Blinis, the original recipe

Blinis are one of the most cooked quick and easy recipes in Russia. Try them the traditional way with salmon and sour cream.

Blinis, or bliny in the singular, are crepes typical of Russian cuisine served with sweet or savory accompaniments. They have a circular shape of approximately 12-15 cm and can be prepared with either soft wheat or buckwheat flour. They also exist in smaller shapes, excellent to serve as a finger food aperitif and are called blinchiki .

This typical product is usually prepared on the occasion of Maslenitsa , a Russian holiday that can be compared to our carnival as it falls the week before the start of Lent. To get the perfect blini recipe you must keep in mind that, unlike classic crepes, these are leavened . The consistency will therefore be lighter and the thickness greater. Let's discover the original recipe to prepare them.

In this video you can see the steps to make them. The proportions between the ingredients are slightly different from ours but as always with our recipe you are on the safe side.

How to fill blinis

Born as a simple dish filled with what was available, today blinis are filled in different ways:

• Savory blinis : with smetana , the traditional Russian sour cream , salmon or red caviar . With this filling it is not uncommon to find Russian buckwheat blinis obtained simply by replacing 00 flour with buckwheat flour. The result is a more rustic but still delicious recipe;
• Sweet blinis : perfect for breakfast or a snack, they are filled with jams, honey and ricotta;
• Fillings : usually with a savory filling, they are rolled or folded in half and then cooked in the oven or fried;
• American blinis : they are the most widespread variant in the USA and apple juice or raisins are usually added to the dough.

Today, certainly the most widespread version is the small one, more similar to pancakes served in our latitudes with spreadable cheese and salmon.

Conservation

We advise you to consume the blinis freshly made so that they are very soft.

Blinis: origin and history

Although the origin of blinis dates back to the pre-Christian and pagan era , it is with the Orthodox religion that they entered the gastronomic culture of the country. Traditionally they are prepared on the occasion of Maslenitsa which we said is comparable to our Carnival or rather, to Shrove Tuesday. Here too, in fact, a week of celebrations, known as Syrnaja Sedmica (i.e. cheese week ), culminates in a big party.

To contextualize the recipe it is necessary to refer to some principles of the Orthodox religion which prohibits the consumption of dairy products, eggs and butter during Lent. Making blinis, which coincidentally consist mostly of these ingredients, was the last chance to use up leftovers before fasting.

But there is also something to be said about the shape of these Russian pancakes. Round and bright yellow, they symbolized the sun that would soon return, at the end of winter. In fact, the festival was a sort of farewell to the snow and originally corresponded with the spring equinox. Be careful though: due to superstition they should never be eaten by cutting them with a knife .

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