Cuisine · Russia

Russian cooking

Slow soups, dumplings, pickles, the cooking that gets you through winter. Two-day borscht and Olivier salad, both better the next day.

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🇷🇺RussiaEasy

Beverages

Homemade Bread Kvass

Dark rye bread toasted until almost charred, steeped in boiling water, sweetened, and left to ferment for one to two days with a small amount of yeast. Kvass is one of the oldest fermented drinks in Eastern European cuisine â mildly sour, faintly sweet, with a roasted bread depth that no other drink has. The active preparation takes thirty minutes; everything else is waiting. The result is a lightly carbonated drink with less than 1% alcohol, deeply satisfying cold on a hot day.

30 min55 kcal6 serves

🌱Vegan⚡Quick

🇷🇺RussiaEasy

Sauces and Dips

Khrenovina

A raw Siberian horseradish-and-tomato sauce, also called gorloder, known for its burning heat. Fresh tomatoes, horseradish root, garlic, and hot pepper are ground together uncooked and seasoned with salt. It is served with pelmeni, meat, fish, and on black bread.

20 min15 kcal20 serves

🌱Vegan🌾Gluten-free🌶️Spicy

🇷🇺RussiaEasy

Beverages

Kissel (Russian Berry Kissel)

Kissel is a classic Russian berry dessert-drink thickened with potato starch. Tart cranberries and red currants are simmered into a bright ruby juice, sweetened, then set to a glossy, spoonable consistency with a starch slurry. How much starch you add decides whether it's a warm sippable drink or a firm dessert you eat with a spoon. It's naturally vegan and gluten-free.

25 min120 kcal6 serves

🌱Vegan🌾Gluten-free⚡Quick

Makarony po-flotski (Russian Navy-Style Pasta)

🇷🇺RussiaEasy

Cereal and Pasta Dishes

Makarony po-flotski (Russian Navy-Style Pasta)

Makarony po-flotski is a simple Soviet dish: boiled pasta tossed with browned ground meat and golden onions. The key is to truly fry the meat to a crust rather than stew it, or the flavor falls flat. Quick, filling, and sauce-free — a navy classic born aboard warships.

30 min480 kcal4 serves

⚡Quick💪High protein

Mannaya Kasha (Russian Semolina Porridge)

🇷🇺RussiaEasy

Cereal and Pasta Dishes

Mannaya Kasha (Russian Semolina Porridge)

Mannaya kasha is a warm Russian semolina porridge cooked in milk — a childhood breakfast across the former Soviet Union. The trick is to pour the semolina into the hot milk in a thin stream while whisking, which keeps it smooth and lump-free. It's finished with a pat of butter and served with jam, honey, or fresh berries.

15 min210 kcal4 serves

⚡Quick🌿Vegetarian

🇷🇺RussiaAdvanced

Meat Dishes

Meat in French Style

A beloved post-Soviet baked dish where tender pork cutlets are layered with onion, mushrooms, tomatoes and two kinds of cheese, then baked until the cheese forms a rich golden crust. An all-in-one festive dish that always impresses.

90 min520 kcal6 serves

💪High protein🌾Gluten-free🥑Keto

🇷🇺RussiaAdvanced

Sweet Dishes

Medovik (Russian Honey Cake)

Medovik is Russia's iconic honey cake: eight or more thin caramel-honey layers stacked with tangy sour-cream frosting and left overnight until soft and tender. The secret to its warm caramel aroma is stirring baking soda straight into hot honey, which foams up and lightly caramelizes the batter. Finished with a dusting of the cake's own crumbs.

180 min420 kcal12 serves

🌿Vegetarian

🇷🇺RussiaMedium

Salads

Mimosa Salad

A delicate Russian layered salad of mashed canned fish, potato, carrot, cheese, and frozen grated butter, bound with mayonnaise. It is topped with a soft bloom of crumbled egg yolk that gives it its name, and chilled overnight so the layers meld.

45 min330 kcal6 serves

🌾Gluten-free

🇷🇺RussiaAdvanced

Soups

Mushroom Soup

A hearty Russian-style mushroom soup with dried porcini and pearl barley. The mushroom broth is intensely aromatic, the barley makes it satisfyingly thick — comfort food at its finest.

120 min200 kcal6 serves

🌿Vegetarian

🇷🇺RussiaEasy

Vegetable and Mushroom Dishes

Mushrooms in Sour Cream

A quick, comforting Russian classic: champignons are sautéed with onion and garlic until golden, then finished with a velvety sour cream sauce. Ready in 30 minutes. Serve over toast, pasta or mashed potatoes.

30 min280 kcal4 serves

🌿Vegetarian⚡Quick

🇷🇺RussiaAdvanced

Flour and Confectionery Products

Napoleon Cake (Russian Mille-Feuille)

Napoleon cake is Russia's iconic layered pastry: ten or more crisp, butter-rich pastry layers soaked overnight in a thick vanilla custard until they turn meltingly soft. The rough-chopped pastry crumbs pressed into the top are the signature finish. A Soviet festive staple since the 1950s, it takes time but no special skill.

180 min490 kcal12 serves

🌿Vegetarian

🇷🇺RussiaMedium

Soups

Okroshka

A cold Russian summer soup of finely diced raw vegetables, boiled potatoes, eggs, and meat in a tangy base of bread kvass. Its name means to crumble; refreshing and light, it is served cold, often with sour cream and a dab of mustard.

30 min160 kcal5 serves

⚡Quick

Nearby flavors

Four kitchens with overlapping ingredients and similar rhythms to Russian cooking.

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