Little-Known Meals Worth Trying in Russia

Aelina Samigullina knows what you should definitely try if you come to Russia.

Little-Known Meals Worth Trying in Russia

Let’s break down a gastronomic stereotype concerning Russian cuisine! The world’s biggest country with about 200 nationalities living in it has more than pelmeni, shchi, borscht, and blini to offer guests, but many other amazing meals to try.

Pilaf
It is a rice dish whose recipe usually involves cooking in stock or broth, adding spices, and meat (usually beef or lamb), carrots, onions, and garlic. Pilaf is very popular among the nationalities of Southern and Eastern Russia.
Chak-chak
This crunchy honeyed dessert is a Tatar national sweet. Flat bread, often sweetened with cognac, is rolled into to small balls which are then deep fried and drenched in a honey-based syrup.
Bashkir Honey
Bashkir honey is the best honey ever, indeed. Born in the Southern Urals, it contains plenty of vitamins and medicinal qualities. Do try linden, blossom, and buckwheat honey.
Khachapuri
This yummy cheese-filled bread was originally created in Georgia and now is a staple food of Russian Caucasian Republics (Chechnya, North Ossetia). The filling contains cheese (fresh or aged, most commonly sulguni), eggs and other ingredients. There are several types of khachapuri (see the picture). The most common are Megrelian (both filled with cheese and covered with it on top) and Adjarian (boat-shaped, filled with cheese and eggs). Try the Caucasian version of pizza.
Shashlik
These skewered and grilled cubes of meat are famous in the Caucasus as well. The grilled meat is to be marinated beforehand, and then grilled on a brazier. Shashlik is made of beef, lamb, pork, or chicken. Any way you like! At times it is served with vegetables and mushrooms.
Manti (pozy)
Widespread in the Volga Region, Crimea, and Siberia, these dumplings typically consist of a spiced meat mixture, usually lamb or ground beef in a dough wrapper and either boiled or steamed. Usually served with sour cream. Let it be an oriental version of pelmeni.
Stroganina
It is a dish of the indigenous peoples of northern Arctic Siberia made of raw, thin, long-sliced frozen fish. Traditional stroganina is made with freshwater whitefish, salmonids, found in the Siberian Arctic waters, such as nelma, muksun, chir, and omul. This meal is present in Yakutian, Eskimo, Komi, and Yamal cuisine
Kozuli
In Nothern Russia, in Arkhangelsk and Murmansk, they cook such ginger biscuits on New Year’s Eve and Christmas and then decorate them with icing. Traditionally, kozuli take the form of goats, deer, and sheep.

Text by
Aelina Samigullina