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Russian cuisine

Kurnik (Festive Chicken Pie)

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This kind of pie was traditionally baked for weddings. It has 3 different fillings. The main one, chicken, is considered the symbol of fertility in Russia. Two pies were cooked – one for the bride, and the other one for the groom. Later Kurnik became a festive dish cooked for special occasions and special guests. Of all the hundreds of pies traditional for Russian cuisine this one undoubtedly deserves the crown of a culinary masterpiece.

Dough:

  • 0.5 pound flour
  • 0.5 pound butter
  • 0.25 pound cold water
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • A pinch of salt
  • 1 pinch of citric acid
  • 0.25 pound egg mix

Pancakes:

  • 0.5 pound flour
  • 3 cups milk
  • 5 eggs
  • 2 ounces melted buttter
  • 1 teaspoon of sugar
  • A pinch of salt

Stuffings:

Chicken stuffing:

  • 2 pounds of chicken shins
  • 2 tbs butter
  • 2-3 tbs flour
  • Chopped dill, parsley
  • Ground pepper

Rice stuffing:

  • 0.25 cup rice
  • 1 hard-boiled egg
  • 2 tbs butter
  • Chopped dill, parsley
  • Ground pepper

Mushroom stuffing:

  • 0.5 pound field mushrooms
  • 1 onion
  • 2 tbs butter
  • Chopped dill, parsley
  • Ground pepper

Cooking

First make the dough: sift the flour, cut butter into pieces, cut the mixture together. Mix it with egg mix. Melt sugar and salt in water and add to the mix. Roll the dough into a big sheet, cut out two circles – 12 and 14 inches in diameter.

For the pancakes – mix the ingredients and bake pancakes on one side only.

Cook the fillings.

For the chicken filling cook the poultry in a small amount of salted water until it’s overcooked a bit. Take the meat off the bones and cut it as fine as you can. Then heat butter, fry flour in it, add a little bit of chicken broth and cook for 5 minutes.

Add pepper, and then pour the ready sauce into the chicken meat. Add chopped herbs and mix well.

For the rice filling, cook rice the usual way and mix with finely chopped egg, then add herbs and butter.

For the mushroom filling, cut the mushrooms into really small pieces, fry on butter and add the same kind of sauce you cooked for the chicken filling. Then add fried onions and herbs.

Now you have to put this elaborate pie together. Spread the rice filling on a smaller dough circle put into a baking tray. Cover it with a layer of pancakes – 3-5 normally do the job. Put the chicken filling on top, cover with pancakes again and finish the pie with the mushroom filling. Cover the entire construction with the bigger dough circle, nip the dough and make sure there are no holes on the sides. Poke the top with a fork in a couple of places and put the pie into a pre-heated oven for 30 minutes.

Only after you try it you know every single effort was worth it – the pie is delicious.

 

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