Traditional Russian Sour Cream (Super Easy and Cheap Recipe)

This is possibly the shortest and certainly one of the easiest recipes out there. This is due to it being very traditional and based on wild fermentation, meaning your involvement in the process is almost zero and all the work is done by the amazing creatures that are everywhere in the air - wonderful bacteria.

I now there are recipes that call for culture to be added to get the souring process started, but I tend to keep my cooking simple, cheap and follow the tradition where possible. The method I describe below is based on Russian tradition that was and still is used in villages to make sour cream.

Ingredients:

organic raw grass-fed cream, the thicker the better
The amount really depends on your needs and here in London on your finances.

Equipment:

glass jar if your cream comes in plastic container

Leave the glass jar with the cream on the kitchen counter for 1 - 3 days covered with the lid but not tight, just place the lid on the jar and do not screw it closed. The amount of days solely depends on the temperature in your kitchen. During summer it will be 1-2 days, during winter around 3. Really what should be your guide is your taste buds. The taste of the finished product should be sour but not overpoweringly so, and just a tad sweet.

That is it, there you have your sour cream.
If you ask me where to use this wonderful product, well I would say almost anywhere: in borstch (traditional Russian and Ukrainian soup), on sautéed cabbage with mince (lazy Russian Golubtsy or Cabbage Rolls), in all the cream soups, in vegetable soups, on Russian Golubtsy (Cabbage Rolls), with Russian Pelmeni, on sautéed vegetables, on stuffed sweet peppers, on freshly boiled new potatoes with dill, mixed up with cream cheese and some honey or other sweetener of your choice (as a dessert), it can be just eaten on its own out of the jar, or with some honey if you like it sweet.

Yes, you are right again, I am Russian and I tend to use sour cream with almost everything :). Love the stuff!

Hey, happy cream souring to you and please do get back here and share your experience or just comment your thoughts.

Super Easy, Super Quick and Super Thick Mayo

Ever since discovering all the nasties in my favorite Hellman's Mayonnaise I was missing it badly and even found several receipts and even tried making my own, but it seemed a bit complicated and needing some special equipment like food processor with the special tiny whole in the lead for pouring oil. I do not have the food processor like that what I have is a hand blender and when I tried following the receipt I felt like I needed another hand to actually hold the oil bottle in it and pour the oil in.

But one day my friend was organising a baby shower for another friend of ours and she made this amazingly simple, quick and delicious dip for the fresh sliced veggies. She gave me the receipt, it was in Russian and it was called '30 Seconds Mayo', my Russian speaking friends can find the original here http://www.carina-forum.com/carina/index.php?topic=15972.0
My English speaking friends please read further.

Ingredients:
1 whole egg, organic free, range (the best quality you can find)
200 g extra cold pressed virgin olive oil (depending on the brand it will give the mayo slightly bitter taste, but I got used to it and don't feel it any longer)
1 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed (adjustable)
1 tsp dijon mustard (adjustable)
1 tsp honey, organic raw unheated (adjustable)
1/4 tsp sea salt, unrefined (adjustable)

Equipment:
Hand blender and the tall plastic cup that comes with it or something as narrow as the cup to just fit the blender head.

Put all the ingredients into the tall narrow cup in the sequence that they are listed above. Lower the hand blender into it down all the way to the bottom (if you are using a different container, make sure that it is narrow just to fit the head of the hand blender, because if it is wider this receipt will not work). Swith on the blender and hold it tight at the bottom of the cup without moving for the first 10 seconds. You will the see the mayo thicken up and now you move it up and down to mix all the ingredients.
Taste it with your finger and adjust the taste accordingly.

This is it really. Just scoop it out to the preferable container and store it in the fridge. I have never kept it in the fridge longer then 1 week as I usually eat it all up before that. But remember that all the ingredients are raw so I would not advise to keep it there for longer.

Enjoy and please share your thoughts, especially if anyone tries some additional ingredients in this receipt like herbs, I would love to know how it came out.

You can see this entry here http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2011/10/real-food-wednesday-10122011.html#comment-98680