On the eve of the great holiday, the Nativity of Christ, a lot of information appears in the media about how Orthodox Russians spend the Holy Evening on January 6 and how they prepare for it. One gets the impression that these rules are fixed somewhere, and all believers follow them, or at least strive to fulfill them.

What is the meaning of the Christmas holiday?

The coming into the world of God - the Creator of heaven and earth, the visible and invisible world - is an event of universal scale. There is a story in the Bible: Elijah, whom we now revere as a great prophet, was persecuted by the Israelites. In a moment of despair, he turned to God for help. And he was given the following answer: “Go out and stand on the mountain before the face of the Lord. And behold, the Lord will pass by, and a great and strong wind will rend the mountains and break in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord will not be in the wind; after the wind there is an earthquake, but the Lord is not in the earthquake; after the earthquake there is fire, but the Lord is not in the fire; after the fire there is a breath of quiet wind, and the Lord is there.”

No one has ever seen what the Creator of all things looks like, for He never showed Himself to people in material form. One and only time He came into the world as a man - a weak and defenseless baby who had to be hidden, because he could have been killed. On Holy Evening, the Lord came to people to show that He loves them, that there is not a drop of evil in Him, that He understands their hardships, dangers and temptations. No matter what we are, He will save everyone and help those who need His help and ask for it. All newborns are alike in their helplessness. The Lord, coming into the world as a baby, made it clear to each of us and at the Nativity of Christ confirmed that He did not separate Himself from us, that He created us all in His image and likeness.

Christmas is the happiest holiday

We celebrate the humanization of God in Jesus Christ on January 6 after the first star rises in the sky. For Orthodox Christians this is a joyful and Holy evening. Congratulations and gifts for him are prepared in advance. Often these are the story of the birth of the Divine Child, described in the Gospel, popular rumor and talented writers are colored with touching details, which are sometimes given a mystical and superstitious meaning.

On Holy Evening, people begin to go out before dark and look at the sky. It is considered bad luck to look out of the window on this day. Christians are looking for the first star, and having found it, they begin to rejoice, congratulate each other on the holiday, after which they rush to return home to the family table to begin the festive meal.

How traditions developed

What is Holy Evening? The traditions of holding it have changed and are still changing. There are reasons for this. Before the division of churches into Catholic and Orthodox, Christmas was celebrated in the spring in May. In the 4th century, Pope Julius I moved the celebration to winter. Before the translation into Gregorian in Russia, Christmas was celebrated before the New Year. This holiday was more significant, but the Soviet government canceled it.

Preparing for the celebration

The Orthodox began to prepare for Christmas in advance. Not only did they diligently attend church services, fast and do charity work, they also planned in advance what to cook for the Holy Evening. Believers specially fattened livestock - geese, chickens, calves and pigs, and churned cow butter in order to amuse their family with a generous feast on this family holiday.

To fast or not?

The change of the calendar, communist rule, the decline of Orthodox culture - all this destroyed the patriarchal traditions of our ancestors. Churches have changed the order of worship, and in the last year or two they have allowed the consumption of fish, vegetable oil and alcohol during the strictest period of the Nativity Fast, which lasts only one week. The clergy explain this by the fact that modern people are much weaker than their ancestors, and the New Year's table, like the table on Holy Eve, cannot do without these products.

It is very difficult to agree with such a point of view. After all, it was our contemporaries who restored the destroyed churches, built new churches and resumed worship. And this is despite the most difficult trials that have befallen our people in recent decades. Be that as it may, all Christians love and look forward to Holy Evening every year. Traditions have undergone and are undergoing changes constantly, but if you understand the sacred meaning of Christmas, then no changes can overshadow this holiday. And the history of Christianity knows a lot of changes associated with Christmas.

Is it possible to eat before the first star?

In former times, even before the changes that came with the year, divine services continued in Orthodox churches and monasteries all day long with short breaks. Now they have decreased significantly. Monks and priests do not have the tradition of eating food only after the rising of a star. This is understandable. If in central Russia on Holy Evening the first star appears between 5 and 6 p.m., then in the polar regions the polar night continues at this time of year. The clergy on this day, as on others, do not eat food before communion. Well, since strict fasting is prescribed on January 6, after communion they reinforce their strength only with sochi (meager food). The festive feast is held the next day - January 7th.

Lay people very rarely spend the entire pre-holiday day in churches at divine services, as they wait for the appearance of the first star. Until this moment, Christians do not allow themselves to eat even poppy dew.

Sochivo

Sochivo is raw grain or beans soaked in water. In pre-Petrine times in Russia, the most common cereal was amaranth. Peter I banned its cultivation because he was introducing new crops. Today amaranth can be found in stores. This healthy cereal can again become the basis for sochi. In rich parishes and monasteries, honey and lean milk are added to the juice - in a ceramic bowl, poppy seeds, hemp or nuts are ground with a porcelain pestle and a small amount of water is added. This is lean milk. The laity always has a dish of sochiv on their Christmas table. It is eaten first of all festive dishes.

Strict fasting on the eve of Christmas

In general, any involves dry eating, and no more than once a day. And the Holy Evening on the eve of Christmas is the time of the strictest fasting. According to the modified Orthodox canons, the strict Nativity fast begins in the last week and covers the New Year. You can’t eat either fish or oil (oil) during this period.

Should you prepare 12 Lenten dishes for your Christmas feast?

It’s amazing to read the recipes for 12 dishes for Holy Evening, which are developed in accordance with Lenten standards, that is, without oil and heat treatment. If you participate in the prescribed services on this day, then when should you start preparing two feasts - fasting and fasting? By the way, food without oil and heat treatment, which believers ate during a long fast, cannot evoke a joyful feeling on the holiday. Those who observe fasts cannot but agree with this. But why waste energy and time on a big Lenten feast if the cattle were specially fattened and slaughtered for Christmas? Also of interest is the question of when and who should prepare festive savory dishes? If you contrive and arrange two large tables, will there be time left for spiritual preparation for the holiday?

People who worshiped Christ in those days, which was prohibited, acted as follows. After visiting a temple, if there was one in the area, people prepared a modest but satisfying 12 dishes. On Holy Evening, all family members gathered at the table. And after the star rose, having congratulated each other on the holiday and presented them with gifts, they began the feast. On the table there was always juice, as a tribute to the ritual, and in addition, jellied pork or beef, meat salad, mushrooms in sour cream, fried poultry, boiled potatoes with butter, cold cuts, cheese, cake, sweets, bread and wine - something there are 12 dishes.

Each family decided what to cook for Holy Evening in its own way. The main thing is that it is tasty and long-awaited. The next day, January 7, was a working day, and asking for a day off or a day off meant bringing big trouble on yourself and your family. A close circle of close relatives gathered together on Holy Evening, congratulations and gifts made the family more united and friendly. After all, it was impossible to congratulate people on this holiday by phone and send mail.

What does Holy Scripture say about joy and abstinence on a holiday?

Is it necessary to prepare Lenten dishes for Holy Evening on January 6? Those who conscientiously abstained for the entire 40 days will not be happy to find themselves at a table on which ritual hay lies and plates with twelve Lenten dishes are placed. It is very possible that the Lord Himself would have perceived this as senseless hypocrisy. Why fast after the fast has ended?

If we recall the Gospel parable about the miracle in Cana of Galilee, it becomes clear that Jesus Christ was no stranger to worldly joys and loved when major holidays were celebrated cheerfully and widely. Maybe Lenten dishes for Holy Evening are prepared by those who could not resist worldly temptations for the previous forty days? It is no secret that many churchgoers explain their refusal to fast by poor health. There is an answer to this in the Old Testament book of the prophet Daniel about four youths who, eating only raw vegetables and water, became stronger in health and sharper in mind than those who ate fast food.

Why did Christ fast for 40 days?

Is there any point to the posts at all? Let's turn to history. After Jesus Christ was baptized, He withdrew into the desert, where in solitude he prepared for the mission for which he came into this world. For 40 days He was tempted by the devil, but did not succumb to his provocations and promises. All this time the Lord prayed and ate only wild honey and locusts. We are also pursued by various kinds of temptations, but by God's providence we have been given great strength to resist them. A lonely person is nothing. In union with God through baptism and communion, fasting and prayer, he becomes like the Creator Himself. This must be understood.

If you understand the meaning of the humanization of God, if you comprehend his earthly life as described in the Gospel, then baptism, communion, fasting and prayer take on a simple and understandable meaning. We accept baptism in order to tell the Creator that we consciously, by our own will, choose Him as our guide. We receive communion with the goal of uniting with God in flesh and blood. We rejoice at Christmas because we have the opportunity to join the Creator and escape from the darkness of worldly troubles and suffering.

Rewarding God for His help

Fasting before Christmas is our feat, gratitude to God. If He sacrificed His Only Begotten Son, Himself, to save us, then are we not able to sacrifice our worldly passions to Him? Yes, it is difficult, much more difficult than giving part of the money to charity. People around you will praise you for your generosity, but if you fast, no one will notice. This will not please your pride. This is the meaning of abstinence. Fasting is personal contact with God. He alone can appreciate your efforts. He alone understands how difficult it is for you, eating little and meagerly, limiting yourself in all pleasures, not walking around with a sad look, but working hard and having a good mood.

Everything changes. It becomes sad if you imagine that in Orthodox Russia, as in Catholic countries, the Nativity Fast will be abolished, and on Holy Evening the festive dinner will not be complemented by one more joy - eating beef jellied meat with horseradish, goose baked with apples and lingonberries and sponge cake with chocolate cream and whipped cream. Those who preserve and support patriarchal institutions know that after a long period of abstinence and pacification of the flesh, the merry Christmas commotion brings incomparable pleasure.

Kutya- the main dish with which the Christmas meal begins. It symbolizes prosperity and well-being in the home and is always made sweet - with honey, poppy seeds, dried fruits, candied fruits, sugar, uzvar - so that the whole family can live sweetly the whole next day. Kutya is a grain, which means it is a symbol of eternal rebirth and faith in Christ.

Pies and pies must definitely be on the Christmas table near the owner of the house: baked goods and dough dishes symbolize solar masculine energy. Bake different pies, even a little at a time - with poppy seeds, potatoes, cabbage, porridge, vegetables...

Fish is the personification of feminine energy, water, and there should also be enough of it, several types - fried fish, stewed, salted - especially if a woman dreams of a son or daughter. In addition, fish is an ancient symbol of Christ, and therefore fish dishes are a must on the table on January 6th.

Vareniki- a symbol of prosperity and heavenly life, because the righteous are destined to go to heaven, where they will be like dumplings in butter. Dumplings can have a variety of fillings: potatoes, potatoes and mushrooms, cabbage, cabbage with mushrooms, sweet versions - with poppy seeds, prunes, dried fruits...

Dishes made from peas and beans They are also very important on the table on Holy Evening: it is believed that legumes will bring prosperity to the house. They also symbolize God's eternal spring - rebirth after decline.

Stuffed cabbage rolls are symbolic by their name alone: ​​the dove is a symbol of God's harmony and beauty, peace and love.

The first dishes are also placed on the table on Holy Eve - borscht with beet kvass or cabbage. Both are prepared from simple plant ingredients, and this simplicity gives rise to harmony and satisfying food. So a person, working on himself every day, becomes cleaner and wiser. In some regions, ears are added to borscht with a filling - potatoes, cabbage or mushrooms (prepared according to the recipe for dumplings, they look like small dumplings).

Uzvar- a decoction of dried fruits - symbolizes living water, which cleanses the soul and body. This task is solved far from just symbolically: prepared from home drying, or perhaps with the addition of dried aromatic herbs (melissa, mint, rose petals) and fruits (rose hips, chokeberry), with the addition of apple or pear juice, it gives a really powerful charge of good mood and strengthens the immune system.

In total, the list of 12 Christmas dishes looks like this:

1. kutya,
2. uzvar,
3. pies and donuts,
4. mushrooms,
5. cabbage rolls,
6. fish,
7. borsch,
8. vinaigrette (or another variation of salad with beets, simple vegetables and fragrant sunflower oil),
9. potato dumplings,
10. dumplings with cabbage,
11. beans or peas
12. homemade pickles.

12 dishes may not have been the only treat on a traditional table. Potato dishes were welcomed - for example, potato pancakes. Round, golden, they symbolized the sun.

Below we offer you the best recipes for 12 dishes for Christmas Eve.

Rich kutya recipe

Kutya can be prepared not only from wheat, but also from barley, rice, with the addition of different varieties of nuts and various sweets. To prepare rich kutya for Christmas, you will need:

• 1 cup wheat for kutya,
• 1 glass poppy seeds,
• a handful of crushed walnuts,
• a handful of raisins,
• 4 tablespoons honey,
• 2-3 tablespoons of powdered sugar.

How to cook rich kutia

Steam the poppy seeds with boiling water and leave overnight. In a separate bowl, steam the wheat with boiling water and leave overnight. Drain the excess liquid from the poppy seed, steam it again, immediately drain the water and dry the poppy seed (it is convenient to use a cotton towel for this purpose).

Fill the wheat with fresh water (the volume is twice as much as the grains), bring to a steady boil, let cool, drain the water and repeat the procedure again. If you have regular wheat that has not been processed for kutya, this method will not work: after steaming, boil wheat with a pestle in a mortar, and then cook over low heat until soft.

Pass the poppy seeds through a meat grinder twice. Mix all the components of the kutia, adjust to the desired level of sweetness with sugar or honey. You can add various candied fruits, cognac or rum, as well as pieces of chocolate or halva to kutya.

Dried fruit uzvar recipe

How to prepare uzvar? Very simple! You will need:

• 1.5 cups of dried apples, pears, apricots and rose hips,
• 3 tablespoons sugar,
• 5 liters of water.

How to cook uzvar

Rinse the dryer, place it in a saucepan, add sugar and cover with water. Place over low heat, cover with a lid and bring to a boil. After the uzvar boils, boil it for 1 minute and immediately turn it off, do not remove the lid and let the uzvar cool completely in this form.

Spices - cinnamon, cloves, star anise, ginger - will help make the uzvar more modern in spirit and subtler in taste.

Stuffed cabbage rolls with mushrooms

Stuffed cabbage rolls are not nearly as complicated a dish as it might seem. You will need the following ingredients:

• 1 head of cabbage,
• 800 grams of fresh or frozen mushrooms (equivalent to 100 grams of dried mushrooms),
• 1 cup boiled fluffy rice,
• 1 small onion
• 2 heaped tablespoons of tomato paste,
• 1 bay leaf,
• 2 peas of allspice,
• 5 tablespoons vegetable oil,
• water,
• salt.

It is believed that flat cabbage is ideal for cabbage rolls, not a round one: it is looser in structure, its leaves separate better and are more elastic.

How to cook cabbage rolls with mushrooms

Boil the cabbage for 3-4 minutes, dry. Trim the hard veins, roll the leaves with a rolling pin - this will make them softer and more manageable.

Boil the mushrooms until tender, chop finely. Also finely chop the onion and fry together with the mushrooms in 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Mix with rice and add salt to taste.

Wrap 2-3 spoons of filling in each leaf, roll up the cabbage rolls and fry them for a few minutes on each side in the remaining oil. Place in a cast iron or thick bottomed pan.

Dilute the tomato paste with boiling water, pour in the cabbage rolls so that the water takes up 2/3 of the volume of the cabbage rolls in the pan, add spices and simmer over low heat.

If you like the cabbage to completely steam and not be felt, simmer for 1.5-2 hours. If the cabbage is tender enough and you like its taste, simmer for about an hour.

Herring in Uzhgorod style

The birthplace of this delicious dish is Western Ukraine. Prepare it for Holy Evening:

• 1 fat lightly salted herring,
• 2 medium sweet apples,
• 3/4 cup walnut kernels,
• 1 small onion,
• 4 tablespoons each of lemon juice and refined sunflower oil,
• 1 tablespoon honey,
• 1 teaspoon mustard,
• 0.25 teaspoon ground cumin.

How to cook herring in Uzhgorod style

Cut off the head and fins of the herring, remove the skin, cut into boneless fillets and cut into small pieces. Divide the onion in half, cut one half into thin half rings.

Peel 1 apple, cut into thin slices, mix with onion and herring. Peel the second apple and remove seeds, place in a blender, add the other half of the onion, nuts, lemon juice, oil, mustard, honey and cumin, blend into a homogeneous sauce. Pour the sauce over the herring and refrigerate for several hours before serving.

Fill the beans with cold water in advance and leave for 6-8 hours. Rinse, add fresh water and boil until tender. Finely chop the onion, squeeze the cabbage from the brine.

Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onion and cabbage, add bay leaf, pepper and cumin, simmer for a few minutes, season with sugar and leave to simmer over low heat for 7-8 minutes.

Strain the water from the finished beans, lightly crush the beans with a masher, mix with the cabbage and continue to simmer. Cut the prunes into strips, add to the beans and cabbage, simmer together for a few minutes, and season with salt to taste.

Marinated mackerel

You can diversify the fish dishes on the Christmas table with homemade marinated mackerel.

• 3 fresh frozen mackerel,
• 4 small onions,
• 3 tbsp. l. salt,
• 1 tbsp. l. Sahara,
• 0.5 tbsp. sunflower oil,
• 1/3 tbsp. 9% vinegar,
• 1 tbsp. water,
• bunch of dill,
• 2 bay leaves,
• 1 tsp. without a heap of ground black pepper.

How to cook marinated mackerel at home

Let the mackerel defrost in the refrigerator, gradually. When it is still a little dense, cut it up, removing the head and entrails, cut into portions. Cut the onion into half rings, finely chop the dill. Mix salt with sugar.

Place in a marinating container (jar or food container) in layers: fish, salt and sugar, a little pepper, again fish, salt and sugar, onion and dill - and so on. Stir water, oil and vinegar, carefully pour over the fish and refrigerate for 12 hours - and you are ready to serve.

Dumplings with potatoes and cabbage

Potato dumplings

Dumplings with potatoes are a classic Lenten dish, without which, as a rule, not a single Christmas table can do.

Ingredients for the dough:

• 0.5 kilograms of flour,
• 1 glass of cold boiled or filtered water,
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil,
• a generous pinch of salt.

Filling ingredients:

• 3 potatoes,
• 1 onion,
• 3 tablespoons dried mushrooms,
• half a bunch of dill,
• vegetable oil,
• salt,
• ground black pepper.

For frying:

• 5-6 tablespoons of vegetable oil,
• 2 onions,
• 3 cloves of garlic,
• salt,
• ground black pepper.

How to cook dumplings with potatoes

Sift the flour into a mound, make a well at the top, pour water, oil and salt into it. Knead a stiff elastic dough. Cover it with a clean towel and leave for an hour.

Pour boiling water over the mushrooms; when it cools, cook the mushrooms until tender in salted water. Peel the potatoes and cook them whole separately. Pound the finished potatoes. Remove the mushrooms from the broth and chop finely. Also finely chop the onion and fry together with the mushrooms in a small amount of vegetable oil until golden.

Mix with potatoes, finely chop the dill and add to the filling, generously salt and pepper. Let the filling cool thoroughly, form dumplings (either roll out the dough thinly - and this dough rolls out perfectly - and cut out circles with a glass, fill with filling and pinch, or divide the dough into several parts, roll sausages, cut each into pieces and roll out into dumpling circles).

Place the molded dumplings on a floured board or clean towel. Cook in salted boiling water for 5-7 minutes in small portions. To fry, finely chop the onion, squeeze the garlic through a press, fry in vegetable oil, season with salt and pepper. Pour hot frying mixture over the prepared dumplings.

Dumplings with cabbage

Cabbage - pickled and stewed white or stewed red - is also one of the desired dishes on the Christmas table. It symbolizes the inner strength of each person and the entire community, which, gathered together, like cabbage leaves on a stalk, can withstand all adversity. Mushrooms, tomatoes, sweet peppers - or apples, dried fruits - are stewed with cabbage. Season with laurel, cumin, allspice. And, of course, they prepare dumplings with cabbage.

For dumplings with cabbage, you will need to prepare the dough as in the previous recipe.

For filling:

• 500 grams of sauerkraut,
• 50 grams of dried mushrooms,
• 2 onions,
• salt,
• sugar,
• ground black pepper.

Pour boiling water over the mushrooms, let stand and swell for a while, then cook until tender. Cool and chop finely. Also finely chop the onion and fry in half the oil until soft.

Try the cabbage: if it is too sour, rinse it in cold water. Squeeze excess juice from cabbage and chop finely. Simmer in the remaining oil until soft, gradually adding mushroom broth, season with sugar, salt and pepper.

Mix the prepared cabbage with the fried mushrooms, simmer together for a few minutes, season to taste. Cool and cook dumplings as in the previous recipe.

Beans with cabbage and prunes

• 1 cup beans
• 200 grams of sauerkraut, pickled with carrots,
• 1 onion,
• 6-8 prunes,
• 0.25 teaspoon cumin,
• 0.5 teaspoon ground black pepper,
• 1-2 tablespoons sugar,
• 1 bay leaf,
• vegetable oil,
• salt.

Fill the beans with cold water in advance and leave for 6-8 hours. Rinse, add fresh water and boil until tender.

Finely chop the onion, squeeze the cabbage from the brine. Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onion and cabbage, add bay leaf, pepper and cumin, simmer for a few minutes, season with sugar and leave to simmer over low heat for 7-8 minutes.

Strain the water from the finished beans, lightly crush the beans with a masher, mix with the cabbage and continue to simmer. Cut the prunes into strips, add to the beans and cabbage, simmer together for a few minutes, and add salt to taste.

Salad "Poloninsky"

• 2 small sweet beets,
• 10 walnuts,
• 1 red onion,
• 300 grams of fresh frozen or 50-60 grams of dried forest mushrooms,
• 3 cloves of garlic,
• 5 tablespoons sunflower oil,
• 1-2 teaspoons vinegar,
• salt,
• sugar.

Bake the beets until tender (about 45-50 minutes), wrapping them in foil. Peel the finished beets, cut into strips, season with vinegar and, if the beets are not very sweet, with a small amount of sugar.

Boil the mushrooms until tender (dry ones will need to be soaked first), cool and cut into strips. Divide the onion in half, finely chop one half and fry in oil until golden, cut the second into thin half rings.

Grind the nuts and garlic with a blender or meat grinder. Assemble the salad: mix beets, mushrooms, onion half rings, season with fried onions and nuts. Add salt if necessary, add a little more vinegar - and you are ready to serve.

Mushroom sauce

• 0.5 liter jar of dried porcini mushrooms,
• 2 onions,
• 3 tablespoons flour,
• 1 glass of mushroom broth,
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil,
• salt,
• allspice peas,
• 3 cloves of garlic.

Soak the mushrooms in cold water for several hours, then boil the mushrooms until tender with allspice. Cool, cut the mushrooms into strips, and save the broth. Cut the onion into half rings, mix with mushrooms, squeeze the garlic into the mixture. Heat the oil in a frying pan, fry the mushrooms and onions until lightly golden, sprinkle with flour, pour in the mushroom broth, stir, add salt to taste, and cook until slightly thickened.

What to cook for the Holy Evening before Christmas? What dishes are traditionally served on Christmas Eve on January 6? We prepare kutya, uzvar, dumplings, baked apples, vitamin salads, fish with vegetables, vegetable stew and other dishes. The best Lenten recipes with photos, ideas for 12 dishes for Holy Evening - look at the website

KUTYA.

Wheat grits must be washed, filled with cool water and left for 4-6 hours. After this, drain the water and add soft wheat to a pan of boiling water. Cook the wheat for an hour or two, do not forget to stir from time to time. Pour boiling water over the poppy seeds and let cool, drain the water and rub through a blender. Prepare dried apricots, raisins, peel and chop the nuts.

Cool the finished cereal - add liquid honey, poppy seeds, raisins, chopped dried apricots and nuts to the kutya. Kutia is the most important dish on Holy Evening; it must be eaten before the meal.

UZVAR.

Soak dried fruits in cold water for 15 minutes. Boil water in a saucepan, add pears first, then apples, prunes and raisins - cook for a total of 35 minutes. Finally, add honey, bring to a boil and remove from heat. Strain the honey and serve chilled.

DUMPLINGS WITH MUSHROOMS.

Dumplings can be prepared with both porcini mushrooms and champignons. For the filling, mushrooms must be boiled in salted water, finely cut into cubes, mixed with chopped onions, which have been fried in butter.
You need to knead the dough, form shapes for the dumplings, add the filling, boil them and put them in a pan.

PICKLES.

Pickled cucumbers, sauerkraut, pickled mushrooms and tomatoes - we serve them chilled on Holy Evening.

SPICED COOKIES.

Heat honey and sugar, add butter, flour with soda and spices, knead the dough. The amount of flour may vary depending on the thickness of the syrup and honey. Roll out the finished dough, preferably very thin, and cut out with cookie cutters. Bake in the oven at approximately 150-180 degrees for 5-10 minutes. A delicious dish for Holy Evening.

VEGETABLE STEW.

Peel and wash the vegetables. Cut carrots into slices, peppers into slices, onions into cubes, potatoes into wedges. Heat a frying pan and fry the onions and carrots over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add potatoes, peas, cauliflower and pepper. Salt and pepper. Simmer the vegetable stew over low heat, covered, stirring for 30-40 minutes.

PANCAKES WITH ONIONS.

Create pancake dough from flour, water, yeast, salt, sugar. Let the dough rise. Finely chop the onion, simmer in oil, add salt to taste. When the dough has risen, add the stewed onion and leave for another 15 minutes. You can also add fried mushrooms as a filling and roll the pancakes into bags.

BAKED APPLES.

The eighth dish for Holy Evening is apples with cinnamon. Wash the applesRemove the core and place them in a baking dish. Place an orange slice under each apple. Fill the holes of the apples with sugar and cinnamon, put in the oven - bake until the apples are soft (temperature 200 degrees) .

POTATOES IN FOIL.

To prepare a dish for Holy Evening, you need to peel the potatoes and boil them in boiling water for 10 minutes. Then remove from the water and dry. Add olive oil, pepper or paprika to a separate bowl and mix well. Place each potato in oil and wrap in foil for baking. Baking time - 25 minutes in the oven at 200 °C.

FISH WITH VEGETABLES.

Clean the fish, salt it and let stand. During this time, peel the vegetables and celery, simmer them in a saucepan with water, add peeled tomatoes, vegetable oil and salt. Clean the fish, add salt and let stand. After 15 minutes, add the fish and simmer until fully cooked.

SALAD WITH CARROTS AND CABBAGE.

Wash and chop the cabbage, grate the carrots on a coarse grater, add the peas and dress the salad. Another Lenten dish for Holy Evening.

SALAD OF TOMATOES AND NUTS.

Cut the onion into half rings, cut the tomatoes into slices. Grind the garlic with salt, add vegetable oil and mix thoroughly. Mix tomatoes, onions, crushed nuts, salt, pepper.

Enjoy your holidays and the most delicious dishes at the Holy Supper! Merry Christmas!

Since ancient times, the period after the Nativity of Christ and before the start of Maslenitsa week has been the most carefree and cheerful of the year for Russians; it was also called the “winter meat-eater.” There were several meat-eaters, but the winter season was the time of greatest freedom from agricultural work, sometimes weddings, folk festivals and, of course, feasts. Galina Ankudinova, a senior researcher at the Belgorod State Museum of Folk Culture, told a RP correspondent about what dishes were on the festive tables of our ancestors. She has been researching Russian cuisine for more than 10 years; together with other museum employees, she has prepared a dictionary dedicated to traditional Russian cuisine; now a team of authors has completed work on the second updated edition of the book “Traditional Cuisine of the Belgorod Region.”

Pies for first course

The Russians personified the set table with the palm of God,” Galina Ankudinova begins the conversation. - God provides food, but it must be earned and it must be honored. And all the rules of behavior during meals come precisely from this understanding. Before sitting down to the table, they always washed their hands, the head of the family said a prayer of thanks, and only then could the meal begin. A Russian person at the table had to behave as decorously as in church. In no case did they scold the food, no matter what it was, it was considered blasphemy.

They began preparing for the feast several days in advance, as some traditional dishes were so labor-intensive and troublesome. The meal began with the owner of the house cutting off and serving each invitee a slice of bread with salt, this symbolized the hospitality of the house. Moreover, it was necessary to cut the loaf with movements towards oneself, thus showing respect for the bread. And the first dish served to the table in Russian families was pies.

The word “pie” itself has the same root as the word “feast,” Galina Ankudinova emphasizes. - Since ancient times, there have been a huge variety of pies in Rus': they differed in form, content, and methods of preparation. In general, no other cuisine in the world has such a variety of dough dishes as ours. Bread pies occupied a special place, they are also called “plate pies”. During the meal, the top crust was cut off and the filling was eaten with spoons. They could bake a whole fish or a piece of meat this way, but in rich houses, in poor ones - most often the filling was vegetables: onions, cabbage, carrots. The pie called “kurnik” was the king of pies, exclusively festive. It was prepared for weddings, and chicken meat was an obligatory component.

Piglet with “red” porridge and aspic from “erysipelas”

Following the pies, the guests were served dishes of meat, poultry and fish.

In Rus' they ate little meat, because more than two hundred days a year were fasting. Basically, they ate lamb, since it was the most practical: they ate the meat, and made sheepskin coats and other things from the skins. There was pork, horse meat, poultry and game caught on the hunt on the tables. But eating veal, even for some time, was considered almost sacrilege, the cow was so important to the family. They ate fish more often, because it could be eaten on fasting days, and it was affordable.

A special holiday during the winter meat-eating season was Vasilyev's evening, celebrated on January 31 according to the old style or January 13 in the new style. Traditional dishes must be served at the table - kutya, uzvar and the so-called “Caesaret” pig. The traditions of the evening are associated with the feast day of St. Basil of Caesarea, which falls on January 1 according to the old style. This saint in Rus' was considered the patron saint of pig farming.

Hence the tradition of roasting a pig on Vasilyev’s evening,” notes the researcher. - They did this both in rich houses and in villages, where they would sometimes cook only one carcass of this animal for all the inhabitants. The festive dish was necessarily raised above the table three times, glorifying God. The pig was always served whole, uncut, and stuffed, most often with buckwheat porridge. In Rus', buckwheat was generally called “red,” that is, “beautiful,” the most beloved.

Jellied meats occupied a special place; during the celebrations, several different types were exhibited. The first was made from pork legs, the second jellied meat was called meat on the bone - boiled and cooled. Another variety is jellied meat from “erysipelas” or “honorary”. It was made from a pig's head, which was cut into two parts, soaked in several waters and sent to boil for a long time in a Russian oven. Each locality most often had its own special holiday dish. This is exactly what still exists in the village of Rogovatoye, Starooskolsky district, Belgorod region.

This dish is called "katanka". It takes a long time to prepare, and for this you need to have a special technique. Pour a glass of washed and dried millet into a trough, sprinkle it with a mixture of eggs and milk, sprinkle with flour and roll the millet in this mixture. One glass of millet is usually rolled for about 6 hours, resulting in yellow balls that look like peas. These “peas” are then dried in the sun or, more often, in a Russian oven. Wire rod can be stored for a long time, which is why people used to take it with them on the road. And at home they served it with chicken broth, adding cereal or noodles instead, states an employee of the Belgorod museum.

The katanka was served with chicken broth, instead of cereal or noodles. Photo: Marina Gubina/Russian Planet

Cabbage soup - both on holidays and on weekdays

No festive table would be complete without liquid, although for a long time soups were served only after pies and meat and fish dishes.

Liquid dishes were highly valued in our harsh climate, emphasizes Galina Ankudinova, and they were served at celebrations even in noble families. They prepared a lot of first courses from fish, now most of them are unjustifiably forgotten. For example, kalya is, one might say, the prototype of modern solyankas and rassolniks. It was made mainly from fatty fish: sturgeon, beluga, stellate sturgeon, carp. The main feature is that its liquid part consisted of water and cucumber brine in a ratio of 50 to 50; later they began to add lemon juice. The kalya could contain cereals and dumplings; onions, sliced ​​pickles and various spices were added there.

Ukha was considered another winter soup. Freshly caught fish, most often sterlet, were placed alive in a cauldron and poured with boiling water. This dish is known only in Russia and was prepared only during certain periods of spring and winter, when the intestines of the fish were empty and there was no need to clean it. But still, the main liquid food in Rus' was cabbage soup. There is evidence that they existed on the territory of modern Russia back in the 9th century.

Cabbage soup was considered not only an everyday dish, it was also served on holidays, continues the culinary researcher. - The main difference between cabbage soup and Ukrainian borscht is that there are no beets in the Russian dish. Cabbage soup was cooked often; there was even a special pot for it - shcheny. But they were prepared in Rus' differently than we do now. Firstly, a special flour coating was added, which made the dish more satisfying. Secondly, for real cabbage soup you still need a Russian oven. Turnips, cabbage, and other vegetables were cut, placed in a pot, filled with water, and the top of the pot was covered with dough. This pot was placed in the far corner of the oven, and it could simmer there for a whole day. At the same time, the liquid almost did not evaporate, precisely thanks to this dough plug. And when the cork was broken, a wonderful perfume spread throughout the house. They also prepared double and triple cabbage soup. They did it this way: they pounded the already prepared cabbage soup, added all the ingredients and water to the resulting puree again, and again sent it to the oven to simmer.

Healthy Russian cuisine

Desserts, says Galina Ankudinova, in Rus' until the 14th century were called poetically - “affection,” that is, “pleasing to the heart.” Since the 15th century, a new definition appeared - “snacks” and only under Peter I they began to use the French word “dessert”.

“There were also quite a lot of desserts in our current understanding in Rus',” says a museum employee. - These are various baked goods - pies, gingerbreads, rolls, cheesecakes, bagels. There was a whole industry for the production of dried fruits. Russians have been making marshmallows for a long time; one of the varieties of such marshmallows was called levashi. They were prepared from berry syrup and dried in a Russian oven or in the sun. They say that Polish ambassadors in the 17th century were amazed to see lefties in Muscovy. Their sheets were so thin and so bright that the Poles even argued whether it was food or red cloth.

In general, one of the main features of Russian cuisine is that it was generally not very difficult for the body. Dishes were sometimes created as if on the advice of nutritionists.

For a long time, Russian cuisine had virtually no spices; seasonings were used to a minimum. Dishes were often left unsalted, because salt was very expensive. But salt, nevertheless, had to be present on the table. A salt shaker filled to the brim is a symbol of well-being in the family. Our ancestors hardly ate fried food, because they cooked in a Russian oven, and there the food was steamed, simmered, boiled, and stewed. In general, in a Russian oven the taste of cooked dishes completely changes, and it is precisely because we stopped using it that many of them were forgotten,” sums up Galina Ankudinova.

The evening before is filled with mystery and riddles. To begin the festive meal on Holy Evening, everyone waits for the first star to rise. Until this moment, eating any food on this day is prohibited.

It is still ongoing, so the dishes on the table must be lean.

But the housewife traditionally prepares 12 dishes, each of which has a special meaning.

On the Zatusim website we have selected recipes for all 12 Lenten dishes for the Christmas dinner.

1 dish for Christmas Eve - how to cook sochivo

Sochivo is the main dish of Christmas Eve. It is with this that the festive supper begins, which is considered rich, despite the fact that it is fast.

Some sources suggest placing kutya or kutya on the table.

It should be remembered that sochivo is a type of kutya, which has a semi-liquid consistency and completely excludes modest products.

This treat is prepared only on Christmas Eve, both Christmas and Epiphany. The basis of Sochiv is grain. Since the Eastern Slavs, depending on time and prosperity, used rye, wheat, and rice, quite a lot of sochi recipes appeared.

The grain is soaked in any sweet liquid. It can be just water and a decoction with honey. Be sure to add poppy seeds and nuts to the already boiled grain, which are prepared separately. In fact, sochivo is a simple prefabricated dish that symbolizes, first of all, sacrifice.

• wheat or rice - 1.5 cups;
• poppy seed – 100 gr.;
• walnuts – 100 gr.;
• liquid honey – 2 – 3 tablespoons.

We start cooking with wheat. To do this, the grains are filled with water in a small amount and pounded in a mortar so that the shell gradually breaks down. Add water little by little to the mortar, literally a teaspoon at a time.

Pound the wheat until all the chaff is separated from the grain.

After this, thoroughly rinse the grain and fill it with water. It is better to soak the wheat overnight. Then drain the water, fill it with clean water and set it to cook. Cook the wheat for about 1.5 – 2 hours.

We brew poppy seeds with boiling water, in which wheat is cooked, and boil for about 15 minutes. When the water has cooled, grind the poppy seeds or pass them through a meat grinder.

Fry the peeled nuts in a dry frying pan and chop them too, but not very finely.

We dilute the honey with the same wheat water. Place the prepared wheat on a plate, add diluted honey, nuts and poppy seeds to it. Place it on the table immediately.

During Christmas Eve, the meal is supposed to start with this dish - you need to eat at least a spoonful of the ritual treat.

2nd dish for Christmas Eve: uzvar - a symbol of life

Uzvar is considered a symbol of life and purification. This is the only drink that is placed on the table on Christmas Eve. Unlike compote, uzvar is not boiled, but only brought to a boil. Any dried and smoked fruit can be used in winter. Honey is used as a sweetener.

To prepare you will need:

• dried fruits (apples, pears, raisins, cherries, plums) – 400 gr.;
• lemon – 0.5 pcs.;
• honey – 200 gr. (can be replaced with sugar);
• water – 4 l.

Dissolve sugar in the entire volume of water and bring the water to a boil.

Important! If honey is used, it must be added to the already slightly cooled ready-made uzvar.

Place washed dry fruits in boiling water. You can use any dried fruits in different proportions. Take pears, apples, raisins or prunes, cherries, apples. Combine any fruit. The uzvar will turn out excellent anyway.

The fruits are not boiled, but only steamed in boiling water. If this method confuses you, use a thermos, where the high temperature lasts longer.

You can add cinnamon and cloves to the uzvar, but such nuances are not for everyone. You can acidify the uzvar with lemon juice.

Sochivo and uzvar are obligatory dishes for Orthodox Christmas Eve. In addition to them, 10 more Lenten dishes are prepared for Christmas Eve. But each of them has a special meaning, although they can be prepared according to completely different recipes.

3rd dish for Christmas Eve: fish - a symbol of Christianity

There were times when only wealthy owners could afford fish for Holy Evening. Today you won’t surprise anyone with fish.

But they can be the most unexpected and surprising.

They prepare river fish stuffed with mushrooms and bread, which is boiled, cooled and then cut into pieces.

Such fish can be filled with broth with the addition of gelatin and beet juice.

Garlic is added to the jelly and boiled fish with horseradish is served.

Or you can cook Carpathian fish or fried fish with nuts

This famous fish recipe in Bukovina is simple, but very interesting. Try cooking river fish using this Transcarpathian recipe.

To prepare you will need:

• river fish – 1.5 kg;
• dried mushrooms – 50 gr.;
• onion – 2 heads;
• sunflower oil – 100 ml;
• mustard – 1 teaspoon;
• parsley - a bunch;
• garlic – 2 cloves;
• salt.

We clean the river fish, cut into pieces and rinse thoroughly, place on a paper towel to remove excess liquid. Mix salt with finely chopped garlic and rub each piece of fish with the mixture.

Let the fish marinate for a couple of hours in the cold.

Meanwhile, boil dry mushrooms in a small amount of water until tender. Cut the finished mushrooms into slices. Peel the onion and cut into half rings or rings. From the cooled mushroom broth we prepare a fish filling, adding mustard and vegetable oil to it.

The preparatory work is completed, let's start assembling the dish. Place half the onions on the bottom of a heatproof dish and half the mushrooms on top. Next will be pieces of fish. Afterwards we add mushrooms again and finish everything with onions.

Pour the prepared mustard-mushroom mixture into the dish and place it in the oven, remembering to cover the dish with a lid.

The fish is baked for about an hour. Carpathian-style fish is served on an onion-mushroom bed, topped with ready-made sauce.

The top of the dish is sprinkled with finely chopped parsley.

Stuffed herring

In addition to fried or jellied fish, herring is always served. But serving just pieces of herring on the table is unacceptable. The housewife must come up with something delicious, such as herring with beans, mushrooms or “machanka”, salad with potatoes or herring paste with cucumbers, seasoned with fried onions and spices. And we suggest preparing stuffed herring.

To prepare you will need:

• herring – 1 kg;
• onion – 200 gr.;
• carrots – 200 gr.;
• sunflower oil – 350 gr.;
• vinegar 9% – 2 – 3 tablespoons;
• sugar – 1 spoon;
• black pepper and salt - to taste.

We clean the herring from skin and intestines. We fillet the fish, removing all the bones.

Cut the onion and carrots into strips and mix. Place the fillet on the board and lightly beat it.

Be careful not to damage the fish fillet when beating. For rolls you need absolutely whole pieces.

Place onion and carrots on each fillet and roll it up, securing the edge with a toothpick. Place all the rolls in one container and fill with marinade. They will spend about 12 hours in the marinade.

Prepare the marinade by mixing oil with vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. You can add bay leaf, peppercorns, and coriander to the marinade.

If pickled herring is used, the fillets are not beaten, and the finished rolls are served immediately.

Salted herring must be pre-soaked.

Serve stuffed herring in a herring bowl or salad bowl. We stick a skewer into each piece.

You can also use herring to make an interesting gravy for potatoes. To do this, cut the prepared herring fillet into small pieces and fry in sunflower oil. Fry the onion and flour separately. Both components are mixed and diluted to a sauce with water.

4th dish for Christmas Eve: borscht - training willpower

Borscht must be present at the Evening. Borscht is cooked with mushrooms, beans, prunes, but it must be lean, without the use of meat.

Borscht with pickled beets is also popular. The borscht is served with buns, ears or krapliki.

Borscht with pickled beets

5 days before the holiday, beet kvass is prepared. Why put the cut beets into a jar and fill it with water. Add pieces of rye bread directly to the water. Leave the jar warm, covering the neck with gauze. The beets should sour, and the kvass should take on a sweet and sour taste.

To prepare borscht you will also need:

• carrots – 1 pc.;
• onion - 1 head;
• beets – 1 large;
• dried mushrooms;

Pour the mushrooms with a liter of water and cook for half an hour. Strain the mushrooms; you will still need some broth.

We also fill the beets with water and boil until tender. We peel the finished beets and grate them on a coarse grater.

Chop the mushrooms finely and fry in vegetable oil along with finely chopped onions. Separately fry the carrots and onions.

Add grated beets to the mushroom broth and boil. Add a little beet kvass to the boiling broth. We also send fried vegetables there. All that remains is to add salt and pepper to the dish and bring to a boil.

The dark red color of this dish symbolizes the blood of innocent babies killed by order of King Herod.

That's it, the borscht is ready. Can be served with ears or garlic lean buns.

The ears are prepared from unleavened dough; mushroom caviar is used as filling. Served with borscht or other hot dishes.

To prepare unleavened dough you will need:

• wheat flour – 3 cups;
• water – 1 glass;
• soda – 0.5 tsp;
• salt.

To prepare the filling:

• dried white mushrooms – 200 gr.;
• onions - 2 heads;
• vegetable oil – 2 tbsp;
• pepper, salt

Sift the flour, add flour, oil and water. Knead elastic and soft dough. Cover with a towel and leave for half an hour.

At this time, prepare the filling. Boil the mushrooms in a small amount of water and pass through a meat grinder. Separately, fry the diced onion with flour. Flour fried in oil gives the dish color and a nutty smell. Add fried onions, salt and pepper to the mushrooms. Mix well. The filling for the ears is ready.

Roll out the dough into a layer about 3 mm thick. Cut the dough into squares. You can cut rectangular or round dumplings.

We put a little filling on each square and make ears. Boil in salted water until tender. Season the ears with onions fried in oil.

If there is any dough left, dumplings are made from it, rolling the squares into unusual shapes before boiling. You can make a hole in the middle with a knife and thread one corner through it, stretching out the dough.

5th dish for Christmas Eve: cabbage - a symbol of reliability

Various salads are prepared from both fresh and pickled cabbage. A traditional dish is stewed cabbage with mushrooms. They also serve cabbage soup, but without meat. We offer a recipe for sauerkraut salad with mushrooms.

To prepare you will need:

• sauerkraut – 500 gr.;
• pickled mushrooms – 150 gr.;
• onion - 1 head;
• sunflower oil – 2 tbsp. spoons;
• sugar;
• cinnamon;
• carnation.

The salad is very easy to prepare. Cabbage and mushrooms are mixed, chopped onions are added to them. Dress the salad with aromatic oil. If desired, you can add sugar, ground cinnamon and cloves.

Sprinkle parsley on top of the salad and serve. You can also prepare a salad of sauerkraut with pickles and onions.

6th dish for Christmas Eve: cabbage rolls - a symbol of God's love

Stuffed cabbage rolls are always prepared for the Supper. The dish is made with different fillings.

And fresh cabbage and pickled cabbage heads are used as a base. “Kvassed” cabbage rolls are often stuffed with rice and mushrooms. There are recipes for Christmas Eve dishes filled with corn grits or buckwheat with potatoes.

Housewives wrap these cabbage rolls in different ways to distinguish them on the table.

So, cabbage rolls with corn are made in the form of envelopes, and potato cabbage rolls are rolled into rolls. Mushroom sauce is prepared for cabbage rolls.

Corn stuffing

Steam the cereal with boiling water and place it on the lowest heat. The porridge should swell slightly. Meanwhile, prepare the onion frying in sunflower oil.

Add the fried onions to the cereal, salt, pepper and knead. The filling is ready. It needs to be cooled slightly and you can stuff the cabbage rolls.

Buckwheat and potato filling

Wash the potatoes and peel them. Grate the raw vegetable on a coarse grater and place in a colander.

To drain excess liquid, leave the potato pulp in a colander for a while.

At this time, boil the buckwheat until half cooked. Dice the onion and fry in vegetable oil until golden brown.

Mix the potato pulp with buckwheat and onion, add a little salt and pepper the filling. You can start filling the cabbage rolls.

You can also use beans and rice or millet and onions for the filling.

Mushroom glaze must be prepared to serve with dumplings and cabbage rolls. You can make the gravy more liquid and serve it with unleavened boiled strips of dough - dumplings.

To prepare the mushroom sauce we will need:

• dried mushrooms – 100 gr.;
• onion – 1 pc.;
• flour – 2 – 3 spoons;
• vegetable oil - for frying;
• garlic and salt.

Wash the mushrooms and fill with ice water. Let them swell for 3 hours. Without draining the water, let the mushrooms cook. The mushrooms will be ready in 1.5 hours.

We take the finished mushrooms out of the broth and finely chop them. Peel the onion and cut into cubes. First fry the onion in a hot frying pan until it turns golden.

Add the mushrooms to the fried onions and continue to simmer over low heat.

Fry the flour in an oiled frying pan and dilute it with mushroom broth until it becomes sour cream.

Add the fried mushrooms and onions to the remaining mushroom broth and thicken the topping with flour mixture. The gravy should be quite thick. All that remains is to boil it.

If you used mushrooms that are not very aromatic, for example porcini, you can add a garlicky flavor to the sauce by adding a little finely chopped garlic to the sauce at the end of cooking.

7th dish for Christmas Eve: dumplings - a symbol of prosperity

Who doesn't love dumplings? And each housewife has her own trump recipe for both dough and fillings. What are dumplings prepared with for the table on Christmas Eve before Christmas?

Of course, with potatoes and mushrooms, cabbage, and beans. Definitely with poppy seeds, and also with cottage cheese, apples and even prunes. Separately, sweet dumplings are cooked, which are sealed in the form of ridges, horns and sprinkled with sugar. Dumplings are boiled in water and steamed.

They are prepared with mushroom and garlic sauces, fried onions or sweet sauces made from berries and honey.

The main thing is to prepare a successful unleavened dough that is suitable for both sweet and savory dumplings. We offer a recipe for a universal choux pastry that contains neither eggs nor milk.

To prepare you will need:

• flour – 3 – 4 cups;
• salt;
• sunflower oil – 3 tablespoons;
• boiling water – 1 glass.

Sift 3 cups of flour into a bowl, add a pinch of salt and vegetable oil to it. Mix immediately.

Bring the water to a boil and immediately pour a glass of boiling water into the flour.

Don’t worry that the flour and boiling water will turn into a paste - the choux pastry kneads perfectly.

Knead the dough quickly, first with a spoon so as not to burn yourself, then with your hand. The dough may not be too dense. Therefore, add flour little by little to knead an elastic and moderately elastic dough.

Leave the dough to rest for half an hour. There is no need to send universal dough into the cold. During this time, you can prepare the filling for the dumplings.

Roll out the dough into a layer and cut out dumplings with a glass or shot glass. Don’t forget to cook the dumplings, twisting them into an unusual shape. Involve children in the modeling process and get the most amazing dough figures.

8th dish for Christmas Eve: porridge - a symbol of procreation

You can prepare any porridge. Millet with mushroom dressing, buckwheat baked with sauerkraut in the oven, and cereal sausages are also suitable. We suggest preparing a casserole of corn grits with mushrooms.

To prepare you will need:

• corn grits – 250 gr.;
• water – 2.5 cups;
• dried mushrooms – 50 gr.;
• onions - 2 heads;
• vegetable oil – 3 tbsp. spoons;
• crackers - 1 tbsp. spoon;
• salt.

Separately, prepare the corn porridge and boil the pre-soaked mushrooms. We pass the finished mushrooms through a meat grinder.

While the porridge is cooking, fry the diced onion until golden brown. Add onions and mushrooms to the prepared porridge and mix well.

Let's start folding the casserole. Grease the mold with butter and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. We spread all the porridge and level it with a spoon. Sprinkle the top of the casserole with breadcrumbs and place in the oven.

Corn casserole with mushrooms is baked for about half an hour.

9th dish for Christmas Eve: beets - a symbol of health

Other peoples perceive beets as a symbol of quarrels and discord. Therefore, the Persians, Romans and even the Turks had no honor for this vegetable for a long time.

Among the Slavic peoples, this vegetable has always been held in high esteem.

In addition, it was valued for its healing qualities, excellent preservation of all vitamins and taste in winter. Therefore, there are plenty of beetroot dishes.

Be sure to prepare vinaigrettes - there are simply countless recipes for them. Various beet salads are served with mushrooms, fruits, and herring. We offer two new recipes for salads with beets.

This salad perfectly combines the sweetness of beets, the viscosity of beans and the sourness of an apple.

To prepare you will need:

• beets – 1 large;
• boiled beans – 1 cup;
• sour apple – 1 pc.;
• sunflower oil - 3 tbsp. spoons:
• pepper and salt.

All preparation consists of boiling the beets directly in the skins, as well as the beans.

To speed up the process, you can take canned ready-made beans and bake the beets in the oven, after wrapping them in foil.

We clean the finished beets and use cube mode. We also cut the apple, first removing the seeds. Place beets, apples and beans in a salad bowl, seasoning the salad with oil, pepper and salt.

Kosovo stuffed beets

A very tasty and beautiful dish that will take its rightful place on the holiday table.

To prepare stuffed beets you will need:

• medium-sized beets - 1 kg;
• carrots – 0.5 kg;
• onions – 3 – 4 heads;
• vegetable oil – 100 gr.;
• apple cider vinegar – 1 tsp;
• greenery;
• pepper and salt.

We take beet fruits that are not too large in size. We boil and clean them all. Now we cut off the tops - these will be the lids.

To ensure that the beets stand well on the dish, cut off the bottoms evenly. This will give them stability.

Remove the core, being careful not to cut through the walls of the beet. We pass the cut beets through a meat grinder and reserve.

Fry grated carrots and chopped onions in oil and add prepared chopped beets to them. Season the prepared filling with salt and pepper and add a little vinegar.

Stuff the prepared beets with minced vegetables and cover with lids. Place all the stuffed vegetables on a dish decorated with lettuce leaves and pickled onion rings. Move the lids on the beets slightly so that the vegetable filling is visible.

10th dish for Christmas Eve: beans - a symbol of rebirth

They prepare dishes for Christmas Eve and Christmas using legumes. It could be peas or beans. Usually they put peas, beans with prunes and fried onions on the tables. Very tasty potato and bean casserole, bean salad with sweet peppers or “yasiki” with honey mushrooms and white beans.

You can prepare a vegetable dish with beans.

To prepare you will need:

• beans – 1 cup;
• onion - 1 head;
• carrots – 1 head;
• flour - 2 tbsp. l.;
• sauerkraut – 500 gr.;
• tomato juice – 250 gr.;
• salt and pepper.

The beans are pre-boiled until tender. The onion and carrots are fried in a large amount of vegetable oil until a golden hue appears. Flour is added to the already prepared vegetables and the sauce is diluted with the liquid in which the beans were cooked.

If the cabbage is coarsely chopped, it can be lightly chopped with a knife before stewing.

Boil the sauce and add ready-made beans and sauerkraut to it.

Pour the dish with tomato and season with salt and pepper. Let it simmer over low heat. Don't forget to stir the stew periodically.

11th dish for Christmas Eve: potatoes are a symbol of success

Potatoes are a relatively new guest on the tables of Slavic peoples.

But it quickly became not just a favorite, but almost a national one. It’s not for nothing that they say that potatoes are the second bread.

So feel free to put any potato dishes on the table on Christmas Eve. And here you don’t even need any hints.

Fried, mashed, boiled, baked in pieces, cooked with vegetables, mushrooms, fish, potato zrazy, pancakes, potato pancakes - the list of potato ideas goes on and on. We suggest preparing an unusual “tovchenka” from potatoes and beans.

To prepare you will need:

• potatoes – 600 gr.;
• beans - a glass;
• poppy seed – 4 spoons;
• sugar – 2 tsp;
• onion – 1 head;
• pepper and salt;
• greenery.

Boil the peeled potatoes until tender. Separately boil the beans. We drain the water from the potatoes and beans, but do not pour them out.

Steam poppy seeds with boiling water.

To make it easier to grind the poppy seed, it is better to boil it in the same water for 15-20 minutes.

Grind the finished poppy seed in a mortar or makitra.

Place potatoes, beans and poppy seeds in one container and begin to mash the contents with a wooden masher.

At the same time, add chopped onion to the mixture, season with salt, pepper and sugar. All that remains is to add the chopped herbs. We continue to grind the mixture. If it seems too dry, you can dilute it with a decoction of beans and potatoes.

This dish is served chilled.

12th dish for Christmas Eve: baking - a symbol of eternal life

There are many recipes. What is customary to cook for Christmas Eve?

To treat carolers, Christmas gingerbread and panyanka are baked. The basis of such baked goods is honey unleavened dough, and the main highlight is the painted decoration with icing, which is made from flour and starch.

They also prepare lean and yeast pancakes, pancakes, mlyncy, which are served with jam or honey.

And, of course, donuts - as a symbol of joy and celebration. Dumplings are made from yeast dough.

It can also be used to make pies.

To prepare lean yeast dough you will need:

• wheat flour – 400 gr.;
• fresh yeast – 30 gr.;
• water – ¾ cup;
• sugar – 1 tbsp. l.;
• sunflower oil – 2 tbsp. l.

We use fresh yeast to prepare the dough. First we prepare the dough. To do this, dilute sugar and yeast in warm water in a volume of 1/3 cup, add salt and 100 g. flour.

Let the dough rise in a warm place for 15 minutes. Then add the remaining water and flour. Add oil and knead the dough. Let the dough rise in a warm place.

The dough should double in volume.

We make small donuts, the size of a large walnut, and place them on a baking sheet. Bake the donuts for about 15 – 20 minutes. Pour garlic sauce over the finished buns.

From this dough you can bake sweet donuts filled with jam or pies with potatoes, mushrooms, beans, and cabbage.

As you can see, the table on Christmas Eve before Christmas really turns out to be rich, despite the fact that it is Lenten. And save the variety for Christmas dinner, when the ban on eating fast food is completely lifted.