Z Rizdvom!! (literally “With Christmas”). Growing up, starting from December 31st through January 19th, people of Ukraine could think of nothing but celebrating the holiday season—with great food (and lots of it), family, friends, and lots of strolls through Lviv downtown. We celebrate Ukrainian Christmas on January 7th, with a huge feast of Holly Supper on January 6th. You can read more about why here.
This year, we decided to have two great families over—the Weber family and the Farnsworth family. The Webers moved to Japan the week before we did. They live on our street, have the same age kids as ours (+ a new baby), and Tom is a dentist who shares his office with Robert. Basically, they are like family. The Farnsworth family live off-base so we don’t see them as often as the Webers, but we go to the same church and our boys go to the same school. Dave Farnsworth is a physician. But the real reason why we wanted to invite them for this special dinner is because Dave served a two-year church mission in Poland so he is fluent in Polish, loves our Slavic food, and couldn’t wait to try real home-made “vareniki” (most Americans call them “pierogi”).
I decided to be very brave this year and make some Ukrainian dishes for the first time. Preparations started weeks in advance—I had to find some odd ingredients around here, such as wheat grain, and poppy seed. My healthy friend, J., gave me some wheat (which you have to buy in bulk online). But the only packages of poppy seed that I could find at the commissary were in the spice section—tiny bottles and quite expensive. See, in Ukraine, you can buy poppy seed by pounds:) We do a lot of baking with it.
My menu had you include at least twelve dishes, as you remember from last year. This is what our fridge looked like on Christmas Eve.
Menu:
Kutya
Olivye (egg/potatoes/carrots/peas/ham/mayo/pickles salad)
Venigred (beet/potatoes/carrots/onions salad)
Holubtsi (cabbage rolls stuffed with rice/meat mixture)
Vareniki (my favorite! “ravioli” with mashed potatoes and mushrooms)
Salad (regular green salad)
Polish meat stew (sausage/cabbage)
Napoleon (super yummy pastry with cream)
Hrustiki (fried cookies)
Kampot (cooked fruit drink)
Kolach (Christmas bread)
+ Water (I know, it was a stretch)
So my first crazy dish was Kutya—traditionally served at Christmas for everyone who comes to visit you. You HAVE to taste your host’s kutya, even if it’s just a spoonful:). Kutya is made with grain, nuts, poppy seed, honey and some berries. Frankly, I did not like kutya growing up, that’s why it took me ten years to finally make it. Well, this time, I loved it! I realized how yummy it was, full of texture and full of natural ingredients.
Secondly, I tried making holubtsi for the first time ever. My mom makes some mean holubtsi! I love her recipe. They turned out fantastic, but of course, not as good as hers:) You should have seen me trying to throw the cabbage into boiling water and then separating the leaves.
Thirdly, this was the first time we bake Kolach—the bread. I kneaded the dough and Robert was brave enough to do the rest—braiding and baking:)
Erin F. made Hrustiki according to the recipe I found in a Ukrainian recipe book adjusted to American ingredients . You can see leftover Napoleon and Hrustiki on this picture.
My little Ukrainians:)
Of course, we dressed up in our Ukrainian shirts:) Mark’s shirt was brought from Ukraine last spring so this was his first time wearing it. We promptly took it off after the pictures were taken, before dinner:)
Side note: I think baby Allison is very pretty! (She belongs to the F. family).
Look at my “Ukrainian” husband! I am so grateful he goes along with all my crazy Ukrainian traditions and participates with enthusiasm:) He always makes me feel so good about the fact that I am Ukrainian.
Cannot wait till next year! There is a waiting list to be invited to our Ukrainian Christmas Eve, so you better sign up.
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