Anafla Kukhnya · The Ukrainian Table

Ukrainian Cooking Without Vegetable Oil

From a pot of ruby borscht to a pan of syrnyky turning gold in butter, this is the cooking of the Ukrainian home. Every recipe here is made with butter, smalets, or ghee. Never a refined seed oil, not in a single dish.

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Butter✳ Smalets✳ Ghee

Smalets

Rendered at Home

In the Ukrainian village, the crock of smalets sat by the stove all winter. Slowly rendered pork fat crisps our deruny and deepens our borscht the way it has for generations.

Maslo

Butter First

Good dairy butter is the beginning of nearly everything on this table. It goes under the skin of the chicken, into the pampushky glaze, and over every bowl of varenyky.

Nikoly

Never Seed Oil

Nikoly means never. We love the sunflower in the field, not refined in the pan. No canola, no soybean, no shortcuts. Only the fats the old kitchens trusted long before modern refineries.

The Recipe Collection

Six Dishes from the Ukrainian Home

Soup, meat, garden, river, bread, and something sweet. Each one cooked the older way, with honest fats and patience.

A deep bowl of red borscht topped with sour cream and herbs

Red Borscht with Beef

⏱ 2 hr 30 min🍽 6 servings🔥 Medium

The ruby heart of the Ukrainian table. Beets and slow simmered beef come together in a deep, sweet and sour soup finished with garlic, dill, and a spoonful of smetana.

Ingredients

  • 700g beef chuck or shank, on the bone if possible
  • 2.5 liters cold water
  • 3 medium beets, peeled and coarsely grated
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 1 tbsp smalets (rendered lard)
  • 1 large onion, diced, plus 2 carrots, grated
  • 3 medium potatoes, cubed
  • ¼ head white cabbage, shredded
  • 3 tbsp tomato paste and 1 tbsp vinegar
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed, plus 1 bay leaf
  • Salt, black pepper, fresh dill, and smetana (sour cream) to serve

Instructions

  1. Cover the beef with cold water, bring to a gentle boil, and skim. Add the bay leaf and simmer, partly covered, for 1 hour 30 minutes until tender. Lift out the meat, cut it into chunks, and strain the broth.
  2. Melt the butter in a wide pan and cook the grated beets with the tomato paste and vinegar over medium heat for 10 minutes, until soft and glossy.
  3. In a second pan, warm the smalets and cook the onion and carrots until golden, about 8 minutes.
  4. Return the broth to a simmer. Add the potatoes and cook 10 minutes, then add the cabbage and cook 5 minutes more.
  5. Stir in the beets, the onion and carrot, and the meat. Simmer gently for 10 minutes so the flavors settle.
  6. Take the pot off the heat, stir in the crushed garlic, season well, and let the borscht rest 15 minutes. Serve with smetana and plenty of dill.
Golden crumbed chicken served on a plate

Chicken Kyiv

⏱ 1 hr 15 min🍽 4 servings🔥 Hard

The famous cutlet of the capital. A chicken breast wrapped around a core of cold herb butter, crumbed, and fried in ghee until the first cut releases a stream of melted gold.

Ingredients

  • 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 120g unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
  • 1 small clove garlic, grated
  • ½ lemon, zest only
  • Salt and black pepper
  • ½ cup flour, for dredging
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 2 cups fine dry breadcrumbs
  • 1 cup ghee or clarified butter, for frying

Instructions

  1. Mix the soft butter with dill, parsley, garlic, lemon zest, and a pinch of salt. Shape into 4 small logs and freeze 20 minutes until firm.
  2. Butterfly each breast and pound it between sheets of plastic to about 5mm thick. Season with salt and pepper.
  3. Set a butter log in the center of each breast, fold in the sides, and roll into a tight parcel. Chill 15 minutes.
  4. Roll each parcel in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs. Dip in egg and crumbs a second time for a sturdy crust.
  5. Heat the ghee to 165°C (330°F) in a deep pan. Fry the cutlets 4 to 5 minutes, turning, until deep golden.
  6. Transfer to a 180°C (355°F) oven for 10 to 12 minutes to cook through. Rest 3 minutes, then serve whole so the butter pours out at the table.
Crisp golden potato pancakes in a skillet

Deruny, Potato Pancakes

⏱ 40 min🍽 4 servings🔥 Easy

Lacy edged potato pancakes from Polissia, crisped in smalets until deeply browned. Sunday breakfast in half the households of northern Ukraine.

Ingredients

  • 1kg starchy potatoes, peeled
  • 1 small onion
  • 1 large egg
  • 3 tbsp flour
  • ½ tsp salt
  • Black pepper to taste
  • 4 tbsp smalets (rendered lard), or ghee
  • Smetana (sour cream) to serve
  • Fresh dill or chives to serve

Instructions

  1. Grate the potatoes and onion on the fine side of a box grater. The onion keeps the potato from browning.
  2. Set the mixture in a sieve for 5 minutes and press out the liquid well.
  3. Stir in the egg, flour, salt, and pepper to make a thick batter.
  4. Heat the smalets in a heavy skillet over medium heat until it shimmers.
  5. Drop in heaped spoonfuls of batter, flatten slightly, and fry 3 to 4 minutes per side until the edges are lacy and deep gold.
  6. Drain on a rack, never on paper, so they stay crisp. Serve hot with smetana and dill.
Baked fish fillet with herbs on a plate

Carp Baked in Smetana

⏱ 1 hr🍽 4 servings🔥 Medium

River fish the Dnipro way. Carp is browned in butter, blanketed in a smetana and onion sauce, and baked until the top blisters gold and the flesh turns silky.

Ingredients

  • 1 whole carp (about 1.2kg), cleaned and cut into portions, or 4 firm white fish fillets
  • Salt and black pepper
  • 3 tbsp flour, for dusting
  • 4 tbsp butter
  • 2 onions, sliced into thin half moons
  • 300g smetana (sour cream)
  • 2 tbsp whole milk
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tsp sweet paprika
  • Fresh dill, chopped, to finish

Instructions

  1. Season the fish with salt and pepper and dust lightly with flour.
  2. Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a skillet and brown the fish 2 minutes per side. Set it into a buttered baking dish.
  3. In the same skillet, soften the onions in the remaining butter for 8 minutes until sweet and pale gold.
  4. Whisk the smetana with the milk, paprika, and a pinch of salt. Spoon the onions over the fish, tuck in the bay leaf, and pour the smetana over everything.
  5. Bake at 180°C (355°F) for 25 to 30 minutes until the sauce bubbles and blushes gold at the edges.
  6. Rest 5 minutes, shower with dill, and serve with boiled potatoes.
Freshly baked golden bread rolls

Pampushky with Garlic Butter

⏱ 2 hr 15 min🍽 8 rolls🔥 Medium

Pillowy yeast rolls baked shoulder to shoulder, then painted with warm garlic and dill butter. No bowl of borscht is properly dressed without them.

Ingredients

  • 500g bread flour
  • 7g instant yeast
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp fine salt
  • 280ml warm whole milk
  • 2 tbsp butter, melted, plus more for the pan
  • 1 egg, beaten, for glazing
  • 3 tbsp butter, for the garlic glaze
  • 3 cloves garlic, finely grated
  • 2 tbsp fresh dill, chopped, plus a pinch of salt

Instructions

  1. Whisk the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt. Add the warm milk and melted butter and knead 8 to 10 minutes to a soft, springy dough.
  2. Cover and let rise in a warm spot for about 1 hour, until doubled.
  3. Divide into 8 pieces, roll into tight balls, and arrange snugly in a buttered round pan. Cover and prove 30 minutes more.
  4. Brush with beaten egg and bake at 190°C (375°F) for 22 to 25 minutes until deep golden on top.
  5. Warm the remaining butter gently and stir in the garlic, dill, and salt off the heat.
  6. Brush the hot rolls generously with the garlic butter and serve warm, ideally beside a pot of borscht.
A stack of small golden pancakes with toppings

Syrnyky with Honey

⏱ 30 min🍽 4 servings🔥 Easy

Plump farmer's cheese pancakes with crisp buttery edges and a custardy middle. Breakfast, dessert, and childhood memory in one pan.

Ingredients

  • 500g farmer's cheese or dry curd cottage cheese
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • Pinch of fine salt
  • 4 tbsp flour, plus more for shaping
  • 3 tbsp raisins, optional
  • 3 tbsp butter, for frying
  • Honey, to serve
  • Smetana (sour cream), to serve

Instructions

  1. Press the cheese through a sieve so the syrnyky come out smooth and light.
  2. Mix in the yolks, sugar, vanilla, salt, flour, and raisins if using. The dough should be soft but hold its shape.
  3. With floured hands, form 8 thick pucks and dust each lightly with flour.
  4. Melt the butter in a heavy skillet over medium low heat.
  5. Fry the syrnyky 3 to 4 minutes per side, until deeply golden and just set in the middle.
  6. Serve warm, with honey poured over and a spoonful of smetana alongside.
Fresh vegetables and greens gathered on a table

Our Kitchen

Kukhnya Means Kitchen

Anafla Kukhnya is a small home kitchen journal devoted to the food of Ukraine, written in English for cooks everywhere. We cook the dishes the way the old kitchens did, with butter from the dairy, smalets from the crock, and time on the stove.

Every recipe here is tested at home in ordinary pans, on an ordinary stove, and written so a first attempt can succeed. You will find no refined vegetable oils in any of them. That is not a trend for us. It is simply how this table has always been set.

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