Thursday 23 April 2009

Russian sorrel patties

Polish: szczaw
Albanian: lëpjetë
Wolof: bisaab
Tatar: quzğalaq
Kazakh: қымыздық
Faroese: hømilia
Breton: triñchin
Furlan: panevin
Manx: shughlaig
French: oseille

I guess it may be difficult to find fresh sorrel leaves in many countries. Here in Poland many people cultivate sorrel in their gardens and you can easily buy it in spring in the markt. I am a huge fan of three most common edible Polygonaceae: buckwheat, rhubarb and sorrel. I lately learned a wonderful Russian recipe for sorrel patties, called Пироги с щавелем. They taste... well sourish, and neither sweet nor salty, it is that kind of meal that you can serve with cream or sprinkled with sugar (analogically: in Poland people eat placki ziemniaczane / latkes / raw potato pancakes sprinkled with sugar; in Ecuador people eat empanadas de viento / patties with cheese and onion filling sprinkled with sugar). So don't be afraid of adding sugar to the sorrel filling. Remember: sorrel mixed with sugar tastes like rhubarb! :)

400 gr curd cheese / twaróg
2,5 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon sodium bicarbonate
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 teaspoons sugar
4 tablespoons sour cream
80 gr butter (melted)
1 egg
fresh sorrel leaves (about 400 gr) + sugar + few oil

1. Cut sorrel finely and place it in a bowl, sprinkle with few oil, cover and heat for 2 minutes in mictowave (sorrel will loose its fresh colour and reduce volume)

2. Press curd cheese through a sieve. Add sifted flour, sodium bicarbonate, salt, sugar, sour cream, melted butter and egg. Mix well.

3. Take a tomato-size ball of the dough, sprinkle with few flour just to be able to roll it. Put about 2 tablespoons of sorrel and 1 teaspoon of sugar on the top of rolled dough, hide the filling by closing the dough and form a croquette. Fry them and serve (possibly with sour cream or few sugar)
ps. they are DELICIOUS!!!!!

4 comments:

Agata Chmielewska (Kurczak) said...

mi szpinak to jedynie ze szczawiową się kojarzy ;)

Ewa said...

Te krokieciki są ze szczawiem, nie szpinakiem. Szczaw w połączeniu z cukrem, o czym wiem od niedawna, smakuje jak... rabarbar, czyli słodko-kwaśno, bardzo pysznie :)

Unknown said...

Love the recipes! However, one correction: bisaab (also known as bissap) is not the Wolof for the leafy vegetable 'sorrel'. It's the Wolof for the flowers of the roselle or bissap plant Hibiscus sabdariffa which is known as 'sorrel' in the Caribbean. A tea made from bissap flowers is the national drink of Senegal. You can find the recipe here: Jus de Bissap (Bissap Tea).

Ewa said...

@dyfed13, thanks! I found in many sources that in Senegal or Central America sorrel tea is popular... Since I adore sorrel, I was wondering how. Jus de bissap is same thing as Egyptian and Sudanese karkadee drink and in Poland we drink dried roselle infusion, too!