Caviar From Overseas or Aubergine Ikra

Hooray for the aubergine season! I love aubergines, but absolutely hate cooking them because they always turn out either too oily or burnt. The present recipe just can't go wrong, it's easy, fast, and delicious!

This veggie caviar can be eaten as a side dish, usually spread on a piece of dark bread. In our house, this dish never made it as a “side dish” per se, because it was devoured before the rest of the dinner was ready. It makes for a great snack, and can be kept in the fridge for about three days (that is, if there’s any left).

This very popular dish has a somewhat ironic name : when sturgeon caviar, a luxury gourmet item was very hard to get (which, according to some adepts of conspiracy theories, was an artificial phenomenon attempted by the government), a vegetable counterpart was made available everywhere. The cold guacamole-type vegetable spread was sold in glass jars, and as it is the case of all of soviet food, prepared according to gouvernment standarts of taste. (side note: this is not a joke – the food produced by the government, that is anything you could get in canteens all over our huge country tasted exactly the same, because rules had to be followed. The memory of some of our national soviet recipes often triggers disputes amongst foodies : was that 20 kopek sweet bun from the school canteen delicious or despicable? And as some spend years trying to reproduce the lost and forgotten taste of their nostalgia, others shudder with disgust, turning their backs on years of food dictatorship without regret).

Most people who spent their childhood in the soviet era remember the startling aspect of another type of Caviar From Overseas: courgette caviar, which was a bright orange (!) puree. It is still made in Germany and shipped to Russian food stores all over Europe : some people even buy it. I certainly prefer home-made anything to anything made in a food factory, especially if it’s a fluorescent vegetable puree.

The process is the same for any type of vegetable ikra; the difference is made by the main ingredient which should be used in at least a 3:1:1 proportion, where for instance you would have three times as many aubergines or courgettes as carrots and onions. Everything should be adjusted to one’s taste, and once you’ve made this dish, it will be easier to manage the quantities and proportions. Some people add more onions, some leave them out – it’s all up to you!

So, here are our ingredients! As always, some are optional, and used in certain regions only. On the Black Sea coast, red bell peppers are very popular in this dish, but not necessary.

3-4 large aubergines
2 carrots
2 onions
1 red bell pepper (optional)
salt
pepper
cumin

ground cloves (optional)

nutmeg (optional)
fresh coriander leaves (optional)
2 cups of water

1. Dice all the veggies. Some people cut them in large bits, others chop the vegetables finely and puree them after they're cooked. I prefer some texture, and never puree the vegetables.

2.Now, the process differs from cook to cook. Some like to sautee onions and carrots in vegetable oil first, than add aubergines, water, and simmer till ready. This was the way I used to make it before.
Now I prefer a low-fat cooking method which is also easier, namely : slow cook or simmer all ingredients together at the same time. It’s a real time saver, and I find the aubergines taste much better this way!

3. Make sure there is at least some water at the bottom of the pan at all times. You will need to turn the vegetables over from time to time and add some water if necessary. When the carrots are soft, everything else should be cooked too.

4. Serve in a bowl with some bread on the side. Be careful not to bite your fingertips off and Bon appetit!

Okroshka (cold summer soup)

Okroshka – n. fem. sg. ; from the verb “крошитъ” /kroshi:t/ , to dice.

Impervious to seasons, russian people demand soup for every occasion, no matter how hot it is outside. And since the sun is shining, here is the staple of traditional summer food in Russia – okroshka. A less refined taster might say it’s just russian salad served with beer instead of mayonnaise, but I know that you know better than that!
First of all, it is not beer that you will need to make okroshka, but kvas – a fermented bread drink which might be available at your local generic slavic food store. As emigration showed, it is actually very replaceable by your favourite light lager or any type of “bière de table” which will be low in alcohol.
Kvas is not difficult to make, but it demands constant care and attention, as any preparation which involves fermenting. My grandmother used to make delicious kvas in enourmous 3L jars, and it is said that my great-grandmother’s mint kvas was heavenly. To my surprise, it turned out the talent of making fermented beverages does not really run in the family, as my only attempt to make some kvas was an unspeakable disaster which put me off attempting any sort of brewing for quite some time... But now that time has passed, I am tempted to give it another try. I bet that’s what my next post here will be about. I bet it’s going to be historical, whatever happens; stay tuned!

Enough digression, back to the soup of all cold soups!

Okroshka, as its name suggests, is a mix of cold diced and chopped ingredients which are vegetables, herbs, boiled eggs, and sometimes meat or fish.

The basis of the mix are : boiled potatoes, fresh cucumbers, fresh radishes. Sometimes boiled beetroot, carrots, beets are used as well. I bend all the rules and rebel against tradition by adding some diced pickled cucumbers. The herbs must include spring onion and dill which give a distinctive “russian” taste, while (in my opinion) chervil, parsley and estragon are optional. You may also use the greens from the radishes : hold the greens under very hot water for a couple of seconds before draining them, chopping them and adding them to the mix.

The proportion of vegetable mix to meat or fish will be 1:1.
If used, the meat will either be some sort of low-fat sausage (like veal), or boiled beef, or chicken. In the “olden days” the meat that was used was suckling pig or turkey – tender meats which didn’t have a strong taste.
If fish is used, the same rule applies here – no strong tastes, fresh water fish is advised, such as perch for instance.

It is difficult to suggest amounts per portion, since it depends on your appetite only. As usual, I would suggest to prepare only a small amount if you are tasting this dish for the first time. Generally, it’s one potato, one egg, a handful of diced radishes, a handful of diced cucumber, a handful of chopped herbs per stomach.

Oh, it might contain “beer”, but it’s still a soup, so let me be Captain Obvious here, just in case: you eat it with a spoon.

Here’s the recipe for the very basic, meat-free, fish-free, rebel-pickle-free okroshka.

You’ll need:

A chopping board

A big bowl for mixing

4 smaller bowls for serving

Ingredients (approximately for 4):

1L of light lager, chilled
4 eggs, boiled, cooled and peeled
4 large potatoes, boiled, cooled and peeled
1 cucumber
1 bunch of radishes, separated from greens
1 bunch of dill (or 4 teaspoons of dry dill)
3 twigs of green onions
salt

1. Dice the vegetables and the eggs and mix it all in a large bowl. Salt to taste, or leave some salt on the table for everyone to season their dish to their own taste.

2. Chop the herbs.

3. Divide the mix between four smaller bowls and sprinkle the herbs on top.

4. Pour some lager on top of the mix right before serving.

5. Feel the fresh bubbles of chilled lager mix with the fragrant herbs on your palate, crunch the crunchy radish, munch the soft potato, feel triumphantly sorry for those other poor bastards who have never heard of this refreshing, easy, perfect summer dish!