These Ukrainian Potato Zrazy – Potato Pancakes Stuffed with Mushrooms — are traditionally eaten by Ukrainian families in the spring, especially during Lent, which many Ukrainians consider a time for cleansing, penitence and fasting. This year this tradition was disrupted by war, and I am posting this Ukrainian Zrazy recipe to honor Ukraine’s culinary traditions and the millions of Ukrainian cooks whose homes were destroyed and who can’t prepare zrazy this year.
The fog of war has enveloped Ukrainian life. In one month, Ukraine’s beautiful European cities are reduced to dust and its fertile landscapes trampled. Shattered lives, destroyed housing, bombed schools, hospitals, markets, theaters, haunting images of millions of shell-shocked Ukrainian women, infants, children and elderly escaping Russian destructive, vengeful forces, all asking the same question – Why us?
Ukrainian refugees on railway station waiting for train to escape to Europe
These displaced women abandoned their homes to save their children’s lives with only the clothes on their backs and a lifetime of possessions reduced to one suitcase or plastic bundle. An overwhelming sense of loss and grief from losing one’s homeland is visible in their faces and heard in their voices. Stunned, mourning the loss of their homes and an uncertain destination, they seek shelter across the border; they are reluctant to move further into Europe, hoping this war will soon end and they can return to Ukraine to reconnect with husbands, fathers and brothers to resume the lives they once had.
Humanitarian catastrophe – refugees from the war-torn territories fleeing to Europe,
In their hearts they know that they can’t return to the place that is home in their memories. That place has been destroyed. One refugee told me in tears “That Ukraine had problems, but it was special to me. I will never be able to see it or experience it again. I never had a chance to say goodbye.”
Ukrainian refugees on Lviv railway station waiting for train to Europe
All of this is personally familiar, I was an infant refugee in the closing days of World War II. As I look at the faces of today’s refugees clutching their babies, I see Mama as a young woman, holding infant me tightly her chest, knowing there was no return to life in Ukraine and frightened by what lay ahead. Decades later, Mama cherished the memories of pre-war Ukraine and years of family traditions.
Ukrainian woman and her three children were forced to flee their home and become refugees,
Today’s refugees also will find solace in memories of their pre-war family lives. As they start life anew in the chaos of building their Ukrainian homes, or put down new roots elsewhere, they will find comfort in continuing Ukrainian traditions as prior generations of Ukrainian immigrants have, resuming seasonal practices with the foods that provide life’s framework.
Had Russia not invaded Ukraine, what would these refugee women be doing in their Ukrainian homes?
During the month of March in previous years, Ukrainian families would be readying for a change of seasons and Easter. In rural Ukraine, the focus is on planting. Elsewhere throughout Ukraine, it’s time to prepare spiritually and emotionally for the year ahead. Some Ukrainians commit to the centuries’ old tradition of fasting for the forty days of Lent, forgoing dairy products, eggs and meats. Since nothing is growing yet, the remainder of last season’s crop of root vegetables is featured in many recipes.
Ukrainian zrazy (the name is a contraction of the expression z razu, meaning “at once”) are an ancient dish with a Lithuanian origin, attributed by some culinary historians to the time when the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom and later Commonwealth (1386-1795) ruled lands settled by ethnic Ukrainians. The name zrazy also is used in Poland and Georgia for stuffed potato pancakes or stuffed meat rolls.
Initially, potato zrazy were prepared in the villages of Polissya, a region along Ukraine’s northern border, where family cooks adapted and enriched zrazy into a traditional dish later prepared throughout Ukraine with potato zrazy favored in some regions and meat zrazy in others. Although Mama spoke of the zrazy she ate in Luboml (which is adjacent to Polissya), potato zrazy were not a dish that Mama and other family cooks brought to America, perhaps because my maternal grandmother did not like peasant food. During my years working in Ukraine, home cooks often treated me to potato zrazy and I regretted that these tasty pancakes were not part of my family’s culinary repertoire.
Ukrainians have loved potatoes since potatoes arrived in Ukraine in the 17th century. Ukrainian potato zrazy are a simple meal made from freshly cooked or leftover mashed potatoes stuffed with a variety of fillings. Their taste depends on the filling. These zrazy can be vegetarian or vegan filled with vegetables, often mushrooms or cabbage and served with a spicy tomato sauce or otherwise with sour cream and dill. Zrazy also can be filled with various minced meats.
This recipe is a vegetarian version of Ukrainian Potato Zrazy. I added an egg to the potato filling as a binder, although it could be omitted if a vegan version is desired. The savory filling is a balanced combination of sautéed duxelles of button and cremini mushrooms, an umami-rich dried porcini mushroom that deepens the mushroom flavor, onion and garlic. The resulting zrazy are crispy, golden-crusted on the outside with a soft flavorful interior.
One pancake with a dollop of sour cream sprinkled with dill or a spoonful of a spicy tomato sauce makes a great appetizer; a few potato zrazy, accompanied with a salad of roasted vegetables, make a great lunch or dinner. When I serve these Ukrainian Zrazy, I provide diners with a choice of sour cream, chopped dill and adjika, a spicy Georgian tomato sauce (recipe below), now popular in Ukraine.
Tips for making zrazy: I cooked potatoes for this dish, but cold mashed potato also can be used for zrazy, and this is probably what most Ukrainian cooks use. Previously cooked mashed potatoes should have a high butter content without cream or milk which would make the dough too soft to form into pancakes.
Potato zrazy can be vegan if the egg is omitted, and another tablespoon of potato starch is added to the dough.
Potato zrazy are best eaten immediately after frying, but they can be kept warm in the oven for a short time or if leftover zrazy are refrigerated, warmed for 15 minutes in a 200˚F(93˚C) oven.
Ukrainian Potato Zrazy –Potato Pancakes Stuffed with Mushrooms
For the potato dough:
2.2 pounds (1k) Yukon Gold potatoes, cooked in jackets
2 tablespoons potato starch
1 large egg (optional)
1 teaspoon salt
1½ cups (214 g) all-purpose flour, additional may be needed to thicken dough to form a pancake
7 ounces (200 g) carrots, cooked and shredded on a coarse grater
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
For the filling:
2 onions, finely chopped
18 ounces (500g) mushrooms, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 dried porcini mushroom, pulverized to a powder in a food processor or blender
Salt and pepper to taste
Additional oil for frying
For serving:
1 cup sour cream
1 cup adjika, recipe below
Cook potatoes unpeeled. When cooked, cool slightly until safe to handle. Peel and while still warm, rice or mash potatoes into a smooth purée. Stir in shredded carrots until combined. Add egg, flour, starch, salt, pepper and mix the ingredients. Knead potato dough (adding a few tablespoons of flour if it is too sticky). Set aside to cool.
In a large frying pan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil and add onions, mushrooms and porcini powder. Sauté on medium heat until mushrooms release liquid. Add garlic, salt and pepper to taste and continue sautéing until liquid evaporates. Remove to a clean bowl and cool to room temperature.
Mushroom filling
Dust the working surface and your hands with flour. Take two heaping tablespoons of potato dough and form a rough ball with your hands. Put the ball on the surface and press it down into a ½ in (1.27 cm) thick oval patty, 4 inches (10 cm) in diameter.
Lift the patty gently and place 1 tablespoon of filling in the middle.
Gently lift the sides and place a tablespoon of filling into the center of the potato patty. Pinch the edges together to enrobe the filling, seal the patty along the edges and, dusting with additional flour if needed, shape it into a flat oblong.
Coat in flour, place on a floured dishtowel and press down gently to a thickness of ½ inch ( 1.5 cm), continuing until potatoes and filling are used up. (Leftover mushroom filling can be used in a mushroom sauce.)
Preheat a large frying pan over medium heat and add a ¼ inch of oil. Once the oil surface starts to shimmer (To avoid sticking it is important that the pan is well-heated.), gently place a few zrazy an inch apart and fry for 3-5 minutes on each side until golden brown. Remove to a paper towel-covered hot plate, cover with foil and keep warm in an oven at 200˚F(93˚C) until the remaining patties are fried. Serve immediately.
Makes 16 pancakes; serves 8 for lunch or dinner.
Adjika is a fragrant, spicy relish with Georgian roots that became popular in Ukraine during the Soviet period to conserve an overabundance of tomatoes and red peppers at summer’s end. My Ukrainian friends still preserve many liters of adjika to this day.
Adjika is a simple, quick dish that requires fresh ingredients. Ukrainian food is generally not spicy but adding a few chilis to adjika provides a welcome kick to meals such as zrazy.
Adjika
4 large Roma tomatoes
5 medium carrots
3 large red bell peppers
3 large green apples
2-3 tiny cayenne or Thai chili peppers (taste for heat and adjust amount)
3.5 ounces (100g) sunflower oil
3 ounces (88.7 ml) cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons salt
2.65 ounces (75g) sugar
1 garlic head, cloves separated and minced
Wash all the vegetables, except for the garlic, and slice into smaller pieces. Grind using a food processor or meat grinder. Place vegetables into a pot and bring it to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and continue cooking for about an hour, while occasionally stirring.
After an hour, add oil, vinegar, salt and sugar and cook for another 20 minutes, occasionally stirring. Remove from heat, stir in minced garlic, cover and cool for about an hour.
Pack in jars or freezer containers. Adjika will keep for two weeks in the refrigerator and up to one year in a tightly sealed container in the freezer. Of course, it can also be processed for canning.
Photo credits: Lviv, Ukraine – March 10, 2022: Ukrainian refugees on railway station waiting for train to escape to Europe, ID 243086585, © Ruslan Lytvyn | Dreamstime.com; Lviv, Ukraine – March 12, 2022: Humanitarian catastrophe – refugees from the war-torn territories are fleeing to Europe, ID 243646961, © SlavkoSereda | Dreamstime.com; Lviv, Ukraine – March 22, 2022: Ukrainian refugees on Lviv railway station waiting for train to Europe, ID 243857649, © Ruslan Lytvyn | Dreamstime.com; Ukrainian woman and her three children forced to flee their home and become refugees, ID 243463319, © Marian Vejcik | Dreamstime.com. All other photos in this blog were taken by Slava Johnson.
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