Rice Keugel

This is a Jewish dish but like many Jewish recipes, it can easily be mistaken for a Polish dish by an outsider since the two cultures lived side by side for so many centuries in Poland. 

All the ingredients used are typical in a Polska Kuchnia (Polish Kitchen) and are inexpensive.

When I was younger, my mother would occasionally make it along with a couple of other Jewish dishes when teaching us about Jewish culture.  I had mentioned before that my mother would make dinners themed around various cultures and countries and tell us different facts about that culture while we would cook and eat so that we would learn about the world while sitting around the dining room table.  I do the same thing now with my children.

If you like apples or rice pudding, you will enjoy this dish.

I made it at the request of my "dirty hippy" husband, who had not grown up with this or other Jewish dishes but who loves rice pudding.  It was a hit with the entire family.




Ingredients:


1/3 to 1/2 cup Raisins, soaked *
2-3 Apples, washed, peeled, and grated
1 large Egg
Pinch of Salt
1/3 cup Sugar
1 cup cooked Rice
5-6 tablespoons of Butter, softened at room temperature
2-3 tablespoons finely chopped Almonds
1 teaspoon Sugar

Optional:  1/2 teaspoon of Cinnamon, 1-2 tablespoons of Apricot Preserves and/or 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel, if you like



Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a baking pan.

Beat the Egg, Salt and 1/3 cup Sugar together.  Mix in Raisins, Apples, Rice, 1/4 cup Butter, the optional flavors such as Preserves, and Almonds. 

Add to baking pan.  Dot with a tablespoon or two of Butter and sprinkle with the teaspoon of Sugar.

Bake for about 35-45 minutes until browned.

Serve hot in a dessert dish.  You can garnish with a bit of fresh whipped cream, if you like.

Smacznego!




Notes: 


* The raisins can be soaked in hot water for about 10 minutes until plump.  If not serving to children, you can soak them in warmed brandy for a few minutes for an adult treat.


As it is described above, the recipe will come out like rice pudding.  If you want to make it come out thicker so that it can be cut like a cake, instead of 1 Egg, use 4 Eggs and instead of 1 cup cooked Rice, use 2 cups cooked Rice.  You would also want to cook it for just a few minutes longer.  We prefer it softer like a rice pudding.


You can make the recipe less sweet by cutting down the sugar amount after trying it this way first to see how you like it.




You might enjoy reading my syndicated post on BlogHer "I Am Raising Two Future Foodies" (15 Tips to Raising Adventurous Eaters).


If you liked this recipe, consider making a donation

Placek, Kuchen, Coffee Cake, Delicious

A recipe that my mother sometimes made when I was a child called Placek (pronounced pwah-tsek and basically means a yeast cake) was always for eating with coffee with friends while the children snacked on fresh fruits. 

I would always be envious of those Polish Mamas at the thought of them getting to eat such tasty sugary treats while we children would nibble on fresh peaches we had bought at the local farm.  Of course, the peaches would end up being delicious and extremely juicy and we would all end up outside enjoying the tastes and laughing as peach juice would run off our chins and down our arms.

My brother would always end up flinging his arms around and trying to direct the mess in my direction.

When the guests would leave, my brother and I would each get a piece of the Placek my mother had made and I would drink "coffee" (weak tea with sugar and milk).

This recipe makes 2 cakes so you can top each with different fruits or cheese.


Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose unbleached Flour
3/4 cups whole wheat Flour *
1 package active dry Yeast
3/4 cup Milk
1/3 cup Butter
1/3 cup Sugar
1/2 teaspooon Salt
2 Eggs
1 beaten Egg
3 tablespoons Half and Half (light cream or milk or evaporated milk would also work)
1 cup Sugar
2-3 cups thinly sliced Fruit (plums, peeled apples**, peaches) or
2 cups Cottage Cheese, Ricotta Cheese, or Twarog
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon or 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves, if using fruit


For Dough:

Combine 1 1/2 cups of flour and the yeast.  Set aside.

In a saucepan, heat and stir the milk, butter, 1/3 cup of sugar and salt until warm and the butter is almost melting (120 to 130 degrees).

Add warmed milk to flour mixture.  Add the two eggs.  Mix well together with spatula or wooden spoon for about a minute.  Beat with mixer on high speed for 3 minutes.  Remove from mixer and add in the remaining flour with a wooden spoon.

Divide flour in half.  Be sure to grease your fingers a little bit with oil to avoid the dough sticking to your skin.  Press each piece of dough evenly into two greased baking pans (I used two glass 8 x 11.5 x 2 pans).  Make sure to press the dough up the sides a bit.  Cover with a clean kitchen towel and set aside somewhere warm until the dough is risen to double the size (about 45 minutes to an hour).



For Topping:

Combine the Half and Half and beaten egg in a bowl.  Stir in the 1 cup of sugar and the cinnamon or cloves, if using fruit.

If using fruit, arrange on top of raised dough.  Evenly spoon cream-sugar mixure over the fruit.

Plums (3 different varieties) called Placek ze Sliwkami

If using cheese (Twarog, etc.), mix into cream-sugar mixture and spoon evenly onto dough.

Cheese topped (I tried with cinnamon this time) Placek z Serem

Bake 375 degrees for about 20 minutes.  Allow to cool a few minutes before cutting.  The cream-sugar mixture will still look very wet on top but will soak into the cake as it cools.  Serve warm. 


Smacznego!





* The proportion between the all-purpose unbleached flour and whole wheat can be changed.  I have found this one over the years to work when serving people who don't regularly eat whole wheat bread and it has worked enough to make them change their minds and try whole wheat after that.

** Apples should be peeled, cored, sliced and simmer in water for about 2 minutes covered until softened a bit.  Drain well and place on top of dough.  Be sure to use baking apples.

If you liked this recipe, consider making a donation

My First Plum Cake Ever

I have always wanted to bake a delicious Plum Cake but never had a recipe for it. 

I recently found a Polish Plum Cake Recipe (Placek z Sliwkami) recipe by Barbara Rolek.

I changed the recipe a bit since I was short on some ingredients.

I used whole wheat flour instead of unbleached flour like I would typically use in a cake recipe.  I also only had 4 plums and a handful of blueberries.

Before baking...

Did you spot my mistakes yet?  I pushed the fruits too deep into the dough, used a much too small pan (a 11/5 by 8 inch pan), and did not have enough anywhere near the needed amount of plums (I used 5 instead of 40, big difference).

Probably because there was a significantly insufficient amount of plums in the recipe, the ground clove came across too strong and gave the cake almost a soapy flavor.  I plan to use just a tiny pinch less next time.

I also ended up baking it for much longer than the recipe called for since the toothpick I kept putting in was coming own with uncooked dough on it.  Which I am thinking perhaps having more plums in next time and having a larger pan might actually fix that next time.

Perhaps using the whole wheat flour isn't such a big deal, I'm not exactly sure.  I think that next time I will mix 1/2 and 1/2 with unbleached flour.

After baking...

And the slice I attempted to photograph while little hands kept grabbing it.

I cannot say the cake was not delicious.  The children kept eating it over the next 24 hours.  Actually, they decimated it.  Destroyed it.  Inhaled it.  Get the picture?  They loved it!

My husband, my Tato (Father) and myself?  We all enjoyed it as well.  But...

It was not the cake I remember my Babcia making.  Nor is it the plum version of the apple cake my cousin made for everyone the last time we were in Poland.  Perhaps with a bit of personal tweaking and my better following of the recipe, it will be.

Perhaps I will be lucky enough that my Babcia will remember long enough to mail me a copy of her recipe.

Smacznego!

Polish Strawberry Bread or Chlebek Truskawkowy

I love picking strawberries.  As long as I remember, my mother, brother,and I would go to a local farm and pick strawberries for hours.  We would go home and she would make strawberry compote, jams, breads, and all sorts of other delicious treats with the strawberries we would pick.

My children from only a few months of age would sit in strawberries fields with Mama as I would pick the ruby red jewels from between dusty green leaves, rinse them with a bottle of water I would bring and give them to my children to eat.  The berries would still be warm and sweet from the sun and we would always leave the fields with my children's faces painted red and smiling, sleepy from the sun.

We recently went berry picking for our first time here in the Midwest and I baked a favorite.  Chlebek Truskawkowy or Polish Strawberry Bread.

I baked two loaves and 20 muffins with this recipe (all 20 muffins disappeared in a day and a half).

They can be eaten plain, or with strawberry jam, butter, cream cheese, or my personal favorite, sour cream with a sprinkle of sugar on top.



Ingredients:

1 cup Butter
1 1/2 cups Sugar
5 Eggs
4 cups Flour
1 teaspoon Cinnamon, if you like (Vanilla Extract, Lemon Zest or even a berry Brandy or Rum could be also used for flavor)
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 cup Sour Cream
3/4 cup Walnuts, chopped (traditionally, this bread is made with hazelnuts or walnuts or plain)
1 pound of Strawberries, washed, trimmed of their caps


Preheat oven 350 degrees.  Grease and lightly dust with flour two bread pans and muffin tray (or use cupcake liners for muffin tray instead).

Place walnuts in a dry frying pan and roast on the stove for a few minutes to bring out their flavor.

Cream the butter in a mixer.  Add sugar and cream more.  Add eggs, one at a time until well combined.

In a large bowl, combine thoroughly flour, cinnamon (if using a wet flavoring, add into the butter mixture instead), salt, baking powder, baking soda.

Add the flour to the butter mixture, a bit at a time to avoid making a floury mess across your kitchen.

Add sour cream.

The strawberries can either be added gently whole or, can be mashed with a couple of tablespoons of sugar and then added gently in. 

Add the walnuts in gently.

Pour batter into pans and bake for approximately an hour.  Cool on wire rack.

Smacznego!

Red Currants

My husband found for me Red Currants at the store.  Granted, they are not in season and are imported.  But around this time of the year, I start craving red berries and fruits with a desperation.

Apparently, my children do as well....

 The color reminded me that Spring is coming.  And I seriously needed the Vitamin C (77% DV for one cup serving) and Vitamin K (15% DV for one cup serving)...

So, I had mine with some heavy cream...

I also had some in a salad (a field greens mix with some yummy feta cheese and a balsamic vinaigrette, but I didn't take a picture since I was so hungry just looking at it)...

Smacznego!