Some of you might already know this about me, but I am the lucky wife of a Russian man. Lucky, not only because Russian men have amazing manners and are extremely handsome, romantic, caring and smart, but also because Russian food is absolutely delicious!
Only, in our case, my husband is not much of a cook himself (however, he’s the sweetest because he never let’s me do the dishes, and trust me, I create a lot of dirty dishes)
Luckily, I’ve been blessed by gaining a new gorgeous sister in my life. Not only is Leila (my husband’s sister) extremely talented and turns literally everything she touches into magic, but in the kitchen she creates amazing treats and is always very happy to teach me <3
That’s why last time we visited Israel we decided to make a day of it. We got together, went shopping, cooked the entire day in Leila’s kitchen in Jerusalem and had a lovely dinner together with our loved ones. It was a beautiful (and delicious) day. It’s such a great experience bonding with someone while cooking, you find a certain harmony and connect over the aroma’s and flavors and deep conversations.
What’s on the menu
We made the delicious Russian blini you are going to read about today, which are crepes (thin pancakes) filled with meat. But we also made some fresh no knead-bread with fresh basil and dried tomatoes, oven baked Camembert with pecans and honey, and a perfect biscuit, chocolate and dulce de leche cake! (both will soon join the blog). It was really a feast that won’t be forgotten.
But I must say, that out of all the dishes, the Blini was the absolute star. This classic Russian dish is a thin crepe wrapped and filled with minced meat and fried onions, and then gently fried in a pan to get a crispy crust around it. This is then topped with some sour cream. The crispy crepe and the minced meat together with the creamy sour cream just makes a heavenly bite, you have to try this.
We also made a vegetarian version with vegetarian minced meat, and later on for our Chrismukkah party, I made another vegetarian version from 3 types of mushrooms and roasted chestnuts, cooked slowly in red wine and fresh herbs. All versions were amazing, but today I am going to share the original with you.
How to make Leila’s Blini
Start with frying up the onions and garlic until golden
Add the spices and fry for one minute longer until they are fragrant. Then add the minced meat.
Keep cooking with the meat, moving it around the pan until fully cooked
When done, remove from heat and let it cool at room temperature
Make the Crepes
In A bowl add the flour, salt and sugar. In a separate bowl, mix together egg and sour cream
To the wet bowl, add 1 teaspoon baking soda by pouring a little bit of boiling water on top of it, just enough to make that soda bubble on the teaspoon and clean it up from baking soda. Mix well together.
Add the wet to the dry and whisk to combine
Add water and keep whisking until there are no lumps
The batter is ready when it is the consistency between milk and heavy cream
Then to make the crepes, just heat up a medium non stick pan and pour some oil in a small bowl. Peel one onion and cut it in half.
Using a fork, dip the onion in the oil and run it around the bottom of the pan to oil it up very lightly
Then, pour about half a ladle in the pan and tilt to turning it around, you want the batter to reach the entire pan until it’s covered in one thin layer. Let it cook for just a couple minutes, until bubbles form on the top. Then use a spatula to turn it to the other side. Remember that the first one is never perfect! Continue to a second one. If it breaks while flipping, you can add another egg to the batter to stabilize it more. After it’s flipped, give it 5-10 seconds to cook from the other side
Move to a separate plate and continue with the rest of the batter. Keep stacking them up until they are all done. The next step will be to fill and roll!
Roll these beauties up and create some crisp
Once you’re done with the crepe’s, it’s time to stuff them up with the meat you made before. Make sure you have your meat next to you, the crepes and something to put the rolled Blinis in.
Here’s a step by step GIF to show you how to roll:
After they are all rolled up, add them seal side down to a plate. At this stage, you can either store them until ready to eat, or go ahead and finish the last step
Make sure you don’t fry them too long in advance and that there is just a little bit of oil, you want them served warm and crisp!
Place them, seal side down in the pan with a bit of oil on medium-high heat.
Then after a few minutes, when the bottom has a nice golden brown look and a nice crisp crust, turn them over
Fry for a few more minutes and remove to a plate with a paper towel to allow the excess oil to be absorbed
While these are frying, mix up some sour creme with fresh chives
Add a nice dollop of cream on these delicious Blini and dig in!
- 1 kg (2.2 lbs) Ground Beef
- 1 Onion
- 3 Garlic Cloves
- Olive Oil
- Salt & Pepper
- 1 Cup (128 g / 4.5 oz) all purpose flour
- 200ml (3/4 cup) Sour Cream
- 1 Tsp baking soda
- 2 Cups water
- Pinch of sugar
- Pinch of salt
- Half an onion
- Olive oil
- Sour Cream
- Chives
- Heat a bit of olive oil in a pan on medium heat and saute the onions and garlic until golden
- Add salt and pepper to taste and saute for a couple minute longer before adding the ground beef
- Saute the onions together with the beef until the it is fully cooked, then remove from the heat and set aside to cool
- In a large bowl add flour, salt and sugar and mix
- In a separate bowl add sour cream and one egg, mix together
- Then, hold 1 tsp of baking soda on top of the bowl and pour a little bit of boiling water on it. It will bubble a bit and pour into the sour cream, mix it all well together
- Mix the sour cream mixture into the flour and add about 2 cups of water, start with 1.5 and add more as needed. Whisk well, removing any lumps. The consistency should be somewhere between heavy cream and milk.
- Heat a medium pan on medium-high heat and oil it using an onion cut in half, with a fork stuck in it on the non cut side. Dip the onion in some olive oil and rub in on the pan, adding a thin layer of oil
- Then add about half a ladle of batter and tilt to rotate the pan to allow the batter to spread evenly in a thin layer across the bottom of the pan
- When bubbles start to form and pop, use a spatula to turn the blini to the other side and give it half a minute longer. If you find the blini is too thick, add more water to the batter. If it breaks when turning, add another egg.
- When all your blini crepes are stacked, take one at a time and fill it with about a tablespoon of the beef filling, roll it together and and place it on a plate, seal side down
- At this point, you can either refrigerate them one or two days until almost ready to serve, or continue to frying them right away. The most important is to serve them crispy and warm.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and place the rolled blinis, seal side down in the hot oil. Let them fry for 2-3 minutes until it's golden and crispy. Turn to the other side and fry for 2-3 minutes longer
- Place the blini on a dish with paper towel to soak up excess oil and serve while still warm and crunchy topped with some sour cream and fresh chives
simon bao says
Could you please indicate the yield on this recipe. That would be helpful (essential) information
Keren says
It makes about 15-20, depending on how nice and think you get your crepes
Frank says
Big fan of these – love them crispy. Nice touch to rub pan with onion