Happy Easter! Glad Påsk!

Happy Easter to everybody! Easter is celebrated in Kazakhstan by many Christians living in the country. Did you know that Kazakhstan is populated by 120 ethnic groups? The largest are Kazakhs (68%) and Russians (21%).

Orthodox Easter falls on the 19th of April, but you can already buy traditional Easter bread called "Paskha" or "Kulich". Actually Paskha is very similar to Panettone, Christmas bread popular in Italy and in Latin America. Each time we come to Peru during Christmas holidays, we eat Panettone with hot chocolate, mums. I like baking, but baking Paskha is too time-consuming ritual. Instead I've picked up a tasty, easy and healthy "Poppy cake" recipe made without flour. Here we go:

Ingredients:

200 g poppy seeds (vallmofrön/зерна мака)

200 g walnuts

200 g sugar

6 eggs

1 tsp vanilla sugar

50 g breadcrumbs (ströbröd/панировач сухари)

1. Blend poppy seeds and walnuts ti fine crumbs in the food processor. Mix with the breadcrumbs.

2. Wisp egg yolks with sugar.

3.Wisp egg whites separately with vanilla sugar.

4. Stir 1-2-3 (crumbs, egg yolks and egg whites)gently until blended . The mixture should be fluffy.

5. Put in the round form 26 sm. Bake for 25-30 minutes in the oven preheated to 200 C.

Enjoy! The cake baked yeasterday is already gone))))

Smoothie to keep the doctor away!

Each morning I make kind of smoothie and believe it or not, it keeps me healthy during influenza-time. Being pregnant I 'm especially proned to some unpleasant winter diseases. So here is my variant of a breakfast smoothie:

150-200 ml Kefir or Plain Yogurt
One big slice of pineapple (to set the flavor)
2 dried plums
1 dried apricot
1 piece of fresh beetroot
1 piece of pumpkin
1 little slice of fresh ginger
1 spoon of dried goji berries ( bought in Sweden, haven't seen them in Almaty)
3-4 hazelnuts
1-2 drops of sea buck thorn oil (havtornsolja/облепих масло)

Blend everything until smooth and drink for breakfast. Sometimes I put frozen berries ( blackcurrants, raspberries, or strawberries) instead of pineapple.
If you want your smoothie to keep your energy level high during longer time, add 1 scoop of whey protein powder.

Chak-chak

If you don't know what chak-chak is -- you better taste it once. It disappeared at once when I made it for my farewell party in Stockholm in December. Once you get one bite, you cannot stop, yummy! The only thing that stops me make it often is its total unhealthy nature. Now you will know why, here comes the recipe:

Ingredients:
Dough:
5 eggs
2 teaspoons brandy
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups or 8 dl flour ( approx)
Syrup:
650 g honey
1 cup or 2 dl sugar

Vegetable oil for frying
Walnuts ( optional)

Break fresh eggs into a bowl, add brandy, salt, flour and make soft dough. Divide dough into pieces each about 100 gramme, roll them out about 0,2 cm thick. Cut slim stripes, spaghetti-type. I used James Oliver pasta machine to make very thin pasta. Fry pasta in vegetable oil. Don't go away, pasta takes few moments to be ready.

Mix honey with sugar and boil the mixture in a separate bowl until all sugar dissolves. Pour still boiling mixture into the dough, put some walnuts and mix everything. Shape chak-chak as you wish, it can be a pyramid, a cone, a star. Use cold water to wet your hands so you won't get burn and and the mixture won't stick to your hands. you can also decorate chak-chak with dried fruits. Chak-chak is ready to eat when it cools down, usually takes 3-4 hours. Enjoy!

Originally, chak-chak comes from Tatar cuisine made from small dough balls.