Sometimes an unconventional combination of simple ingredients produces a winning dish. So, it was with a savory pastry known in Ukraine by two names: Potato Kasha Knysh or Yavoriv Pie. The common thread between the two is a mashed potato-buckwheat groat (kasha) filling.
No one knows the name of the cook who first combined mashed potatoes and kasha into a flavorful pie filling. Most likely, it was a home cook’s creation assembled out of necessity because these were the only two ingredients remaining in the larder. But her inspired creation became a regional tradition.
Historically, the Ukrainian diet was essentially vegetarian. Meat was expensive and prepared only for major holidays. My grandfather Vasyl Bulawka, born in 1890, recalled childhood family meals based mainly on cooked kasha (which in Ukrainian means all cooked grains –buckwheat, millet, oats barley), potatoes, milk, eggs, herring and bread with an occasional old stewing hen sacrificed for soup. A hog was butchered only once a year several months before Easter and its meat cured and smoked for eating throughout the year. Thus, my great-grandmother Katerina and other enterprising cooks often had to create tasty, non-meat combinations for a varied diet.
Flowering buckwheat
Buckwheat field
Buckwheat and potatoes were important parts of the Ukrainian diet for centuries. An undemanding plant to cultivate, buckwheat was grown in the region for millennia and its grains were cooked into porridge and milled into flour for bread. Potatoes were brought to Ukraine by German settlers, the first in Europe to adopt the potato as human food: to Galicia (as the western Ukrainian region was known in the Austro-Hungarian Empire) in the late 18th century as food for the aristocracy and monasteries, and to central and eastern Ukraine after 1763 when German-born Russian Empress Catherine invited German settlers to establish communities along the Black Sea. At first reluctant to eat potatoes, Ukrainians quickly incorporated the humble, nutritious and cheaply grown tubers to their diets.
Potatoes growing in southern Ukraine
Harvesting potatoes in Chortkiv, Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine
It is impossible to pinpoint when а potato- kasha pie, whether named knysh or Yavoriv Pie, became part of Ukrainian culinary repertoire. Ukrainian etymologists trace the word knysh to ancient times, possibly pre-Christian. The word initially meant a small man but at some point also came to mean a round bread filled with onions and baked for Christmas and served at ritual memorial services. Eventually, the word knysh described both a small snack-size or a large single or double-crusted pastry of varying shapes with potato fillings, flavored with fried onions, soft or hard cheese, kasha, cabbage, parsley and occasionally meat.
Knyshes were baked throughout Ukraine in the latter half of the 18th century and mentioned as a celebratory food in Aeneida (Енеїда)*, Ivan Kotlyarevskyi’s epic poem, the first work printed in Ukrainian vernacular in 1798.
Culinary historian and ethnographer Zіnovia Klynovetska, in her 1913 book Dishes and Drinks in Ukraine (Страви й напитки на Україні*), writes that initially knyshes were small breads formed around a fried onion filling and with fried salo (uncured salted fatback) as a snack or side dish. She explains that in western oblasts, a knysh also was a pie filled with kasha and potatoes prepared for holidays. She notes, however, that at the time of her book’s publication in 1913 preparing knyshes had fallen from favor.
Why the knysh or its name fell out of favor in early in 20th century is uncertain; at about this time the potato-kasha knysh emigrated to America with Ashkenazi Jewish refugees from Ukraine and eastern Poland who popularized knysh under the Yiddish spelling knish with traditional fillings of mashed potato and kasha, onions or cheese.
Lviv historian Ihor Lulyo concludes that a potato-kasha-filled Yavoriv Pie, as it is known today, first appeared in the second half of the 19th century. It is unclear, however, why the local community’s name Yavoriv was given to the potato-kasha pie known elsewhere in the region as a knysh. According to Marianna Dushar, renowned Lviv restauranteur, chef and blogger, the name Yavoriv Pie is only one name for potato-kasha-filled pies baked in the region encompassing Lviv-Yavoriv west into Polish territory, once part of Galicia. To add to the nomenclature confusion, other Ukrainian towns added other names and across the border in Poland, the potato kasha pie is called pieróg biłgorajski and pieróg Kaszak. Although the pie’s name differed from village to village and country to country, and the pies varied in small details, the potato-kasha filling remained the name.
Regardless of its name, potato-kasha pies are essentially vegetarian, suitable for Lent and other religious fasts. Both are customarily made from a simple yeast dough, water or oil-based, with or without eggs or even yeasted puff pastry that is elastic and can be rolled thinly. The pie can be single-crusted (resembling an American pie), free-form with an open center like a galette or double-crusted.
The filling usually consists of equal parts by volume of mashed potatoes and kasha, often flavored with fried onions, salt and pepper. Some cooks enhance their filling with chopped herbs or fresh white cheese or hard cheese or hard-boiled or raw eggs. Adding fried crispy salo (uncured salted fatback) or smoked bacon imparts savoriness but makes the pie non-vegetarian, usually reserved for Easter and other festive occasions.
In some Ukrainian households, a Potato Kasha Knysh (or Yavoriv Pie) is baked on Friday for weekend meals; in others, for special events or holidays. In some villages, a vegetarian version is routinely served warm on Christmas with a wild mushroom dipping sauce (machanka — мачанка). An Easter version is prepared with eggs in the dough and salo or bacon in the filling. It is also served at weddings to accompany borshch. On other occasions, the pie is served with other soups or a meat sauce or simply with a strong horseradish-sour cream sauce or a glass of kefir or buttermilk.
This Potato Kasha Knysh (or Yavoriv Pie) is easy to prepare with inexpensive ingredients, but it packs a toothsome punch. It is a potato lover’s delight: earthy, creamy and comforting.
I baked a non-vegetarian Potato Kasha Knysh with all the bells and whistles. I included milk, eggs, bacon and parsley. Served warm, the resulting pie satisfies the senses. It has a tender pastry crust, filled to the brim with silky mashed potatoes, studded with nutty kasha and caramelized onions. What’s not to like?
Kudos to the unknown creator of this surprising pairing. I served my Potato Kasha Knysh with bowls of hearty borsch. It is a winning combination.
Potato- Kasha Knysh (or Yavoriv Pie)
For the dough:
2 cups (0.25 k) all-purpose flour
4 ounces (120 ml) whole milk or water
½ package (3.5 g) active dry yeast
2 large egg yolks (one for the egg wash)
2 tablespoons (50 ml) sunflower oil or melted butter
1½ teaspoons (8 g) salt
4⅛ teaspoons (17g) granulated sugar
For filling:
2.2 pounds (1.0 k) white potatoes
5.3 ounces (150 g) uncooked buckwheat groats
3 medium white onions, in small dice
1 tablespoon sunflower or other neutral oil
3.5 ounces (100 g) thick sliced uncured bacon (salo) or bacon, chopped into small pieces, optional
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley or dill, or other herbs to taste, optional
Salt and pepper to taste
For garnish:
1 tablespoon sesame seed, white or black
Preparing dough: Warm milk to about 110-115˚F (43-46˚C). Add yeast and set aside for 10 minutes until foamy.
Combine flour, salt, sugar, one yolk in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with dough hook. Add yeast-milk mixture and oil or butter and knead on medium speed until liquids are absorbed and the dough does not stick to the sides of the bowl, about 5 minutes. Spray top with oil. Cover with plastic wrap or kitchen towel and set aside to proof until doubled, about 1 hour.
Grease one 9-inch x 2 -inch (23 cm x 5 cm) diameter spring-form baking pan by lining bottom with greased parchment.
Raw filling ingredients
Preparing filling: Peel, dice and cook potatoes in salted water until soft. While still warm, mash with a hand masher or rice into a purèe. (Avoid using a food processor or blender which makes potatoes gluey.) Set aside to cool to room temperature.
Place buckwheat groats in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside until cooled to room temperature. Drain in a colander lined with a towel and squeeze out excess moisture. Set aside to cool.
Pour oil into a hot skillet and on medium heat, fry onions until golden, about 20 minutes. Set aside to cool.
In the same skillet, fry the pork fatback or bacon until crisp. Drain on paper towels. Set aside to cool.
Cooked filling ingredients
In a large bowl, combine potatoes, kasha (soaked buckwheat), onions and bacon. Add herbs and season with salt and pepper to taste. (The filling should be well-seasoned with a rich savory taste.)
Ready filling
Assembling the pie: Preheat oven to 400-410˚F (200-210˚C).
Transfer dough onto a lightly floured surface and with a floured rolling pin, roll out the larger portion into a 14-inch (35.5 cm) diameter round, ¼ inch (0.6 cm) thick sheet and ease dough into baking pan, gently forming sides and pressing into corners so that it extends over all edges by 2 inches (5 cm).
Spread filling on the dough, leveling off to create a smooth surface, and packing gently along the edges to remove gaps. Fold the overhanging dough over the filling, trimming as necessary to leave an open center and forming a decorative edge.
Prepare egg wash by whisking the remaining yolk with a tablespoon of water and brushing over the top of the pie. Sprinkle with salt and sesame seeds.
Egg-washed knysh
Bake for 40 minutes until the crust becomes golden, and the internal temperature reaches 165˚F(74˚C).
Cool to room temperature.
Makes 1 knysh, 12 servings.
Photo Credits:
Photo 225820914 / Potato Fields Ukraine © Andrii Yalanskyi | Dreamstime.com
Photo 113040741 / Potato Fields Ukraine © Orest Lyzhechka | Dreamstime.com
Photo 254506592 / Buckwheat Fields Ukraine © Sergii Zysko | Dreamstime.com
Photo 254506573 / Buckwheat Fields Ukraine © Sergii Zysko | Dreamstime.com
All other photos — Slava Johnson
One year ago: http://www.kitchenepiphanies.com/rustic-cheesecake/
Two years ago: http://www.kitchenepiphanies.com/torta-polenta/
Three years ago: http://www.kitchenepiphanies.com/moussaka/
Four years ago: http://www.kitchenepiphanies.com/grape-focaccia-savory-sweet-versatility/
Five years ago: http://www.kitchenepiphanies.com/rice-noodle-soup-salmon-snow-peas-shiitake-mushrooms-relative-pho/
Six years ago: http://www.kitchenepiphanies.com/spinach-nalysnyky-crepes-veal-stroganoff/
Seven years ago: http://www.kitchenepiphanies.com/corn-peppers-goat-cheese-clafoutis/
Eight years go: http://www.kitchenepiphanies.com/roasted-corn-and-jalapeno-cornbread-with-mixed-pepper-jam/