Blini a.k.a. Russian crepes

Every year at the end of winter Russian people welcome the spring with a festive folk holiday Maslenitza, roughly translated as butter pancake week. This fun holiday predates Christianity but like the Easter Bunny had taken on a christian identity. Rabbits and Hares, as well as eggs have symbolized fertility, and celebrated during spring, which in itself is a time of awakening and rebirth. Since Pagan traditions pre-Christian Russians would send off bitter cold winter and welcome spring and warm sun by burning straw effigy of winter and cooking large rich buttery crepes called Bliny. These crepes, round and golden in color are symbolic of the sun itself. It was a traditional festival that became a part of Christian tradition of fun and food before the great Lent. One food that rules the holiday is Blin - Russian crepe that is stuffed with either sweet or savory filling, or eaten by itself. It is a fantastic and very delicious treat. There are literally hundreds of recipes out there for this yummy food. Perhaps you have heard or even seen in the supermarket freezer blintzes. Well, the name derived from original "blini." I will share the recipe that was inspired by a friend and has been working for me well.

To make blini I use whey that was left over from cottage cheese production and did not have any vinegar added to it.  However, if you do not have whey, mix of milk and water can be used, too, but half of baking soda. You can also dilute buttermilk with water. In the video I'm making pancakes, and the recipe is below.

2 eggs

2 cups of whey

1-1 1/2 cups flour (may be more)

1 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

butter

I use standing mixer and just whip all of the ingredients together using half of flour but not soda yet. Whey is really watery, so the end result of batter should remind you of loose buttermilk consistency. Add more flour gradually. If batter seems to thick, like a liquid sour cream, stop adding flour or it can be safely diluted by water or milk. As the batter is coming together add more flour and soda and incorporate well.

In Russian there is a saying: "First crepe turns to a wad". It is of course a allegory, for things that do not turn our perfect the very first time you try it. Naturally, it has a literal origins. Often you see if consistency of a batter is right by making the first crepe. It's a test and an opportunity to adjust your batter, or temperature of a frying pan or amount of oil... Often these are the very reasons that first crepe turns out bad, wads up and looks more like a ball and nothing like a crepe. 

Unlike the batter for regular American pancakes this one has to be smooth and uniformed. Best way to make the crepe is on the non-stick pan. I also use a silicon brush to apply small amt of oil to the pan and add batter to hot pan, swirling it around to cover the pan surface. As the batter cooks and drys up on the surface, I apply butter, then flip the pancake over. Usually, one side ends up being more brown then the other.

Crepes are plain and go well with either sweet or savory filling. I love them with jam or caramel cajeta. One of traditional Jewish blintzes is made with basic crepe filled with cottage cheese either sweet or salty.

I like different fillings and come up with new every now and then. For this one I used ground beef sauteed together with onions. once it was cooked I added fresh chopped up dill, parsley and a bunch of green onions and 4 cloves of garlic crushed. If you are not a fan of fresh dill you can give it an Italian flavor by adding fresh basil and oregano and a pinch of red pepper flakes, instead. I also have used taco flavored beef with fresh chopped up cilantro. I really like that combination. I put stuffing on the darker side of the crepe, so the pale side gets to brown more as it cooks. The blintzes can be cooked to a crunch like spring roll or gently heated through leaving crepe soft. That will depend on your preference. Usually the filling does not need to cook, but rather only heat through.

My grandma cooked chicken soup and always used the chicken from it in some kind of a dish. Often, it would be chopped up and mixed with caramelized onions to become blintzes stuffing. That is very familiar to me and always reminds me of child hood. My kids think it's rather bland and add either a ton of catchup or hot sauce, if I make blintzes it with that filling. So, I took an inspiration from spring roll and came up with chicken stuffing for Bliny.

I sauteed chopped onion, shredded carrots and cabbage just till they are soft. Then mix together with chopped cooked chicken, like left overs from previous dinner or boiled chicken from soup. I then added fresh chopped cilantro, few crushed cloves of garlic and several chopped green onions. That creation went over really well. Enjoy!