Saturday, March 17, 2012

Ukrainian Cheese Cakes - Syrnyky

   I had never had syrnyky before but found a blog by Galyna Tate - an expat now living in the US - and her photo was so appealing I decided to give them a try.
   It turns out they are amazing. Easy to make and so good.
   Serve them hot with a dollop of smetana mixed with honey.  Smetana, for the non-Ukrainians in the crowd is what sour cream is supposed to be. You can pick it up in European food markets.  Laura says it goes by the name of schmand in Germany.  It's a little sweeter and a little thicker than sour cream and a lot more tasty. I would eat smetana with raspberries, warm from the raspberry canes, when I visited  farms as a kid.
   The trick to making the cakes is not to use regular cottage cheese. In a pinch, you could use quark, which can be found in the dairy case at grocery stores.  But since you'll be at the European market getting smetana anyway, pick up some baker's cheese. It's creamy without being watery.

Syrnyky

250g farmers cheese (quark).
1 egg
2-3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup flour

Mix all the ingredients really well.

 
Form the batter into balls with a tablespoon
Dip balls into the flour and form patties

Fry on both sides in olive oil until golden brown.

Serve with a sour cream, or honey, or smetana with honey.

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3 comments:

  1. LauraMarch 18, 2012 at 1:32 PM

    It goes by "Schmand" in Germany, thought it's a separate product from sour cream here. Also, I need to make these. They look amazing. Are they Hors d'oeuvres, or are they okay for dinner too?

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  2. CherylMarch 18, 2012 at 2:45 PM

    Thanks laura. I changed the spelling. I think they could go either way. They could be hors d'oeuvres, part of a vegetarian meal or a side dish.

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  3. LauraApril 5, 2012 at 9:47 AM

    So I made these, but using the skills of following a recipe that I learned from you... I added about a cup of black beans because they needed to be used, and about doubled the flour because the beans made it moister than I thought it should be. I omitted the sugar. I didn't dip them in flour, and they were a weird colour (mostly from the beans) when they were done cooking. Very tasty though, and I intend to make them properly too!

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