Ossetian pies - general principles and methods of cooking
Ossetian pie is a closed pie, for the preparation of which they use yeast dough and various fillings from potatoes, meat, cheese, beet leaves, pumpkin, berries, cabbage, wild garlic, zucchini, etc. This is a traditional Caucasian cuisine dish that is now full The right is considered part of the culture of a great nation and its pride.
The process of baking Ossetian pies cannot be called difficult, however, it requires a certain skill from the hostess. It is noteworthy that in Ossetia baking such pies has always been considered exclusively a woman's business. Pies with a thin layer of dough and rich, juicy stuffing are considered to be good, successful. Pies with a thick layer of dough give out in Ossetia either an inexperienced or simply inept hostess.
If we talk about the general principles and technology of cooking Ossetian pies, then they are the same throughout Ossetia, and we will tell about them directly in the recipes. Although, of course, each hostess has its own secrets of cooking Ossetian pies. From the general rules it can be noted that the volume of dough in such a pie should be equal to the volume of the filling. Further, the dough for Ossetian pies is cut without a rolling pin, only with the help of hands. Maybe that's why they are so tasty and very homemade? Ossetian pies are also good because if the pie is not eaten at one time, then it can be reheated, and this will in no way affect its taste.
As we have said, traditional Ossetian pies can have very different fillings, but they are made in an odd quantity of oven, unless it is a question of a funeral or funeral.
Ossetian pies - food preparation
For the successful preparation of Ossetian pies, good quality flour and yeast is of great importance, only under this condition you get a soft and fluffy dough. Flour should be sieved several times, so that it is saturated with oxygen, and the dough is well suited. Most of the recipes for Ossetian pies use cheese. Of course, according to the classic recipe, you should use Ossetian cheese, but you can take cheese, feta, Adyghe or other pickled cheese instead. It is either cut into small pieces or crushed in a blender.
Stuffing for fydchina, Ossetian meat pie, usually made from beef. Previously, the meat was manually cut into very small pieces, but now you can simply pass it through a meat grinder.
As for the other numerous components of fillings for Ossetian pies, in particular, vegetable pies, they are prepared in the same way as for other pies: cleaned, washed, finely chopped and, if required by prescription, stewed or fried in sunflower oil.
Ossetian pies - the best recipes
Recipe 1: Ossetian pies with potatoes
As a filling for this cake, you can only use potatoes, but if you add it with pickled cheese or cheese, the dish will be more juicy and fragrant. Ossetian pies with such a filling are called potato, and they are among the most popular.
Ingredients:
for the test:
1 kg of flour;
700 gr. milk;
100 gr. sour cream;
50 gr. sunflower oil
50 gr. yeast (dry);
1 tsp. Sahara;
to taste the salt.
For filling:
1 kg of potatoes;
150 grams of cheese or pickled cheese;
to taste the salt.
Cooking method
1. Mix the flour with yeast, salt and sugar, pour in warm milk, knead the dough and, putting it in the heat, wait until the dough rises. After that we crush it, mix it well and put in the heat another forty minutes.
2. While the dough rises, boil the potatoes and mash. Then mix it with grated cheese, sour cream, butter, salt if necessary and mix the filling well.
3. Dividing the dough into equal pieces (about the size of a fist), from each form a cake.
4. Putting the stuffing in the middle of the cake, collect the dough over it with a bag and pinch it. Then, gently patting it with your palm, level the resulting cake into a flat cake. Then gently turn it over and also level the second side. In the center of the resulting cake, you need to leave a small hole so that steam can escape. 5. After transferring the cake to a baking sheet, grease it with an egg and bake for about 20 minutes, after cooking, grease with butter.
Recipe 2: Ossetian Meat Pies
Ossetian meat pie, fydchin, is considered one of the most festive Ossetian dishes. When preparing it, it is important to take care that the stuffing is neither fat nor lean, then it will be juicy and unusually tasty.
Ingredients:
for the test:
500 gr. whey or milk;
800 gr. flour;
1 p. Yeast (dry);
1 tsp. salt and sugar;
a third cup of vegetable oil;
For filling:
700 gr. minced meat;
1 onion;
2 cloves of garlic;
a third cup of broth;
to taste salt, black pepper.
Cooking method:
1. Cooking dough, mixing 70 gr. warm water with yeast, a tablespoon of flour, 1 teaspoon of sugar and placing it in a warm place. After foaming the yeast, mix the resulting brew with flour, warm whey and salt in a bowl, add sunflower oil at the end of the batch. Prepared dough, too, put in the heat to fit it (about an hour).
2. Prepare the filling: sprinkle with moderately minced meat, pepper it, then mix with finely chopped onions and garlic, and knead well. But he will be ready for baking fydchina only after he has stood for half an hour, and the meat is soaked with spices. To make the filling juicy, pour the broth into the stuffing.
3. When the dough fits, we divide it into 3 pieces and make pies out of them. You can do it in the traditional way for Ossetian pies, as described in the recipe number 1, and you can - as follows. Each piece of dough is divided into two parts, unequal in size. From the larger we mold with our hands a cake no more than 5 mm thick so that it is slightly larger than the size of the mold. We shift it to the form, oiled, so that the dough extends beyond the edges of the form, spread the stuffing on top. From the second piece of dough, we make an even thinner cake, up to 3 mm thick, cover the minced meat with it and tightly join the edges of both cakes (you can hold the edge of the form with a rolling pin to remove excess dough). In the middle we make a hole through which steam will escape. 4. Then put the pies in a well-heated oven and bake until browning. Finished products abundantly grease with butter.
Recipe 3: Ossetian braised cabbage pies
This type of pies, cabuscagin, is also quite popular. The filling is prepared quickly for him, but in order to make the cake tastier, it is better to let the excess sunflower oil drain from the finished cabbage.
Ingredients:
for the test:
200 gr. warm water;
1 kg of flour;
200 gr. kefir or milk;
0.5 cup sour cream;
30 gr. yeast (fresh);
1 tbsp. l Sahara;
1 tsp. salts;
100 gr. sunflower oil.
For filling:
500 gr. cabbage;
2 onions;
50 gr. ground walnuts;
to taste thyme and salt.
Cooking method:
1. Dissolve the sugar with yeast in a glass of warm water, wait until the yeast foams, then add kefir (milk), sour cream and mix.
2. After pouring the flour into a large bowl and making a deep dredging in it, send the salt and yeast mixture there. Then, stirring, gradually stir flour there, until you get a soft dough, slightly sticking to the hands.
3. Move the resulting piece of dough into another bowl in which the vegetable oil is poured, and, rolling it there, leave it for about an hour to rise.
4. For the filling, finely chop the cabbage and simmer it with onions and spices until soft.
5. We divide the dough into pieces having a size of about a fist (about 5 pieces should turn out), each of them gently roll in flour and leave for 15 minutes for proofing.
6. Laying each piece on the table, sprinkled with flour, kneading it with your hands, make a small cake. Put the stuffing in the center of the cake and, raising its edges above the filling on one side, gradually place it in a circle, pinching it.
7. Then gently level the resulting “bag” into a cake, turn the product over with the seam down and gently pat the cake, trying to evenly distribute the filling inside the dough so as not to tear it. Make a hole in the middle of the cake or several sharp cuts (for steam). 8. After placing the cake on a baking sheet, grease it with an egg and bake until it is browned. Then generously grease the finished cake with butter so that it is softer.
Ossetian pies - useful tips from experienced chefs
You can bake Ossetian pies in the oven and in the pan. When baking in a pan, do not cover the pie until it is turned upside down.
When baking in the oven, the Ossetian pie must first be placed on the lower level of the oven. When its bottom surface is slightly baked and stops sticking to the pan, the cake should be shifted to the upper level.
If you notice that the cake has become very bloated, you can gently pierce it with a fork to prevent the juice from cracking and flowing out.
If desired, the Ossetian pies can also be fried in a frying pan, just like ordinary cakes, while the finished products do not need to be greased with butter.
