Ukrainian Christmas Eve, 2017

Something so special in celebrating Christmas Eve on Jan 6th.   The focus is no longer on gifts but on family, the symbolic meal and church.  So many memories of my grandparents family all attending regardless of the weather.  Their daughter, Mary and family in spite of over an hour driving time in sometimes very cold or blizzard conditions always made the trip to be with the family.  

This was my menu for Christmas Eve which is very much like my grandmother's but  I have added a Beet salad and Fish Balls. 

Christmas Eve 

Kolach

Kutia

Borscht with uszka

Herring

Marinated Mushroom
Platter of smoked tuna and salmon

Beets with Smoked Salmon, pickled radish, oranges, preserved lemons

Fish Balls 

Morel Mushroom sauce

Cabbage Rolls

Pyrohy,   Sauerkraut 

               Potatoes and Cheese

Platter of dried fruit, nuts and oranges

Pampusky

My Mom and grandmother served all the food at the same time, starting with Kutia.  I do it in stages, first the Kutia,  soup, then the appetizers followed by the main dishes.  Although, I am getting better in time management, I still find that I do not execute this meal as well as my mom did.  I do remember the Christmas Eve dinner at my grandmother, where everyone was sitting at the table with some hay underneath the table scattered on a bed sheet.  Candies were thrown into the hay for the children to find after the meal. 

The Kolach was made with the help of my grandkids! 

The traditional Kutia starts the meal following after singing "God Eternal"

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The mushroom filled tiny dumplings were cooked in water.  Cooking them like I did the first time I made them in the beet broth results in pretty pink dumplings! 

Borscht

This was my dish of food! 

The fish platter that I bought in Chester Nova Scotia was filled with delicious smoked tuna and salmon, a generous gift from son in law that he brought from British Columbia!  Pickled Radish and Red Onion garnished the fish! 

This is a mixture of marinated mushroom that were purchased at out Italian store.

My daughter and husband were here from Vancouver.  We all dressed up in Ukrainian clothing that have been embroidered by cousins in Western Ukraine. 

We ended the meal with freshly fried Pampusky filled with dried fruit!

At the same time in rural Manitoba, my aunt who is in her nineties also prepared this feast for her family.

Aunt Marion wishing everyone a Merry Christmas! 

Kutia 

Sauerkraut Pyrohy for Christmas Eve

Once again, preparing dishes for the meatless Christmas Eve Supper.  As I prepare this dish, I think of my Mom and how skillfully she managed this beautiful meal with twelve dishes some that were served piping hot.  I never thought much about this until I had to do Christmas Eve meal all by myself!  Now I marvel how efficiently and without effort this was done by my Mom and Grandmother.  I am not at that stage yet!  Sadly, I do not think this tradition will be continued. 

Once again, I used this recipe that uses 4 cups of flour with about 8 dozen of Pyrohy made from this recipe.

The sauerkraut filling was first washed and squeezed dry.  Something my Mom always did as she said that the sauerkraut was too salty.  Chop and sauté one white onion until soft in Olive Oil.  Add the washed sauerkraut and sauté until the filling is dried.  This helps in making the dumpling.

The ends are pinched together to form a circle.  Something my Mom always did to be able to tell the differences in fillings in the Pyrohy.

These fresh Pyrohy are placed on a cookie sheet that has been covered with saran wrap. They are placed on a lightly dusted flour and placed so they are not touching.  After they are frozen, they are packed into a ziplock bag.   They are dropped into boiling water and are cooked when they float to the top.  Toss in olive oil or butter and serve hot.

Cheese and Potato Pyrohy

As the world becomes more commercial and less and less focus on the "baggage of religion" as a Globe and Mail journalist writer commented in a recent article, I still find comfort and connection to Christmases past, with thoughts of my Mom and Grandmother and the true meaning of Christmas.   The Magic of Christmas along with the traditions seem even more important to me these days.

The preparation for this year's Christmas Eve Meal has started using this pyrohy recipe, one I find most manageable with the result of 8 dozen dumplings. 

Check out 12 dishes of Ukrainian dishes  for the Christmas Eve meal as part of the traditional meal that have been passed down to me. 

The filling for this recipe is potato, ricotta cheese and cottage cheese.  I use a small container of cottage cheese and ricotta cheese and had cooked 2 medium sized potatoes.  I find that the ricotta cheese adds great flavor and is the closes in taste to homemade cottage cheese. I use the regular cottage cheese and just drain the liquid in it first.

My son has wanted me to show to my granddaughters how to make the dumplings, so I had saved some dough and filling for them to use. 

The girls loved making the dumplings, as I busied myself taking movie and pictures of them! 

Since some of the filling was popping out in some of the dumplings, if not all of them, frying the dumplings in Olive oil was a good solution.

The girls quickly devoured their master pieces with sour cream!!

Fish Balls

These Fish Balls are delicious and a great hit with children. They are served with a sweet and sour sauce.  The only seasoning is lime juice in this case.  

I prefer crusted cornflakes as the sweetness in the cornflakes and the added crunch adds to this dish.

The fish is pulsed in a food processor but can also be chopped or ground in a meat grinder.  1/2 medium onion was added along with the egg. The onion can be sauté first, but I didn't in this case. 

  

Dip the fish balls in an egg wash and then in cornflakes. 

The fish balls were frozen for the Traditional Christmas Eve dinner.  

The best part of preparing all these dishes is the tasters

.  You can also adjust the spices at this time before you makeup the fish balls.  

For Christmas Eve, these fish balls were baked in the oven at 325