength, energy, saturate the body with vitamins, microelements. Uzvar improves the functioning of the heart, gastrointestinal tract and has a beneficial effect on the nervous system.

Preparation:

You need to take 200 grams of drying. It can be apples, apricots, pears, prunes, raisins. The washed drying is poured with three liters of water and brought to a boil. It is necessary to cook the uzvar over low heat for about 15 minutes. Then, if desired, you can add prunes, cherries, raisins and boil for another 15 minutes. After that, honey is added to the uzvar, covered with a lid and left to infuse for 2-3 hours. Uzvar is served chilled.

Lean borsch with beans

Borscht is a favorite dish in Russia. Traditionally, borscht is a daily dish, but even Christmas Eve is hard to imagine without it. Since it is difficult to cook 12 dishes at once, borscht can be prepared in advance, from this its taste will only become richer and brighter.

Borscht can be cooked with beans, sprat, beetroot, mushrooms. It all depends on the preferences of the family and the availability of food from the hostess.

Preparation:

Boil a glass of beans until tender. Or take ready-made canned beans.

Put 3.5 liters of water on the fire (you can take the water in which the beans were boiled). After boiling, add diced potatoes (4-5 tubers) to the water.

In the meantime, prepare the frying. Grate 1 large carrot, dice one onion and sauté in a skillet until golden brown. You must use sunflower oil for frying.

Take 2 medium sized beetroot. Beetroot must be grated. Fry one beetroot together with onions and carrots, throw the second into a saucepan with potatoes and beans. At the end of frying, add half a liter of tomato juice, or 100 grams of tomato paste.

At the end of cooking vegetables, add half a head of chopped white cabbage to the pan. The cabbage should boil. Cook for another 5 minutes. Add spices and salt to the borscht to taste. Citric acid or vinegar as needed.

Pampushki

Pampushki or bread, a necessary addition to borscht. The pampushka is a round and small bun. Dumplings are made from yeast dough. If there is no time to bake them, you can get by with bread or buy ready-made donuts in the store.

Onion or garlic sauce for donuts

It is customary to pour pampushki with a special sauce that makes them tastier.

Making garlic sauce:

5 cloves of garlic;
3 tbsp. l boiled water;
2 tbsp. l. oils.

Garlic is passed through a press, mixed with water, oil. Add dill or parsley, as well as spices, if desired.

Making onion gravy:

2 onions are fried in a pan until cooked, 1 tbsp is added to the onion. l. flour. Fry onions with flour for about a minute. Then 2 tbsp is added. l. sour cream, 1 teaspoon of tomato paste, salt, spices. All this is fried for a couple of minutes. Then water is poured in and the onion sauce is stewed for 5 minutes.

Cabbage rolls with millet and mushrooms

We are all used to stuffed cabbage rolls with rice and minced meat. But cabbage rolls with millet and mushrooms are no less tasty dish. Cabbage rolls must be prepared in the traditional way, only rice and minced meat, replaced by boiled millet and fried mushrooms.

Fried fish

Fish is not only healthy, but also tasty, and since you need to meet Holy Evening without meat dishes, fish is perfect. It is necessary to fry the fish in flour, since the egg is not allowed on January 6th.

Bread

Regardless of whether there are donuts on the table, bread on the table must also be present. Bread can be served white, black, with the addition of spices, bran.

Christmas Olivier

Russian cuisine is poorly presented without Olivier. On Holy Evening it is necessary to cook it without sausage. This will not make his taste worse. But on Christmas day itself, Olivier can be served on the table with sausage, boiled meat or chicken breast.

The vinaigrette

This vitamin salad has many benefits for the body. All products in its composition can heal the body, strengthen it and fill it with energy. For the vinaigrette, you need boiled potatoes, beets, beans, carrots. Fresh onions, sauerkraut, vegetable oil. You can replace the beans with green peas. Also, the salad will need to be salted and pepper.

Fruits

For dessert, you can serve a variety of fresh fruits: apples, pears, grapes, tangerines, oranges.

Christmas dishes

On January 7, it is allowed to serve meat on the table, so on this day you can suppress chicken, duck, pork, various meat salads.

Duck with apples

Traditionally, you can bake a duck with apples in the oven. For this gutted duck is rubbed with a mixture of herbs, pepper, garlic and oil. Leave the duck to marinate for a couple of hours.

Mix apples, plums, quince, prunes, season with wine and stuff.

The duck should be baked for about 3 -3.5 hours, pouring over the resulting fat.

Dessert

Christmas muffins are considered traditional baked goods. The cupcake can be prepared 1 - 2 months before Christmas and left to ripen, or you can make a quick cupcake with tangerines

Recipe:

200 grams of flour;
4 eggs;
200 grams of sugar;
1 tsp baking powder;
125 grams of butter;
150 grams of dried fruits;
2 tangerines;
vanilla.

Preparation:

Margarine at room temperature is beaten with sugar in a mixer. After that, eggs, sifted flour, vanilla, baking powder and dried fruits are gradually introduced into the resulting mass. The tangerines take root for 2 minutes in butter and are added to the dough. The cake is baked for 1 hour in an oven preheated to 180 degrees.

The finished cake is sprinkled with powdered sugar and decorated with tangerines.

Bon appetit and a wonderful Christmas!

Read more about cooking rice kutia for Christmas in this one.

In Ukraine, the evening meal on January 6 is associated with many traditions and rituals. Christmas Eve preceding Christmas is a solemn feast with the obligatory 12 lenten dishes on the table, the main of which is ritual kutia. On January 6, the 40-day fast ends, and on this day the believers fast especially strictly until darkness, until a star shines in the sky, which once announced the birth of the Son of God to the Magi.

Christmas Eve is not just dinner before Christmas. The symbolic significance of this rite is enormous, and its roots go back to ancient times. As we celebrate Christmas Eve, we will spend the next year, so it is extremely important and interesting for us to get answers to the questions: “How to properly set the table for Christmas? What to cook for Christmas Eve? How to cook kutya for Christmas? Which one to cook? What rules and traditions to observe on this holiday and what do they mean? ”.

Traditions and signs associated with the meeting of Christmas

In the old days, a sheaf of wheat or rye (didukh, kolyada) was placed in the most honorable place in the house under the icons. Now it is usually placed in the corner of the table, although these traditions have practically been supplanted by a new symbol of the winter holidays - a spruce decorated with toys. Before spreading the festive tablecloth, hay was scattered on the table, and a dish with kutya was placed in the center.

Do you know what kind of Christmas signs Ukraine is rich in and how they are explained? Once they were all sacredly observed on Orthodox Christmas, and many of them are still relevant in the modern world.

On Christmas Eve, a good host gets up at dawn and always kindles a fire from a match. Then the house will be warm all year round.
By evening, everything in the household should be in its place (including all family members) so that order and prosperity reign in the house.
The legs of the festive table were tied with a chain, symbolizing a strong economy, and touching it was also a good omen.
Until dinner has begun, a head of garlic is placed under the tablecloth at all four corners in order to prevent evil spirits from the feast.
Money and nuts are put on the table so that all family members are strong, healthy and rich.
A sheaf of straw - didukh - will protect all residents of the house from troubles and hardships.
It is advisable to have time to draw crosses on the doors of the house with lean dough.
The head of the house lights a candle and leaves it on the window, calling on the heavenly angels (or even a lonely traveler) to look into the warm light.
Two additional bowls are placed on the table - for absent relatives and for the souls of deceased loved ones.
After supper, Kutiu is not removed from the table and the spoons are not washed, since the spirits will come to supper that night.

Good traditions and signs also advise not to celebrate Christmas in dark clothes, so as not to feel sad all year round, and if your food falls during the preparation of a festive dinner, it means that a rich harvest will grow in the garden. Ukraine and Poland treat Christmas with particular reverence, carefully preserving and carrying through the centuries the attributes and customs of the Christmas holidays.

12 Lenten meals for Christmas

Modest dishes, and dairy ones, appear on the Christmas table as early as January 7th, as do alcoholic drinks. Christmas dinner is homemade sausage and ham on the table, duck stuffed with apples, jellied meat with horseradish, and other treats, but the evening before Christmas - Christmas Eve - is the last evening of a long fast. On this day, the festive meal is started only after the appearance of the first star in heaven - the good news of the birth of Jesus Christ. And although the meal is completely lean, it is called a rich evening, because there will be many dishes on the table - 12 dishes (according to the number of the apostles). The ritual of the solemn feast on Christmas Eve has remained unchanged for many centuries. Ukraine is a large country, and in its different regions the list of 12 lean dishes has its own differences and characteristics (although there is kutia in each one).

What to cook for Christmas? Holiday menu

Let's list the most popular and common 12 dishes from those dishes that housewives certainly cook on Christmas Eve.

Kutia. It is with a spoonful of kutya that the festive dinner before Christmas begins. The ritual dish, which usually includes wheat with grated poppy seeds, honey, nuts and raisins, has a symbolic meaning, and its recipes are numbered in dozens. On PapiGutto in the article, you can familiarize yourself with recipes from different regions of Ukraine, both traditional and original, and even somewhat exotic.
Uzvar. Kutia is always served with uzvar, which is historically the most widespread national drink in Ukraine. In winter, it is made from dried fruits, and in summer, dried apples, pears, plums, cherries and other fruits in it replace fresh fruits.
The vinaigrette. Salads for Christmas are served without fail, as without them. Traditional vegetables in the winter season are beets and cabbage. And the vinaigrette is just a godsend. Ukraine, Russia, Belarus - they love to cook it everywhere. Lenten salad has an amazing property - it contains absolutely all vitamins and minerals that are so necessary for the human body. The classic vinaigrette recipe includes boiled, raw and pickled vegetables - potatoes and beets, carrots and beans, cucumbers and onions, as well as herbs. Such a rich set provides a "supply" of potassium, iron, beta-carotene, vitamins C, B, E, K, PP and many others. Few Christmas salads are as healthy as vinaigrette.
... Among the 12 Lenten Christmas dishes, dumplings will take a special place as a hearty, tasty and so beloved by many. For the preparation of the dough for dumplings, it is better to take coarse flour, and for the filling - potatoes boiled in their skins. Here it is not only about the taste of the second bread, but about the fact that it is under the thin potato skin that a fair amount of potassium is hidden, which we remove when we peel raw potatoes with a knife. If we talk specifically about the taste of dumplings, then there is nothing better than fried porcini mushrooms with onions in a potato filling.
... You can use any vegetables you have in stock to make the lean stew. As they say - the rich, the so happy. Just do not fry them in oil or lard, but simply stew them well. Will not spoil stews and mushrooms, white or mushrooms.
... 12 dishes on Christmas Eve must include the first hot courses. The role is traditionally performed by rich cabbage. It is prepared for Christmas not with meat broth, but with water. You can cook it from sauerkraut or raw cabbage, adding carrots, onions, other vegetables and fresh herbs. If you want to reduce your starch intake, remove the potatoes from the recipe and chop the parsnips into the soup instead.
... Is it possible to cook delicious cabbage rolls without meat? Quite. The filling can be rice with vegetables or millet with mushrooms, there are quite a few options. Stewed onions with carrots and tomatoes will create the usual shades of taste.
A fish. The menu for Christmas Eve should include fish, and preferably not imported, but traditional carp. Choose the one that suits you best among the many ways to prepare it. If you want - just bake it in foil in the oven and serve with herbs, or slightly without flour and batter and stew with vegetables. It is much more difficult to collect 12 dishes without fish, be sure to buy it in advance.
Pickles and marinades. When choosing lean dishes for the Christmas table, make a platter of homemade preparations. Pickled and frozen cranberries go very well. This combination not only has a spicy, pleasant taste, but provides us with a whole range of vitamins and nutrients. It will not be superfluous to decorate the table and even mushrooms - honey mushrooms, butter or white, adding onion rings to them, you will get a ready-made mushroom salad.
and . This pastry will also be lean, that is, there should be no milk and eggs in the recipe, try to replace them with other ingredients. But you won't have to break your head over the filling issues. Crushed potatoes with herbs, stewed cabbage with garlic, mushrooms - there are any number of filling options.
... Thinking about how to decorate the table for Christmas and what to serve on it, you can kill several birds with one stone with the help of apples. Baked with honey and walnuts, they look festive and elegant. The baked apples taste incredibly delicious. And their third (perhaps most important) advantage is that this lean dish contains pectin, which raises immunity and absorbs harmful cholesterol. So this dish for the Christmas table at the same time normalizes metabolism, lowers blood sugar, and even improves appetite and digestion.
Peas and beans. On Christmas Eve, legumes are very important. Truly satisfying and nutritious, they should replace the missing meat and sausages. But they also have a different meaning. It is believed that dishes made from boiled peas or beans will bring prosperity and prosperity to the house.

The menu for Christmas Eve and Orthodox Christmas is free to vary according to your taste preferences. You can cook lean potatoes or serve slightly salted herring or pickled mackerel, cook mushroom sauce with garlic and allspice with mushrooms, bake beets in the oven, stew beans with prunes, and so on. The main thing is to observe traditions, with an open soul and a pure heart to meet one of the most important Christian holidays - Christmas.

Traditional Christmas food in different countries

All over the world, Christmas is a revered, long-awaited and beloved Christian holiday, although it falls on different dates in different countries, and the traditions of its meeting also have significant differences. The joyful anticipation of the holiday, the anticipation of happiness and fun, meetings with relatives and best friends, gifts and, of course, delicious dishes for Christmas remain invariably common to everyone. Let's see together what is cooked for Orthodox Christmas and what dishes are usually prepared for Catholic, how the Christmas menu in France differs, for example, from the American one. The menu for Polish Christmas is familiar and close to us, we also know very well what they eat at Christmas in Russia (after all, Poland and Russia are our closest neighbors), but interesting traditional Christmas dishes and recipes with photos can be borrowed from the Dutch or Canadian menu.

What is cooked for Christmas in America

Most of the Christmas traditions in the United States come from Europe, which is quite natural. The American Christmas menu most often includes turkey, cranberry sauce, corn, pumpkin, and beans. For dessert, there will certainly be either pumpkin pie (the famous pastry for Christmas), and he can be accompanied by Christmas, marzipans, panettone pie and other sweets. By the way, instead of turkey, it would be quite appropriate to serve baked beef for dinner, keeping in mind that not so long ago (in November) turkey was cooked for Thanksgiving. And of course, the Christmas menu varies from state to state. In Hawaii, the traditional treat will be teriyaki sauce, in Virginia, oysters and a large ham pie will be served for the holiday, in the Midwest, most likely, turnip and lutefisk dishes will decorate the table, and in New Mexico - meat stew with corn and pozole soup.

Traditional UK Christmas food

The British do not wait for the evening and begin to celebrate in the afternoon. Baked poultry - goose, duck or turkey - is served for lunch, but the alternative to game is sometimes a whole pig or a Christmas ham. The garnish is fried potatoes, boiled or steamed vegetables, most often Brussels sprouts. Cranberry sauce will also certainly be present on the table. Traditional Christmas dishes in England that the local people are really proud of are Yorkshire duck, ham and calf kidney casserole. Christmas sweets in the UK are traditional, doused with rum and served flaming.

Christmas table in Germany

The custom of fasting until Christmas has survived today only in the Orthodox Church, and Germany is a Catholic country. Christmas dishes in Germany are fish (salmon or carp) as an ancient symbol of Christianity, stuffed and baked goose with wine sauce, fried goose with dumplings, or pork with sauerkraut. The German Christmas table among Catholics is rich in a wide variety of snacks - meat fondue, white sausages and cheeses. And the table should just burst from baking. The stollen ritual Christmas cake, which has a dry texture and a thick, rich aroma, is eaten at Christmas and a few days after the holiday. Stollen is a symbol of Christmas for which modern Germany is famous. Gingerbread houses and all kinds of Christmas cookies will keep him company on the table. Cookies for Christmas, as a rule, have a spicy shade, they can be of any shape and from any shortbread dough, two-layer and three-layer, with or without fillings, with raisins and nuts, with jam and icing. A good photo Christmas cookie recipe can help you bake the same wonders at home on your own.

Christmas Cookie Recipe - Vanilla Kipferl

Vanilkipferl - Delicate flavored cookies are a classic of a festive winter feast. For him we need:

Flour - 200 g.
Butter - 175 g.
Ground almonds and sugar - 100 g each.
Vanilla sugar for dusting.
Yolks - 2 pcs.
Vanilla pod.
A pinch of sea salt.

Cookies are prepared like this: cut the cold butter into cubes, scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod cut along the pod (you need real vanilla, not a substitute). Put all the ingredients together in a blender bowl and beat until smooth. Now collect the dough with your hands into a ball, divide it into two parts, roll two sausages out of them and, wrapping each in plastic, send them to the refrigerator for two to three hours. Cut the finished dough and mold cookies - crescents, stars, whatever, and then put them on a baking sheet. It is very important that the tender dough goes to the preheated oven completely cold. After 15 minutes in an oven preheated to 180 degrees, you will already have golden, fragrant cookies, which you just have to roll in vanilla sugar and put in a tin box.

Christmas dinner in France

Traditional Christmas dishes in France are duck or goose liver, smoked salmon, oysters and lobster. Roasted goose or turkey baked with chestnuts reigns in the middle of the table. A Christmas dinner in France is distinguished by the refinement of dishes, their sophistication and high cost. Extravagant tartlets, cheese balls on skewers, rolls and tiny canapes, fanciful creamy snacks in miniature glasses - what the imagination of French hostesses is not capable of. The Christmas table should be remembered for a whole year. The traditional drink is champagne and the dessert is the traditional Buche-de-Noel cake.

What is cooked for Christmas in Holland

In Holland, mostly European traditional dishes are prepared at Christmas, including roast or baked beef, glazed ham, rabbit or pheasant. Meat dishes are accompanied by a variety of vegetables and salads. Borrowing from Anglo-Saxon traditions, the Dutch have recently become more likely to cook turkeys for Christmas. A purely Dutch traditional celebration of Christmas is the so-called "gourmet" - guests come with their pans, and everyone prepares their own dish for the table.

Christmas table in Canada

A Canadian Christmas Eve dinner has little to do with American or English. Stuffed turkey, cranberry sauce, vegetables and other Christmas snacks, and raisin pudding for dessert. They also like eggnog very much here. During the winter holidays, it's time to enjoy milk punch with beaten eggs and some alcohol. Canadian Christmas baked goods include buttercream cakes.

What is cooked for Christmas in New Zealand

Since New Zealand has long been a British colony, the bulk of the traditions passed from there. Here again we will see that on the Christmas table there is a baked and stuffed turkey with cranberry sauce or a ham. Lamb meat is also popular. But geese in New Zealand are not raised at all, and the import of meat products is prohibited. Dessert is often German pastries for Christmas, including muffins and gingerbread, French cakes, English puddings, Italian pies. But the main difference between celebrating Christmas in this country is the fact that the celebration falls on the summer period, so there will be an abundance of berries and seasonal fruits on the table.

How to decorate a Christmas table

Christmas table setting is a creative process, and it will only depend on your imagination whether the table will turn out to be bright and elegant or exquisitely laconic, warm and cozy or extravagant, lush or modest.

For most of us, Christmas is the most beloved winter holiday - it begins with a dinner in a close circle of the family, among the closest and closest people. The desired atmosphere will be created not only by the Christmas menu and delicious food, but by traditional colors in the table decoration (red, green, white, golden), lighted candles, gilded cones, napkin angels, antique toys and bells, compositions made of fir branches or fresh flowers.

One of the easiest and most effective options for decorating a Christmas table is to use a red or burgundy tablecloth. Such a tablecloth already creates a holiday; choosing a suitable set of dishes that matches in color or contrasting is not a problem. Cutlery shining with cleanliness, sparkling glasses, napkins decorated with foil snowflakes - now most of the work is done.

A great way to decorate a Christmas table is to decorate it with baked goods - how good are the warm, flavorful, cozy and delicious homemade cakes for Christmas! Christmas gingerbread cookies, the recipe of which is relatively simple, will successfully replace any expensive decor items. Elegant cookies covered with white icing, painted gingerbread, tiny muffins in miniature pots and other sweets - there are many ideas for decorating the table with baked goods. And how appropriate will be among the cookies and muffins rosemary sprigs, reminiscent of spruce.

We have already told you about what dishes can be prepared for the festive table on Christmas Eve in the article "Christmas Table: 12 Lenten Meals". Now it's time to discuss the menu for January 7th.

On January 7, the celebration of Christmas continues, but now a variety of meat dishes and wine are added to the lenten dishes. The main role on the Christmas table is again played by the kutye, which is placed in the middle of the table. Homemade sausage, roast, poultry, fried fish, cabbage rolls, honey gingerbread, jellied meat, aspic from fish, gingerbreads, lomantsy with poppy seeds and honey and much more, whatever your heart desires, are usually prepared for it.

We offer you some delicious Christmas dishes

Pork leg aspic

For jellied meat you will need:

Pork legs - 1 kg

Carrots - 1 pc.

Bulb onions - 1 pc.

Parsley (root) - 1 pc.

Garlic to taste

Pepper to taste

Salt to taste

Bay leaf - to taste

To prepare jellied meat, separate the legs at the joints, saw or chop large bones, put in a saucepan and fill with cold water in a proportion of 4-5 liters of water for each kilogram of legs.

Boil the legs over low heat, with the lid closed, for 5-7 hours, until the tendons are easily detached from the bones. Remove the foam immediately after the legs boil. Add chopped carrots, onions, parsley and bay leaves to the broth to enhance the flavor. When the legs are cooked, separate the meat from the bones and cut into small pieces. Then add the garlic, remove the jellied meat from the heat and pour into deep bowls. Place the plates in a cool place and set aside.

Pickled mushrooms with cheese

To prepare a dish, take:

Pickled mushrooms - 500 g

Butter - 100 g

Spicy hard cheese - 100 g

Mayonnaise - 1 tablespoon

Parsley to taste

Dry the mushroom caps on a towel. Grate the cheese on a fine grater, add butter, mix until smooth. Then add mayonnaise, mix and fill the mushroom caps with this mass. Place the finished hats on skewers and place on a plate.

Pork stew

For the dish you will need:

Pork with bone - 700 g

Bulb onions - 1 pc.

Fat - 2 tablespoons

Cumin - 1 tsp

Flour - 1 tablespoon

Salt to taste

Preparation:

Salt the meat, dry and sprinkle with flour. Fry in very hot fat until golden brown. Then transfer it to a saucepan and add a few tablespoons of water. Peel the onion, cut it into circles, fry in fat until golden brown and add to the meat. Then add the caraway seeds to the dish and simmer under the lid until soft. Add water as the juice evaporates. When the meat is cooked and tender, cut into slices across the grain. Put it on a plate, cover with onion sauce and serve with boiled potatoes or cabbage salad.

Jellied pike perch

To cook pike perch you will need:

Pike perch - 1 kg

Carrots - 2 pcs.

Bulb onions - 1 pc.

Parsley (root) - 1 pc.

Gelatin - to taste

Lemon - 1 pc.

Fresh cucumber - 1 pc.

Egg - 2 - 4 pcs.

Cranberry - to taste

Vinegar to taste

Salt to taste

Peel the fish, remove the entrails, cut off the head and tail. Pour cold water over the head and tail, bring to a boil, add a little vinegar, salt, finely chopped onion, carrots, parsley root and cook for 15-20 minutes. For the broth to acquire a beautiful color, it is necessary to fry the onion rings without fat and add it to the broth.

Cut the fish fillet into pieces, place in a small saucepan, pour over the fish broth, which must first be filtered, and cook until the fish is ready. Now drain the broth, cool the fish and put it on a plate, alternating with boiled carrots, eggs and lemon, as well as cranberries and herbs.

Now soak the gelatin in cold water (40 g. Gelatin in 1 liter of water), leave it for 2 hours. Then add this gelatin to the hot broth, stir. Beat the egg whites separately and add them to the chilled broth (for 1 liter of water - 2 proteins), and then simmer. When the proteins are curled, strain the hot broth through a cloth, refrigerate and pour over the fish in several steps to prevent the vegetables from floating up. Now put the fish in a cool place until it solidifies.

Homemade sausage

Necessary:

Pork - 1 kg

Beef - 1 kg

Garlic - 2 wedges

Onions - 3 pcs.

Coarse black pepper - to taste

Salt to taste

Pork intestines - to taste

Rinse the intestines, turn them out and clean well. Rinse the meat, cut into small pieces and pass with the onion through a meat grinder, add garlic, spices, salt, mix well. Now you can stuff the intestines with minced meat, tie the ends of the intestines with a thick thread and make several punctures on the sausage with a fork to remove the air. Then place the sausage on a baking sheet and bake in the oven until tender. Do not forget to periodically water the sausage with the juice that is released.

Baked chicken

Ingredients:

Chicken - 1 pc.

Breast - 200 g

Bulb onions - 1 pc.

Parsley to taste

Fruit from compote - to taste

Salt to taste

Mayonnaise to taste

Mustard - to taste

Preparation:

Salt the chicken, leave it overnight. Then brush it with mayonnaise. Line the bottom of the goose-bowl with thin strips of brisket, put the chicken back down on them, and lay the brisket shelves greased with mustard on it. Pour in half a glass of cold water, cover and bake in a hot oven (240 C) until tender, do not forget to water the chicken with juice. The finished chicken should be cut into pieces and placed on a platter, covering each piece of chicken with a strip of brisket. Garnish the meat with herbs.

Cabbage rolls with meat

For cooking you need:

White cabbage - 800 g

Meat (pulp - beef, lamb, pork) - 300 g

Bulb onions - 1 pc.

Flour - 1 tablespoon

Tomato paste - 2 tablespoons

Sour cream - 2 tablespoons

Butter - 2 tbsp.

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Remove the leaves from the cabbage head, cut off the bulges from the stems and boil in boiling water for 5 minutes.

Refrigerate afterwards. Now prepare the minced meat: pass the meat through a meat grinder, mix with boiled rice, fried onions, salt, pepper, mix everything well.

For gravy, fry flour in butter, add tomato paste and sour cream.

Put a tablespoon of minced meat on the leaves and wrap in an envelope. Fry cabbage rolls, put in a deep saucepan and pour over the gravy, add a glass of water, cover and simmer over low heat for 30-40 minutes.

Lomantsy with poppy seeds

Ingredients:

Flour - 400 g

Margarine - 150 g

Sugar - 120 g

Egg - 1 pc.

Sour cream - 100 g

Egg (yolk) - 1 pc.

Soda - 0.5 tsp

Poppy - 1 tbsp.

Milk - 1 tbsp.

Sugar - 100 g

Honey - 1 tablespoon

Nuts (kernels) - 100 g

Sift flour, mix with baking soda, grated margarine, sugar (1 tablespoon), egg and yolk. Chop everything with a knife, and then add sour cream. Stir until smooth. Knead to a tight dough. Then divide it in two and roll out two cakes. Place each cake on a baking sheet, make a few nips with a fork and bake in an oven preheated to 200 C until tender.

Pre-soak the poppy seeds, and then grind it and mix with sugar (100 g), melted honey, cold milk, chopped nuts. Break the finished cakes into small pieces, add to the poppy seed mixture, stir and put in a ceramic bowl and serve.

Merry Christmas!

According to information //www.smachno.ua

Useful Tips

A bright holiday is approaching - Christmas.

This means that Orthodox people are running out of fasting time, and caring housewives are in a hustle and bustle looking for recipes to surprise their dear guests on Christmas Eve.

Read also:How to make a wish come true (and not only at Christmas)

12 dishes for Christmas

It is believed that there should certainly be 12 dishes on the festive table, symbolizing the 12 apostles.

Kutia (sochivo)

The word Christmas Eve or Nomad - comes from sychovo, which means grain of wheat. However, it can be lentils, peas and barley prepared in a special way.

Juice is traditionally eaten after a church service on Christmas Eve, completing a forty-day fast with this dish. It is sometimes called "kutia".

Kutia is, without exaggeration, the main dish and symbol of Orthodox Christmas. It is with him that the dinner on the eve of Christmas begins.

In addition to wheat grains, this dish usually includes poppy, symbolizing martyrdom, and honey, which is a symbol of purity and purity.

In addition, kutia also means union with God and the world of the dead. For this reason, the dish is also saved at night for the souls of deceased relatives and friends.

So, kutia is a dish made from wheat and other grains or legumes (such as rice, barley or beans), sweetened with honey. To improve the taste, raisins, dried apricots and other dried fruits are also added to kutya.

Kutya is eaten from a common dish. Such a process, as it were, symbolizes unity, and in some families a spoonful of kutya is thrown up to the ceiling. If it sticks, you can expect an abundant collection of honey in the coming year.

Mushrooms

In the countries of the former Soviet Union, where mushroom picking, drying and pickling is a national pastime, special attention is paid to mushroom dishes. Mushrooms at Christmas are one of the 12 main festive dishes.

It can be either mushroom soup, or just pickled mushrooms, which must be seasoned with vegetable oil. To emphasize the taste of the product, as a rule, housewives prefer sunflower oil.

Mushrooms symbolize two essences and the life of Jesus Christ: divine (hat) and earthly (leg).

Borsch

Some families choose sauerkraut borscht, vegetarian borscht, or vegetarian hodgepodge, to which they add something like dumplings with mushroom, potato or cabbage filling instead of meat.

The dough for these dumplings is also prepared with a small amount of vegetable oil.

Borscht is a symbol of the triumph of good over evil. It is believed that the hostess prepares lean borscht from all the ingredients that the land gives her. This means that everything that our land is rich in should be present on the festive table.

Some read that red borscht also symbolizes the blood of the Bethlehem children who were exterminated by order of King Herod.

What dishes are prepared for Christmas

Kapustnyak

Another of the main dishes that must be present on the festive table is cabbage.

Cabbage symbolizes simplicity and at the same time strength, strength, unity, cohesion, which has one single basis - the Almighty.

A fish

Not all Orthodox Christians eat fish and eggs during fasting. However, when the fast ends, fish dishes are an obligatory part of the festive table.

So, pike perch, cod, carp, eel, salmon and salmon occupy the central place in the fish list. By the way, the most diligent housewives bake kulebyaka with fish filling. Eggs, dill and rice are also added to the kulebyaka.

In addition, fish snacks are welcome on the table. It can be herring and other salted fish.

Cabbage rolls

Cabbage rolls are one of the main dishes of the Christmas meal. When preparing this dish, the hostesses turn on their imagination: someone prepares cabbage rolls from sauerkraut leaves, but there are also those who prefer to use grape leaves.

As a rule, sour cream is served with stuffed cabbage rolls.

The main word already appears in the name of this dish. In many cultures, the dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, the messenger of God and signifies beauty and strength.

Vareniki

Dumplings are a symbol of prosperity and prosperity.

The hostess chooses the filling for this dish based on the taste preferences of her household and guests. It can be potatoes, mushrooms, sauerkraut, cherries.

Please note that the dough for dumplings is prepared according to a special recipe using only lean sunflower oil. And the molding of dumplings is generally a real art.

Russian dishes for Christmas

Pies

Well, what is a feast without your favorite pies?

Every good housewife has her own original recipe for making pies. The filling here can also be absolutely anything: from potatoes and peas to mushrooms or cabbage.

By the way, the pies symbolize the longevity, health and happiness that a person receives from communication with the newborn Son of God - Jesus Christ.

What to cook for Christmas

Peas

Pea dishes are a symbol of God's spring. Peas also symbolize the unity of the human race, so this dish must be included in your Christmas dinner.

Dishes for Orthodox Christmas

Beans, vegetables

Beans and boiled or stewed vegetables should also be present on the table. The beans must be cooked slowly the night before for several hours.

Then it can be seasoned with fried onions and sunflower oil. Steamed stew is also a welcome dish and is a must-have element of a Christmas dinner.

Beans, other legumes and vegetables take center stage on the table and symbolize wealth and prosperity in the coming year.

Christmas goose in the oven

Goose baked in apples or oranges

Well, where can you go without a Christmas goose?

Just as the turkey plays an important role in Western culture, the goose also takes its place of honor in the culture of the Orthodox goose, displacing other types of meat from the festive table.

As a rule, housewives bake a goose in apples or oranges. But here it already depends on the desire of the household and on the fantasy of the hostess.

However, of course, a goose or other bird is cooked and eaten by those who do not fast.

As an example, consider the following recipe for cooking goose in white sauce:

Trim off excess fat from the goose, then melt in a saucepan. Rinse the poultry thoroughly, then divide it into the desired serving size, sprinkle with salt and pepper and sauté in melted fat.

Fry the goose until golden brown, then remove from the pan and add finely chopped onion to it. Add a spoonful of flour and fry this mixture for a few minutes, then add a couple of tablespoons of sour cream to it. Pass the sauce through a sieve, pour over the poultry and bake on low heat until the meat is done.

Desserts for Christmas

Dessert and Uzvar

Dessert on Christmas Eve in the strictest Orthodox families is exclusively dried fruits and nuts flavored with honey or a fruit compote, the so-called uzvar.

So, this drink is more like a compote and is a sweet mixture of dried fruits such as apples, pears, cherries, prunes, currants, raspberries, gooseberries and raisins. All ingredients are mixed with honey, sometimes with spices and boiled in water.

In fact, it is a half drink, half stewed fruit.

Uzvar is a ritual drink that serves to celebrate those who have just arrived, therefore it symbolizes the birth of the Baby Jesus and his arrival in this world.

According to the Orthodox tradition, food on Christmas Eve should be washed down not with water, but exclusively with uzvar.

Some families serve more sophisticated desserts such as gingerbread and animal-shaped cookies. Such cookies are called carols.

Kolyadki are Russian Christmas cookies, usually made from rye flour with the addition of cottage cheese.

Baked apples are delicious, healthy, and just right for Christmas.

To improve the taste, apples are baked with honey and raisins. To add even more taste and pleasant aroma, some housewives add seasoning in the form of cinnamon and cloves. In just a few minutes, a delicious Christmas dessert is ready. Well, even a child has heard about the benefits of baked apples.

Lenten meals for Christmas

The vinaigrette- This salad can be a great alternative to a side dish.

If you are not a fan of vinaigrette, you can opt for any other lean salad. It can be salads from beets, nuts, various raw, boiled vegetables. If you are not fasting, you can find delicious salad recipes in our article: Top 11 delicious and healthy holiday PP salads

Pickles- an invariable addition to any festive table in Russia.

Pickled and pickled cucumbers, tomatoes and zucchini, loved by many, are loved by both young and old.

Pampushki- it is customary to serve bread with garlic baked inside for dinner. It is believed that garlic drives away evil spirits and attracts all good and kind.

Stewed cabbage with mushrooms is another hearty and tasty lean dish that is prepared by many housewives in the post-Soviet space.

Lenten potato dishes- it can be both baked potatoes with salt, and potatoes stewed with vegetables or boiled potatoes with herbs and garlic.

Traditional food for Christmas

Chicken stuffed with rice;

For the filling, in addition to rice, raisins and dried apricots are also used.

Chicken baked with apples in the oven;

Thanks to apples, poultry meat is saturated with sweet and sour aroma and taste.

Boiled pork;

Not a single Russian feast is complete without this dish.

Fried carp;

Another simple and tasty dish at the same time.

Fish pie.

Red caviar sandwiches:

Well, what a festive meal without red caviar? It's delicious and healthy. A more expensive alternative to red caviar can be black caviar.

In general, it would be more correct to call this holiday Holy Evening, since traditional dishes on the Christmas table are prepared precisely for the evening of January 6th. The most beautiful and mysterious traditions, rituals and signs are associated precisely with Holy Eve and Christmas night, that is, from January 6 to 7. And on the table there should be exactly 12 dishes for Christmas - according to the number of God's Apostles.

The main tradition of this evening is waiting like a miracle, the first star in the night sky. Young children are especially happy about this tradition, every minute running in a crowd together with other children to look at the evening sky, and what a delight when the first Christmas star appears in the amazing evening blue of January! .. In childhood, it always seems so big and radiant that what no matter the scientific points of view about the January stars and planets astronomers do not give, everyone knows for sure: this is it, the star of Christmas.

For modern adults, these traditions are also honorable at Christmas, because only after the first star appears, the holiday begins. When the Christmas star appears in the sky, the whole family can sit down at the table and start celebrating.

Cover the Christmas table with a light-colored tablecloth, and traditionally put some hay under it. A candle is placed in the center of the table in a container with wheat grains, lit, and all together thank the Lord. If you are not particularly devout and do not know how to pray, this is not a problem: tell God in your own words that you are grateful to Him for what you have, for the fact that He protects and loves you, and ask for health, prosperity and love for yourself and their loved ones next year. Do not be embarrassed, believe me, after such a sincere, and not memorized prayer, your soul will become warm and comfortable, as they say in Ukraine “calmly”. And now you can start your Christmas dinner, which necessarily starts with Lenten kutya and uzvar - traditional Christmas dishes.

12 DISHES FOR CHRISTMAS

As you already understood, you need to prepare exactly 12 dishes for the Christmas table. And these 12 Christmas dishes should be lean, that is, they should not contain meat and animal fats, and indeed nothing from the animal world (no milk, no sour cream, no eggs, etc.). For Christmas, you can only cook fish, all kinds of cereals, vegetables and fruits, of course. It will be possible to pamper yourself with balyk and sausages from tomorrow, and you only need to prepare 12 dishes for Christmas with lean ones.

The main rule for the Christmas table is the "poverty" of food, that is, your menu for Christmas should include only elementary, simple, lean food, without any frills. Do not worry that such a "vegetarian" menu will not be tasty - the recipes for the Christmas table have been tested and honed for centuries and generations, so you will have something to please yourself and your loved ones. Moreover, in the modern world, such a menu for Christmas is more exotic for us than a traditional diet.

Kutia

This is one of the main dishes at Christmas - the hostess of the Christmas Party. Prepare kutya for Christmas and Epiphany (in some regions of Ukraine and for the New Year). The rich supper and the Christmas feast of the next day began with kutia. After Holy Eve, kutya was left overnight on the table - so that the souls of deceased ancestors could also taste the treat.

The basis of kutia is wheat, barley or rice. Traditional wheat kutya contains a complex of B vitamins and protein (during fasting, the body does not receive proteins of animal origin, so their deficiency should be compensated for with plant proteins). Cereals are seasoned with grated poppy seeds, nuts, dried fruits, honey. These products are rich in beta-carotene, vitamins (B, C, E, K, PP and others) and trace elements (potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, manganese).

Wheat kutia recipe

2 cups wheat
1 glass of poppy seeds
100 g honey (or 1/2 cup sugar)
30 g shelled nuts
50 g raisins
salt to taste

Method for preparing kutia from wheat:

Sort the wheat, rinse, pour into boiling water, bring to a boil, discard on a sieve, pour over with cold water, put in a saucepan or clay pot, add water again and cook until the grains are ready.

Wash a glass of poppy seeds, pour over it with boiling water, and then with cold water, crush in a mortar until the mass turns white, add honey, you can add a little salt. Add chopped nuts, scalded with boiling water and strained raisins.

Uzvar

Uzvar at Christmas was traditionally prepared for kutya. If kutya is the hostess of the Christmas party, then the uzvar is the owner.

Actually, uzvar (or compote) used to be one of the most common traditional drinks. But if in summer it was prepared from fresh berries, then in autumn, winter and spring - from dried (cherries, apples, pears, apricots and others). Dried fruits and berries preserve vitamins, the lack of which we especially begin to feel in winter (after all, it is not for nothing that uzvar was a constant drink during the Great Orthodox Fast, when there are especially few vitamins). The drink is rich in vitamins A, B, C, it contains calcium, iron, phosphorus, potassium and other useful substances. In addition, the uzvar regulates the work of the stomach and intestines, and also has a positive effect on the work of blood vessels.

Uzvar recipe:

200 g of dried pears, 200 g of dried apples, 200 g of prunes, 100 g of raisins, 200 g of honey, 3 liters of water.

How to cook an uzvar:

Prepare dried fruits. To do this, wash the dried fruits with warm water and fill them with cold water for 10 minutes.

Pour 3 liters of water into a saucepan, put pears and apples and simmer for 15 minutes. Then add prunes and raisins to the uzvar and cook for another 10-15 minutes.

Finally add honey, let it boil and remove the uzvar from heat. Cover the uzvar with a lid and leave for 2-3 hours to infuse. Strain the uzvar and serve chilled

Dumplings with potatoes, mushrooms, cabbage

Dumplings are perhaps the most delicious lean dish. They must be prepared for the Christmas table.

Prepare the dough for dumplings from coarse wheat flour. It is rich in vitamins B and E and is better absorbed by the body than premium flour. In addition, coarse flour contains pectin and fiber. Figuratively speaking, such flour is a broom for the intestines.

Filling for dumplings - potatoes boiled in their skins. It is in unpeeled potatoes under the skin that usefulness is preserved, in particular, the potassium layer, which we usually cut off when peeling raw potatoes. Add fried mushrooms and onions to the potatoes. You can use other fillings: stewed cabbage, berries.

Dough for dumplings

For the dough you will need: 0.5 kg of flour, 250 ml of water, 2 tbsp. tablespoons of vegetable oil, salt to taste.

Method of preparation: sift flour, add water, salt, vegetable oil and knead a hard dough. Cover and leave for about an hour, during which time you can cook the filling. And then you can start cutting the dough and sculpting the dumplings.

Such dough turns out to be elastic, it can be rolled out thinly, and it does not boil in boiling water. In such dumplings, there may be little dough and a lot of filling.

Dumplings with potatoes

For the filling you will need: 0.5 kg of potatoes, 1 medium carrot, 2 medium onions, vegetable oil, dill, ground black pepper, salt to taste.

Peel and boil the potatoes in salted water. Purée by adding fry, chopped dill, pepper and salt.

Lean dumplings with cabbage

For the filling you will need: 0.6 kg of white cabbage, 1 medium carrot, 2 medium onions, vegetable oil, salt to taste, bay leaf.

Method of preparation: finely chop the onion, grate the carrots on a coarse grater, fry in vegetable oil and set aside a small part of the frying for further dressing of the finished dumplings.

Chop the cabbage. Add it to the frying pan and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Finish with bay leaves and salt.

Cool the filling, and you can sculpt the dumplings. Cook for 5-7 minutes. Add the remaining frying to the finished dumplings.

The vinaigrette

Traditionally, the vinaigrette is made from boiled (potatoes, beets, carrots, beans), raw (onions and parsley) and pickled or pickled (cucumbers) vegetables. This set contains all the minerals and vitamins a person needs: C, B, PP, E, K, beta-carotene, potassium, iron.

Cut the vegetables for the salad into cubes, and season the vinaigrette as usual with vegetable oil. It helps to better absorb beta-carotene, which is rich in carrots and is the main source of vitamin E.

Vinaigrette recipe

Potatoes - 3-4 medium or large pieces,
carrots - 1 large or 2 medium pieces,
beets - 1 pc,
sauerkraut - 100-150 g,
pickled or pickled cucumbers - 1-2 large pieces,
onion - 1 medium piece,
vegetable oil,
salt, freshly ground pepper
optional: green peas, boiled beans, canned mushrooms

How to make a vinaigrette:

Wash potatoes, beets, carrots well. Put the vegetables in a saucepan, add water, bring to a boil and boil until tender.

Tip: Vegetables can be wrapped in foil and baked in the oven at 180 ° C until tender. Each vegetable must be wrapped in foil separately. You can also boil vegetables in a double boiler.

Cool and peel the beets, potatoes and carrots. Cut vegetables into small cubes.

Cut the cucumbers into cubes. Squeeze the sauerkraut from the brine.

Peel the onions and chop finely.

Put the beets in a bowl, add a little vegetable oil and stir - then the beets will not color the rest of the vegetables.

Add chopped potatoes, carrots, cucumbers, cabbage, onions to the beets, season with salt, pepper, season with oil and stir.

Tip: You can add green peas, boiled beans, canned mushrooms to the vinaigrette.

Chill the vinaigrette in the refrigerator before serving.

Cabbage rolls

The traditional recipe for stuffed cabbage contains meat. But during fasting, the filling can be replaced with stewed mushrooms, carrots and onions. Then cook as usual.

Homemade stuffed cabbage recipe

White cabbage 500 gr.
Braised mushrooms
Rice 1/3 tbsp.
Salt
Sugar
Ground black pepper
Tomato paste 3 tablespoons or tomatoes 5-6 pcs.
Carrots 1 pc.
Bulb onions 2 pcs.
Peppercorns 5-7 pcs.
Bay leaves 2 pcs.

How to cook stuffed cabbage:

Wash the cabbage, remove the stalk from it and put in a saucepan with boiling water.

Cook the cabbage until the top leaves separate well (about 10 minutes). Remove the separated leaves from boiling water. If you make cabbage rolls from young cabbage, then you need to cook it for no more than 2-3 minutes.

Boil rice until tender.

Pass the stewed mushrooms and onions through a meat grinder. Add salt, pepper, rice to the resulting minced meat. Mix everything thoroughly. Add 3 tablespoons of water to the minced meat.

Cut off a thick vein from the cabbage leaf (from the stump), put a little minced meat, wrap the cabbage leaf in an envelope.

Put the resulting cabbage rolls in a saucepan.

Prepare the sauce: in vegetable oil, fry finely chopped onions and carrots grated on a coarse grater, add tomato paste, salt, a little sugar, peppercorns, bay leaves, water. Bring the sauce to a boil.

Pour the cabbage rolls on top with the resulting sauce, cover the pan with a lid and simmer over low heat for about 40-50 minutes, depending on the size of the cabbage rolls and the quality of the cabbage

Jellied fish

A beautiful festive dish that can be served during fasting.

Ingredients:

Pike perch weighing 1 kg,
1 onion
1 carrot,
1 white root (parsley, parsnip, or celery)
1 bunch of greens
lemon to taste
2 bay leaves
5 black peppercorns,
2 allspice peas,
30 g gelatin,
salt to taste
1.5 liters of water.

Jellied fish - preparation:

Clean the fish, gut, remove the gills and rinse thoroughly.

Separate the head, tail, fins, bones, skin from the fish, put in a saucepan along with vegetables and spices.

Pour in cold water, bring to a boil, reduce heat, carefully removing the resulting foam.

Boil the broth for 1.5 hours on very low heat, so that the liquid only "moves" a little, and does not boil.

Cut the fish fillet into portions.

Put the fillets in the broth, salt and simmer until tender, 30 minutes.

Then very carefully remove the pieces of fish fillet from the broth with a slotted spoon so that they do not break, and put them in portioned bowls.

Strain the broth through several layers of cheesecloth.

The viscosity of the broth, and therefore the solidification of the future aspic from the fish, can be checked by holding a drop of liquid in your fingers - if the fingers stick well together, it means that the aspic from the fish will freeze. If stickiness is not felt, gelatin can be used.

To do this, dilute a bag of gelatin in a warm broth until completely dissolved and pour the gelatinous mass into the broth.

Pour the fish with broth, decorate with boiled carrot figurines and herbs. It is better to decorate the jellied fish with lemon slices after hardening so that the dish does not taste bitter.

Place the fish jellied in a cool place to cool completely, and then in the refrigerator.

Jellied fish will be ready in 4-5 hours.

Serve aspic with horseradish fish.

Lenten borsch

Red borscht was traditionally cooked for Christmas.

How to cook lean borscht:

Cut red beets (1 kg) into slices, soak for two days in cold water with a crust of black bread. Soak dried mushrooms overnight, boil. Boil the beets, cut. Chop up fresh carrots and parsley. Pour boiled beets, carrots, mushrooms, parsley with beetroot brine and cook until tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Fried carp

Fish is especially useful because it contains a lot of phosphorus, which is actively involved in metabolism.

How to cook:

We take purely Slavic fish - carp. We cleanse from scales and entrails. Cut the big fish into pieces. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper to taste.

Fry in sunflower oil, without flour and without batter, on both sides over medium heat (you can first cover with a lid so that the fish is fried inside).

Sauerkraut

Another traditional Slavic dish. The cabbage is mixed with frozen cranberries. Cranberries and cabbage complement each other - in combination, a good set of vitamins and microelements (vitamin C, iron, calcium, protein and other useful substances) is obtained. Sauerkraut for the Christmas table must be prepared in advance, three days in advance.

Composition:

White cabbage (late varieties) - 5 kg (net weight of cabbage),
carrots (large) - 4 pcs (1 kg),
salt - 100 g (* do not use iodized salt)

Preparation:

Wash the cabbage, dry it and cut the head of cabbage into 4 parts - you get 4 large cabbage wedges. Cut the stump and finely chop the cabbage (you can use a special grater).

Wash carrots, peel, wash again and grate on a coarse grater.

Measure the salt and pour it into a small container (bowl or saucer).

Place 3-4 large handfuls of cabbage in a saucepan (or a large plastic bowl), sprinkle with some salt, mix well and grind the cabbage and salt until the juice appears.

Add some carrots to the cabbage, mix.

Then tamp the cabbage with a wooden crush or rolling pin.

* You can add flavoring seasonings to cabbage: caraway seeds, dill seeds.

Thus, in small portions, adding cabbage, carrots and salt, tamp all the cabbage with a wooden rolling pin so that a large amount of juice appears in the depression from the rolling pin.

Then, with clean hands (you can use your fists), squeeze the cabbage in a saucepan so that all the cabbage is covered with cabbage juice, put a plate and press down with oppression (you can use a 3-liter jar filled with water as oppression).

Stick a wooden rolling pin on the side (to release gases).

Cabbage wanders for about three days (at room temperature).

Several times a day, you need to pierce it with a rolling pin (a clean knitting needle or a long knife), reaching the bottom of the pan, while you can see how a large number of bubbles - gases are released (if this is not done, the cabbage will turn out to be bitter).

On the third day (the time of fermentation of cabbage may differ slightly), the brine brightens and subsides, and the foam also leaves.

Also, the readiness of the cabbage can be determined by the taste.

Transfer the finished cabbage into a clean jar (do not tamp too much), pour in brine, close with a plastic lid and store in the refrigerator.

Stuffed peppers without meat

Great lean recipe for Christmas. If your family doesn't fast, you can stuff the peppers with minced meat and rice.

What you need:

6 sweet peppers
2-3 carrots
2-3 onions
2 tomatoes
1 eggplant - to taste
4 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp. rice
500 ml vegetable or chicken broth
vegetable oil
tomato paste to taste
salt, spices - to taste

How to cook:

Wash the pepper, remove the stalk and remove the seeds. Finely chop the vegetables and carcasses in heated vegetable oil until cooked, adding salt and spices to taste.

Boil rice until half cooked and mix with minced vegetables - the filling is ready. Stuff the peppers, then put them in a saucepan, add vegetable oil to the bottom, and pour broth on top.

Carcass over medium heat for 15 minutes, then add finely chopped fresh herbs, tomato paste, spices and finely chopped garlic. Reduce heat and mascara for another 25-30 minutes.

The stuffed peppers are ready. Serve with fresh herbs, sour cream and garlic.

Mushroom pie

For the test:

1.5 cups flour, 100 g margarine, 4 g dry yeast, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 0.5 cups liquid (water), 2 teaspoons sugar.

For filling:

1-2 large onions, 500-700g fresh champignons, 1/2 tsp salt

How to make a pie:

Prepare a lean yeast dough. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1.5 hours.
Finely chop the onion.

Pour vegetable oil into a deep frying pan and heat over high heat.

Add onion and fry with constant stirring until light translucent.

Reduce fire to min. Simmer the onions, stirring occasionally, while the mushrooms are cut.

Sort out the mushrooms, wash if necessary. Cut into thin slices.

Pour mushrooms into a skillet with onions.

Stir until the onion rises from the bottom. Salt.

Add heat to and fry with constant stirring until the mushrooms are fried (4-7 minutes).

Divide the dough into two unequal parts.

Roll out most of it into a circle with a diameter of 28-30cm (on a mold 24-26cm + 4cm on the sides), put on a greased baking sheet.

Put the filling in the middle of the circle, smooth it out.

Roll the second half of the dough into a circle with a diameter of 22-24 cm.

Cover the filling with a small circle and, lifting the edges of the lower circle, pinch.

Grease the top of the pie with an egg, loose with 2 ~ 3 tablespoons of water (it is better to use not the whole egg, but only the yolk).

Preheat the oven to t = 200 ° С and bake the cake until browning (about 30 minutes).

If the cake starts to brown too quickly, cover it with a piece of foil on top.

Remove the finished cake from the oven, transfer to a dish.

Apples baked with honey and nuts

Baked apples with nuts and honey are not only a lean and healthy dish, but also very tasty. Baked apples contain a lot of pectins - substances that absorb cholesterol and thereby reduce the risk of atherosclerosis.

The enzymes contained in honey promote digestion, improve the absorption of food. Nuts strengthen the immune system, which is very useful in winter, lower cholesterol and blood sugar levels, improve metabolism, digestion and appetite.

What do you need:

Peeled walnuts - 100 g
large apples - 4 pcs.
honey - 4 tbsp. l.

What to do:

Wash and dry the apples. Cut off the top with the stalk from each apple, then carefully cut the core.

Chop the nuts into coarse crumbs with a knife, mix with honey. Divide the mixture into prepared apples. Place them in a microwave oven, pour in 4 tbsp. l. water, cover. Cook for 2-3 minutes. at 100% power.

Well, and most importantly, treat the Christmas tradition with respect and sincerity, and your good thoughts will return to you with increased goodness! Happy Holidays, Holy Evening, Merry Christmas!