Sights of Ukraine

Traditional dishes

Soup

• Borshch—vegetable soup (most common form made with beets), popular among eastern Slavic nations. There are more than thirty regional recipes for cooking Borshch, often with meat).
• Hrybivka—mushroom soup, served with vushka in Volyn region.
• Kapusniak and solyanka—sauerkraut soups.
• Rosolnyk—soup with pickles, sometimes served with kidneys.
• Yukha—fish soup, made of fresh-water fish, usually carp.
• Vushka or galushky—"little ears" rolled triangular dumplings, sometimes stuffed with mushrooms in soup or on the side .

Salad

• Olivye—called the "Russian salad" in the West.
• Vinigret—red beet root salad with peas, onions and beans.
• Pickles—Pickled cucumbers (kvasheni ohirky) or tomatoes (kvasheni pomidory) are usually made with garlic and dill. Also, sauerkraut (kvashena kapusta).
• Kapustianyi—sauerkraut or fresh shredded cabbage, served with mayonnaise, oil, topped with klukva or grated walnuts.
• Vesnianyi—diced cucumbers and tomatoes, topped with dill or parsley, when in season.
• Oseledets—pickled herring, usually served with onions, black pepper and sunflower oil.
• Pid-shuboyu—beetroot salad with pickled herring, apple and onion, topped with mayonnaise.
• Marinated mushrooms—usually served as an appetizer, also garnished with oil and onions.

Breads

Breads and wheat products are very important to Ukrainian cuisine. Decorations on the top can be very elaborate for celebrations.

• Babka — traditional rich Easter bread. Compare to the Italian panetone. It is frequently baked in a tall cylindrical form.
• Kolach - ring-shaped bread typically served at Christmas

Main course

• Pyrohy— see varenyky below.
• Varenyky (often called perogies in English)— boiled dumplings, usually filled with potatoes, cabbage, cheese, or seasonal fruits, topped with butter and sugar or shkvarky (fried bits of salo and onions), accompanied with sour cream.
• Cabbage rolls (holubtsi)—cabbage (or vine) leaves stuffed with minced meat and rice or millet (pshono), or buckwheat-stuffed beet leaves.
• Syrnyky—cottage cheese fritters, sometimes with raisins.
• Blyntsi—crepes (mlyntsi or nalisnyky), filled usually with cottage cheese, meat, caviar or fruits.

• Stuffed duck or goose—with dried apples inside, covered in pastry dough.
• Game—hare, quail, wild boar and moose meat is also prepared when available.
• Roast meat (pechenya)—pork, veal, beef or lamb roast.
• Fish (ryba)—fried in egg and flour; cooked in oven with mushrooms, cheese and lemon; marinaded, dried or smoked variety.
• Studynets—jellied fish (zalyvne) or meat (holodets).
• Stuffed zucchini or eggplant—oven-roasted, stuffed with tomatoes, bell peppers, mushrooms, and/or rice.
• Kasha hrechana zi shkvarkamy—buckwheat cereal with chopped, fried bacon and/or onion.
• Potato (kartoplia, also barabolia or bulba)—young or peeled, served with butter, sour cream, dill; princely variety includes raw egg.
• Guliash—refers to stew in general, or specifically Hungarian goulash.
• Sausage (kovbasa or sosysky)—various kinds of smoked pork, beef or chicken sausage.
• Salo—salted pork fat, similar to bacon but with significantly higher ratio of fat to meat, or occasionally raw pig fat (sometimes jokingly referred to as Ukraine's "official food". Other Slavs sometimes call Ukrainians by this name as they find the thought of eating it unpleasant).
• Cutlets ("kotliety")—minced meat or fish fritters, sometimes rolled in breadcrumbs.
• Shashlyk—a Georgian shish kebab: lamb and vegetables/mushrooms marinated in vinegar and grilled on skewers under white wine.
• Deruny—potato fritters, usually served with rich servings of sour cream; another variation of a dish – ‘’deruny’’ fried with some cottage cheese in the middle.
• Kanapky—either black or white bread (fresh or slightly grilled)-based canapés, topped with mayo or butter, caviar, smoked herring, cucumber/tomato slices garnished with dill or parsley.

Desserts

• Kutia—traditional Christmas dish, made of poppy seeds, wheat, nuts, honey, and delicacies.
• Pampushky— fried, rich sweet dough similar to doughnut holes. Frequently tossed with cinnamon sugar. Pampushky (pl., singular is pampushka) can also be filled with poppy seed or other sweet fillings.
• Tort—many varieties of cakes, from moist to puffy, most typical ones being Kyjivskyj, Prazhskyj, and Trufelnyj. They are frequently made without flour, instead using ground walnuts or almonds.
• Zhele—jellied fruits, like cherries, pears, etc. or "Ptashyne moloko"—milk/chocolate jelly.

Beverages

Alcoholic

• Strong spirits (horilka, vodka in Russian)—Samohon (moonshine) is also popular, including with infusions of fruit, spices or hot peppers.
• Beer (pyvo)—the largest producers of beer are Obolon, Chernihivske, Slavutich, and Rogan, which partly export their products.
• Wine (vyno)—from Europe and Ukraine (particularly from Crimea).
• Mead (mid, or medovuha)—very ancient recipe of honey wine which is regaining popularity. It tastes similar to cider, and comes in various proofs, depending on vintage.

Non-alcoholic

• Compote (kompot)—sweet beverage made from dried or fresh fruits and/or berries.
• Kvas—sweet-and-sour beverage made from bread though similar process to brewing beer.
• Kefir—sour milk.
• Mineral water—famous brands are Truskavetska, Morshynska and Myrhorodska, they usually come strongly carbonated, but lately "Bonaqua" brand especially, started still water line.

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