Tag Archives: sour cream

Noodles and Dumplings

Dumplings filled with cottage cheese

Bryndzove pirohy

  • 1-1/4 lb boiled potatoes
  • 1/2 lb flour
  • 1 egg
  • bacon
  • salt
  • sour cream for serving

Filling:

  • 1/2 lb cottage cheese
  • 2/3 cup grated boiled potatoes
  • chopped dill
  • 1 egg
  • salt

Pirohy: Peel the boiled potatoes, grate them and add flour, egg and salt. Make a dough, and roll it out into a thin round shape on a baking-board. Carve out the circles with form or with water glass, put on it cottage cheese filling, fold the dough over, press margins well, and boil in salted bubbling hot water. When they emerge on the surface, boil a little more and take out. Spread with fried bacon and serve with sour cream or yoghurt.

Filling: Mix cottage cheese with boiled, cooled and grated potatoes, add cut dill, egg, and a bit of sour cream. Mix well. The mixture must be quite thick.

Soups and Stews

Hungarian Sauerkraut Soup

Loretta’s recipe.

  • 1 Ib. sauerkraut, washed
  • 1 Ib. ham hock or knackwurst
  • 1/2 tsp. peppercorns
  • 1 Bay leaf
  • 4 T mushrooms, dried
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 4 T flour
  • 1 t paprika
  • 1/2 t caraway
  • 4 cups water
  • 1 lb. chorizo or kielbasa
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • salt and vinegar to taste

Simmer sauerkraut, ham hock, peppercorns, bay leaf and mushrooms in water, covered, for 1 hour. Fry onion, stir in flour and cook 2 minutes without letting brown.

Take off heat. Add paprika, caraway. Return to heat. Mix with a little broth and then add to soup, Add chorizo and cook 15 minutes. Skim fat off. Add sour cream, salt and vinegar to taste.

Radishes by M. Angel Guerrero Garro
Radishes by M. Angel Guerrero Garro

 

Breads and Pancakes

Kifli

Rich crescent rolls filled with nuts or cheese, very similar to Hungarian beigli.

  • 1/2 cup warm milk
  • 2 T yeast
  • 1 T sugar
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 6 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 lb. butter
  • 1 t salt
  • 6 egg yolks
  • 1-1/2 cups sour cream

Dissolve yeast in warm milk with 1 tbsp sugar. Mix 1/2 cup sugar, flour, butter and salt until crumbly.

Form a well in center and add the yolks, sour cream and yeast mixture. Knead lightly.

Refrigerate overnight, covered. Roll into tennis-sized balls. Roll each ball into a circle. Fill and roll into crescents (see fillings, below). Let rise.

Bake at 350F until golden.

Nut Filling:

Beat 1 egg. Add 1 cup ground nuts, 1/2 cup packed brown sugar and 1 T cinnamon.

Cheese Filling:

Combine 1/2 lb. cottage cheese, 2 to 4 T sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp lemon peel, 1/2 cup raisins

Meat and Poultry

Baked Pork Chops in Sour Cream

Polish Baked Pork Chops in Sour Cream

Wieprzowina w Smietanie

  • 4 thick-cut pork chops (3/4″)
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1 T sugar
  • 2 T vinegar
  • 1/2 cup water
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Season the pork chops on both sides with salt and pepper and brown in butter. Mix together vinegar, sugar and water and pour over the pork chops. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer gently about 1-1/4 hours or until chops are tender.

Add sour cream and heat without boiling.

Pork chops

Sour cream is used primarily in the cuisines of Europe and North America, often as a condiment. It is a traditional topping for baked potatoes, added cold along with chopped fresh chives. It is used as the base for some creamy salad dressings and can also be used in baking, added to the mix for cakes, cookies, American-style biscuits, doughnuts and scones. It can be eaten as a dessert, with fruits or berries and sugar topping. Also, it is sometimes used on top of waffles in addition to strawberry jam. In Central America, crema (a variation of sour cream) is a staple ingredient of a full breakfast.

Sour cream. (2016, December 28). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:41, December 28, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sour_cream&oldid=757081067.

Meat and Poultry

Segadin–Hungarian pork and sauerkraut stew

Székelygulyás: a rich pork and sauerkraut stew (goulash), perfect when accompanied by dumplings, noodles, potatoes or rice.

This simple and straightforward recipe was translation by Dad from Az Ìnyesmester Szakácskônyve (The Expert’s Cookbook).

Ingredients for Segadin (a Hungarian pork and sauerkraut stew)

  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 T lard (or oil)
  • 2 lbs. pork
  • 2 lbs. sauerkraut
  • Flour
  • Sour cream

Brown the finely chopped onion in 1 T lard, with paprika. Add 2 lbs. diced pork. Cook until tender. In separate pan, warm 2 lbs. sauerkraut. Thicken with flour. Mix together with pork and sour cream to taste.

Wesselburenkraut 19.06.2012 18-35-26
By Dirk Ingo Franke (Own work) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Soups and Stews

Green Bean Soup

Ingredients for Green Bean Soup

  • 2 cups green beans, diagonally sliced
  • 2-3 strips bacon or side pork
  • 2 T flour
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • pinch of cayenne
  • 1/2 t paprika
  • 1/4 t garlic powder
  • 1 T vinegar
  • 2 T sour cream

Preparing Green Bean Soup

Cook the green beans till tender. Fry the bacon until fairly crisp. Remove bacon from pan and add the flour to the grease and brown well, stirring constantly. Add a bit of bean juice to flour to moisten and make a smooth paste. Add flour mix to beans. Season.

Simmer till thickened. Add vinegar and cream just before serving. Servings: 4

Note: To convert this into a vegan soup:

  1. Omit the bacon or side pork and instead heat a tablespoon of olive oil in the pan and add the flour to it and brown to make a roux, adding a pinch of smoked paprika to lend the soup a rich, smoky flavor.
  2. Substitute the sour cream with a simple cashew sour cream made by blending until smooth and creamy 1/4 cup soaked and drained raw cashews (soak for 1 to 3 hours), 1 T unsweetened almond milk or other plant-based milk substitute, 2 tsp lemon juice and/or apple cider vinegar, and salt to taste.
Meat and Poultry

Gypsy Goulash

  • 3 lbs. pork chops, cubed
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 3 large onion, chopped
  • 5T shortening
  • Salt and pepper
  • 2 t paprika
  • 1 t caraway seed
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 3 green peppers, chopped
  • 1 cup bouillon or more
  • 1 large can sauerkraut
  • 1/2 cup sour cream

Dredge meat cubes with flour. Season. Melt shortening in large pan. Brown meat and onions, then stir in paprika, caraway, bay and green peppers. Cook 10 minutes. Drain the sauerkraut and rinse well. Add to meat with bouillon. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 1-1/2 to 2 hours or until meat is tender, adding extra bouillon if necessary. When done, stir in sour cream and reheat without boiling. Serve with homemade noodles.

Noodles and Dumplings

Pirogy

Pierogi, also known as Verenyki

Pierogies are a type of dumpling stuffed with cottage cheese and served with heaps of fried onions and sour cream.

Pierogies evoke in me a mild love/hate response. They were definitely part of our childhood gastronomical experience, and while I didn’t find them terribly exciting (rather greasy with the fried onions, actually), they seemed to provoke fierce enthusiasm in the rest of the family. How could I go against that flow?

So, for you Pierogy lovers everywhere, here is the recipe:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 1 egg
  • Water
  • 1/2 lb cottage cheese (can be mixed with coarsely-mashed potatoes)
  • 2 T sour cream
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1/4 t salt
  • Fried onions and extra sour cream (optional)

For the dumpling envelopes:

Sift flour and salt into bowl; make a depression in center and drop in egg. Moisten with water to make stiff dough. Knead until smooth. Cover and let stand 30 minutes. Divide dough in half and roll to 1/8″ thick. Cut into 2-1/2 to 3″ circles.

For the filling:

Mash cottage cheese (and mashed potatoes if using)  with 2 T sour cream, eggs and salt. Mix well.

Preparation:

Place 1 heaping teaspoonful of cheese on lower half of circle; moisten edge of top half with water and fold. Press edges together.

Drop into a large kettle of boiling water. Cook for 5-7 minutes, counted after water returns to boiling.

Serve with fried onions and sour cream. Some people like to brown the drained pierogies with the fried onions in a pan before serving.

Meat and Poultry

Sweet and Sour Beef (Svickova)

SVÍCKOVÁ (pronounced SVEECH-koh-vah)

  • 3 lbs rolled beef rump or rib roast
  • 3 slices bacon
  • 1 t salt
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup celery, diced
  • 1/2 cup carrot, diced
  • 2 T chopped parsley
  • 1/2 cup diced onion
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1/8 tsp thyme
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/4 cup vinegar
  • 1 T sugar
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 2 cups sour cream

Loosen cord from around roast and place bacon slices evenly around it. Re-tie, rub with salt and set aside. Melt fat in heavy saucepan; add celery, carrot, parsley and onion; cook for 10 minutes. Stir in bay, thyme, and pepper. Place meat on top of vegetables; cover and simmer for 1 hour. Add water, vinegar and sugar. Cover and bake in 350ºF oven until very tender. Add water as needed. Slice thin and serve with a sauce consisting of: 1/4 cup flour blended and simmered with meat juices from the pan the meat was cooked in, into which is stirred 1 pint sour cream.The vegetables will have cooked apart and will help thicken and season the juices.

Drawing by Alois

Desserts and Sweets

Speculaas

Dutch Spice Cookies

These cookies, crisp when they come out of the oven, soften wonderfully into chewy treats when stored for a week or so. The variety that our Dutch friends introduced us to  years ago were baked in the shape of windmills.

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/4 t salt
  • 1 t nutmeg
  • 1 t ginger
  • 1/2 t baking powder
  • 2 cups soft butter
  • 3 T sour cream
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 T cinnamon
  • 1/2 t cloves
  • Grated rind of 1 lemon
  • 1 t unsweetened cocoa
  • 1 egg

Put flour, sugar, salt, spices, cocoa, baking powder, and lemon rind in a bowl. Mix in butter with fingers to make crumbs. Add egg and mix again. Add just enough sour cream to hold together and make a stiff but not crumbly dough that rolls easily.

Divide in half and press onto 2 cookie sheets without sides; roll 1/8″ thick. Cut dough in strips 2 x 3″ and bake at 375ºF for 15 minutes. Break one open to see if done. Do not overbake. Remove from oven and loosen with a spatula.

Store airtight. Better if aged for one week.

Dragon with Mechanical Attachments, by Talon
This is not a windmill. It is a dragon with mechanical attachments. By Talon.