Russian Cabbage Pie

 

One of my most precious childhood memories is helping my Mom in the kitchen.

We’d bake cookies together, knead dough to make bread or pizza, and sometimes make something sweet like whipped cream. Mom would then instruct me to sit under the kitchen cabinet (so that we wouldn’t make a mess in the kitchen) with a spoon of cream in each hand- one for me, one for my brother. By the age of ten I already knew what the word ‘sauté’ meant, I had already learned that the lid to the blender is very important INDEED, and that separating eggs can be vital to a recipe, even if we’re going to ‘put them together again’ in the end (this one I learned with my best friend Alia, who knew more things in the kitchen at the same age).

 One day, Mom taught me how to make an easy fish recipe. She’d wrap fish filets in aluminum foil, spice it up and stick in the oven. “One day,” she told me, “you’re going away for college, and when I visit, you’ll make this recipe for me because it’s quick and nutritious.”

That day never came. When I entered college, I was still living at home. And when I moved out of home, I was a vegetarian. And so was Mom.

But I still have a large archive of my favorite Mom-made recipes, and Mom still helps me cook, even over the Internet! Today I present to you a hearty winter Russian dish, passed down by a Russian exchange student to my Mom, and then to me.

Russian Cabbage pie 

Ingredients:

1-2 Cabbage heads (depends on the size of your pie dish. Mine has a diameter of 28 cm, so I used one cabbage)

1-2 Onions (optional)

Salt and pepper

2 cups flour

3-4 tablespoons of  margarine

Water

Step #1: Prepare the dough. Combine flour, margarine and a pinch of salt and mix until crumbly. Add water until the batter is smooth. If needed, add more flour.

Step #2: Cut the cabbage into thin strips and cut the onions into round circles.

Step #3: Place the chopped cabbage and onions in a large pot along with a pinch of salt and pepper. No, it’s not going to burn. Keep stirring. The cabbage will let out a LOT of water, let it all evaporate. This might take an entire hour. The cabbage turns brown and gets more chunky as it looses water. Cook until there is no more water left to evaporate.

Step #4. Use half of the dough to fill the bottom and sides of a pie dish. Use a rolling pin to make the dough flat, or use a big pot like me, hehe. You can preheat the oven now.

Step #5. Place the filling (cabbage + onions) into the pie dish, and cover with the rest of the dough. Bake until it smells good! 

Enjoy!

Thanks to my Mom for her help and for giving a love for good homemade food J