Pirozhki is one of the most popular Russian dishes, often sold as street food, although it can also be made at home. The pocket-sized, oval-shaped pirozhki are yeast dough buns stuffed with a variety of ingredients such as fresh fruits, jams, and cottage cheese for the sweet varieties, or meat, eggs, vegetables, fish, and rice for the savory versions.
They can be either baked or fried. The name pirozhki can be literally translated to little pies. Pirozhki are commonly consumed as a snack, and today, they are prepared in numerous versions throughout the world.
MOST ICONIC Pirozhki
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Achma is a Georgian dish consisting of a few layers of tender dough, a crispy top, and lots of cheese in between. It originates from the western Georgian regions of Adjara and Abkhazia. The dough is usually made with eggs, water, butter, and flour, while the cheese filling is either Georgian cheese or a combination of ricotta, mozzarella, and feta.
Due to the fact that it’s a layered dish with tender sheets of dough, achma is often compared to the famous lasagne.
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Kubdari is a popular Georgian pastry that is traditionally filled with beef, pork, or a combination of the two, along with spices such as cumin, dill, coriander, blue fenugreek, red pepper, onions, garlic, and salt. The dough consists of flour, water, yeast, sugar, salt, and eggs.
Interestingly, the meat used in this savory pie should be cut, not minced, while the salt should be local and aromatized with special herbs. It is recommended to glaze kubdari with butter and serve it hot.
Perepichka is an iconic Ukrainian street food item consisting of a soft, not overly seasoned sausage that is enclosed within yeasted dough. The whole combination is deep-fried, and it is usually served piping hot without any condiments. The first version of this favorite Kyiv street food appeared in 1981 at a small kiosk on Bohdan Khmelnytsky street.
Perepichka was an instant success, and this hole-in-the-wall food outlet became somewhat of an institution for both locals and tourists.
MOST ICONIC Perepichka
Echpochmak is a traditional pastry originating from Tatarstan. This Tatar and Bashkir pastry consists of yeasted dough that's stuffed with potatoes, meat, and onions. The dough is usually made with a mixture of milk, eggs, flour, butter, sour cream, salt, sugar, and yeast, while the filling contains lamb, potatoes, onions, salt, pepper, butter, and cumin.
Once stuffed, the dough is folded into triangles with a hole in the middle and baked until done. When the echpochmak are done, melted butter or meat stock is traditionally poured into each hole. In the past, these pastries were enjoyed in the open air during military campaigns.
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Elesh is a traditional pastry originating from Tatarstan. This Tatar pastry consists of dough that's usually stuffed with chicken, onions, salt, pepper, and potatoes. The dough is made with a combination of flour, eggs, sugar, salt, baking powder, butter, and sour cream.
Once stuffed, the dough is wrapped up around the filling in the shape of a circle with a lid on top (similar to echpochmak, which is rectangular). The pastry is baked until done, and it is then served with meat broth on the side that's poured in the hole on top of the pastry in order to make it juicier.
Vatrushka is a popular Russian ring-shaped pastry that is usually filled with sweet cottage cheese and topped with raisins or other pieces of fruit, although it can also be made with fruit jams or meat. The name of the pastry is borrowed from the Roman languages, and in Romanian vatra means bread that is baked over a fire.
Traditionally, vatrushka is baked in firewood ovens, especially in the villages. The pastry is also popular throughout Ukraine and Belarus, where it can be found in numerous bakeries and stores.
Rasstegai is a traditional pastry with a hole in the center, which is stuffed with a wide variety of fillings – from liver with eggs to rice with mushrooms. However, the traditional stuffing is minced fish such as sturgeon or salmon. The pastry is made with flour, yeast, milk, eggs, butter, sugar, and salt, while the fish filling is typically combined with onions, butter, and cream.
Traditionally, rasstegai is served as an accompaniment to soups and broths – the hole in the pastry is used to add broth to the filling.
MOST ICONIC Rasstegai
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