Checking In From The Kitchen…

As has happened from time to time now, I continue to receive various gifts of fruits and vegetables from friend’s dachas. A “dacha”, I may have explained before, is the Ukrainian equivalent of a summer camp, but instead of being located on a lake or in the middle of the woods, it can be more aptly described as a garden with a small cabin located on the grounds that is surrounded by other dachas. They are usually located, grouped together on the outskirts of town, mostly owned by people that live in apartment buildings with no attached land to grow food. The food can be eaten immediately or more likely, canned and preserved for the upcoming winter months. Most everyone living in apartments has a dacha. Some have nothing more than a shed to store gardening tools, while others have been updated with indoor plumbing and other amenities to allow for overnight stays. Some are three season, but none are winterized. Many people will actually spend their multiple week vacations in the summer tending to their dachas to ensure the best bounty possible. So, unlike America when someone has a few extra zucchinis that they are trying to get rid of by dropping them off to anyone who won’t protest, the people here with the dachas wind up with an assortment of different fruits and vegetables that put most American gardens to shame. And instead of showing up with a couple of zucchini or a few tomatoes, it is not unreasonable for me to receive bags with 10-15 green peppers and/or cabbages, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, carrots, grapes, peaches, or any combination of these. I have learned that when I get one of these deliveries, either at work or to my apartment, I need to come up with a recipe for the goods to keep them from spoiling before I can eat them all. Having fallen in love with Lenara’s mother’s cooking, naturally, I look to her for recipes for dishes that I have had here. This week I learned about ikra. This is a dish, not unlike borsch where every family has their own recipe and everyone makes it a little differently. The ingredients are similar, but I think there are very few recipe card boxes in Ukrainian kitchens. The cook just knows what she has to do. After assuring me she could tell me how to make ikra, Lenara quickly relented and decided to put me on hold until she could speak to her mom about the recipe in more detail. She came back to work and translated the recipe for me. My first attempt was edible, but needed some doctoring before it was considered “pretty good” by me. Then, last night, I was able to make an ikra that even Lenara’s mom might be proud of. Also, my new motto is “I never turn down free food”. Whether cooked or raw, my salary is not to where I can afford to be picky. I’ll take it all and see what I can do with it. It’s like being part of the CSA again, only with way more good and usable food (I have only gotten two beets in the past three months!) With that said, I have gotten several eggplants, which anyone who knows me really well, knows I do not particularly care for. I have had ikra a few times and figured it would be a way for me to use up a few eggplants at a time. I was right.

This is EXACTLY as I got the recipe from Lenara:

Ферганская Икра (Ferganskaya Ikra)

take eggplants and peel eggplants

chop small and place in cold salty water for 1 hour

grate 4-5 tomatoes after peeling and boil over low flame

chop onions, carrots, pepper put oil in wok heat oil, add carrots only and fry to brown

next add onion over med flame then peppers

squeeze eggplant dry and add to wok

after 20 min add minced head of garlic

add tomato paste and lower flame for 10 min

add salt to taste

I will now try to shed a little light to show how you can make this Ukrainian dish yourself. It is sort of a mix between relish and thick tomato sauce and can be used as both a sauce over pasta, or as a side dish with fried eggs. It can be eaten hot or cold.

Ферганская Икра (Ferganskaya Ikra)
peel eggplants: you can really use as many eggplants as you have, but you may have to cook in multiple batches if your pot is not big enough

chop small: I think the smaller the dice, the better, but chopped to any uniform size will do

place in cold, salty water for 1 hour: 1 handful of salt in enough water to just cover the diced eggplant (they float, so do the best you can)

peel, then grate 4-5 tomatoes and boil the grated pulp over low flame in a separate pot until it thickens

chop onions, carrots, pepper: same size dice as the eggplant. Set each aside separately.

put oil in wok heat oil: they use sunflower oil here, but I mix it with olive oil

add carrots only and fry until soft

next add onion to the carrots over med flame

when soft add peppers to the carrots and onion

squeeze eggplant dry with your hands and add to soft carrot, onion, pepper mixture

after 20 min add minced head of garlic: yes, that says HEAD, not clove. It is a very garlicky dish.

add tomato paste and lower flame for 10 min: I also added some jarred tomato paste I had, but it wasn’t necessary

add salt to taste
I also added some diced hot peppers. The results were surprisingly good. Not as good as Lenara’s mom’s, but then again she doesn’t use a recipe.