Ossetian pie with beet tops: recipes and cooking options

Those who were fortunate enough to visit Ossetia had an opportunity not only to appreciate the fabulous beauty of nature, but also to try a real Ossetian pie with beet tops. Such a pie always has the shape of a circle, resembling the sun. Baking is prepared with a variety of fillings, but almost always for cooking use a special Ossetian pickle cheese.

The most popular Ossetian dish

In the arsenal of Ossetian cuisine there is a large number of varied and tasty dishes. But one of the most popular and favorite is the Ossetian pie with beet tops. Try it once, you will never forget its wonderful taste. Any festive table in Ossetia is always decorated with three pies. Why are there exactly three, you ask? Everything is very simple. They symbolize the earth, the sky and the sun. That's why they spread it in such numbers.

In this article we want to tell you how to bake a real Ossetian pie with beet tops. Having a detailed recipe, even the inexperienced mistress will cope with cooking. Once you have cooked the pastry, you will certainly love this wonderful dish and will be able to cook it yourself using a variety of fillings. In big cities now you can order such pies, but not always they correspond to what they should be in reality. Anyone who has ever tried a real pie in Ossetia will never forget his amazing taste.

To evaluate the taste of Ossetian baking, we suggest preparing a beetroot cake with young leaves. They have that sourness that is needed for the filling.

Ingredients for a real pie with a tops

In order to prepare an Ossetian pie with a beet top, we will need the following products:

For opary:

1. Three tablespoons of sugar.
2. 200 ml of warm water.
3. Three tablespoons of flour.
4. A packet of dry yeast or 60 grams of live.

For the test:

1. A kilogram of flour.
2. Water or serum - 0.5 liters.
3. Margarine.
4. One egg.
5. A pinch of salt.
6. Three tablespoons of vegetable oil.

For filling:

1. Young beet tops - 0,6 kg.
2. Dill - 100 g.
3. Green onions - 100 g.
4. Cheese brine (Ossetian) - 0,6-0,8 kg. If you do not have this kind of cheese, you can replace it with Suluguni, Adyghe or simple cheese.
5. Homemade sour cream.
6. Salt.
7. Bottled oil - 50 g.

Ossetian pie with beet tops: recipe

Preparation of the pie begins with the preparation of opaques from the above components. We let her stand and increase in volume. Next, we sift flour (take only very high-quality flour) with a slide and make a groove in it, pour some salt into it, break the egg, add vegetable oil and melted margarine. Also add half a liter of warm whey and knead the soft dough.

There are no special secrets in the preparation of Ossetian pies, just the dough should be mildly mixed, then the baking will be airy. You can also use the usual yeast dough for cooking. When it is already mixed up, we put it in a dish, greased with vegetable oil, cover with a towel and give it several times to come up. If the dough was properly prepared, then it will certainly try to escape from the bowl.

Meanwhile we will prepare the filling. The beetroot for beans must be young. It must be washed, dried, stems removed and finely chopped. Then add crushed dill and green onions. We rub Osetian cheese and put it in a mixture of greens, adding sour cream and butter. The resulting filling is gently mixed, salt and pepper. In the dishes you will certainly have extra liquid from the cheese. It must be drained by tilting the basin. The filling will be incredibly juicy, so you can drain all the excess so that the pie does not flow.

A ready mixture of greens and cheese should be divided into three equal parts and each rolled into a bowl. Similarly, you need to do with the finished test. Each test ball should have a slightly larger volume than the filling. Now you can proceed to the formation of the pie. To do this, each part of the dough is pressed slightly from above, and then put the prepared mass in the groove. Next, pull the dough up, forming a bag, and tear it. The filling must be completely inside. The more it is, the more delicious are the Ossetian pies with the tops. Then they need to be turned over with trowels down and let it infuse for another ten minutes. After a while, the baking should be turned over again and begin to accurately distribute the filling to the edges. Gradually the pie will increase in diameter. After this, it can be transferred to a greased baking sheet. Ossetian pie with beet tops (photos shown in the article) has a very moist filling, so during the baking process it can leak, but there is nothing to worry about.

A baking tray with baking is placed only in the preheated oven. After seven to eight minutes, the pan should be shaken. This is done so that the baking is not burnt. The cake is cooked until a ruddy-golden color is obtained. Ready-made pastry is transferred to a flat plate and is abundantly lubricated with melted butter, then covered with a basin and allowed to soak properly. Here is an Ossetian pie with beet tops and cheese ready.

Helpful Tips

For the preparation of good pies, you need to remember some of the nuances:

1. Pies need to be molded quickly enough and immediately sent them to the oven, as they have the property of leaking.
2. The manifestation of the highest craftsmanship is such baking, the dough is very delicate, and the filling inside is very much. To get such a pie is not so difficult, when some skills of its preparation appear.
3. Ready-made pastry is perfectly preserved in the refrigerator (up to a week or more). With this pie is best covered with a towel.
4. Baking can be heated in a frying pan, in an oven or microwave. If you do this on the stove, the pie should be sprinkled lightly with water and covered with a lid, and then heated over low heat. Such a simple way to keep pastries soft.

Ossetian Pie with Beetroot and Cottage Cheese

Ossetian pies in the form of flat cakes not so long ago have become popular with us, but immediately fell in love with the hostesses. There are a lot of recipes for such a wonderful dish. And even more there are options for using a variety of fillings. One of the most popular options is Ossetian pastry with tops and cottage cheese. For preparation we need these components:

1. Vegetable oil - 4-5 tbsp. L.
2. Water (warm) - 200 ml.
3. Flour - 0,5 kg.
4. A packet of yeast (high-speed dry).
5. Cottage cheese - 260 g.
6. A teaspoon of salt.
7. Beetroot plant

The recipe for cake with cottage cheese and tops

For cooking, take flour of good quality, we sift it, mixing it with fast-acting yeast. The resulting mixture is well mixed. When using this recipe, it is possible not to make gums, since fast-acting yeast itself reacts.

In the resulting mixture, make a groove and pour in warm water and add a pinch of salt. And then mix the dough, which should not stick to your hands. To do this, it must be carefully kneaded, the process will take at least ten minutes. A properly made dough is one hundred percent success

The resulting bun is placed in a saucepan and covered with a linen towel. The dough should stand in a warm place, but without drafts, and come up. Its volumes should increase more than twofold. Then again carefully knead it and send it again (thirty minutes).

Cooking stuffing for pie

While the dough is suitable, you can do the preparation of the filling. For her, you need to stock yourself with fresh home-made cottage cheese. It is better to take coarse-grained, rather than pasty, since during cooking, the pie can leak from the presence of excess liquid. Beet tops are first washed thoroughly under water, then dried and finely chopped. Next, mix the greens with cottage cheese. You can also add other fragrant herbs, parsley and onions. The filling can be slightly salted and add pepper.

Assembling cake

Prepared dough should be divided into two equal parts and each rolled into a layer, the thickness of which should be no more than half a centimeter. In the middle of the cake lay out the filling. Then pull the dough to the middle of the pie, leaving a small hole on top. It is necessary for air to escape during the baking process.

Then we transfer the resulting cake to parchment and very gently knead it. Further by means of a rolling pin, it is possible to level the cake to a uniform thickness. With the test you need to work very carefully so that it does not tear. Of course, if you prepare the dish for the first time, then the task seems difficult enough for you, but gradually you will have certain skills that will allow you to prepare an Ossetian pie with a beet topped with a lot of filling and very little dough. Such baking is considered the best. The cake is sent to a well-heated oven and baked for 20 minutes.

As soon as the cake blushes, you can get it. Ready pies smeared with butter, so they are well soaked. On the table a dish is served, consisting of three cakes, which are laid one on top of the other.

Features of the technology of pie assembly

The preparation of such a traditional Ossetian dish from the tops, like a pie, requires the owners to have some skills and abilities. No wonder that in Ossetia a good woman is considered a good mistress, who knows how to bake beautiful pies. It is for this reason that girls from childhood begin to learn the wisdom of cooking good baked goods.

To get a nice and tasty pie, knead a little good dough and make a delicious filling, you still need to be able to properly assemble it. And this is not at all a simple matter. Here you need practice and knowledge of some nuances.

To get a real cake, you need to carefully knead the dough, then divide it into equal parts, from which to form the balls. Of course, every housewife makes baking as large as she likes. But for the preparation of Ossetian pie, it is optimal to take as much dough as it fits in two women's palms. With such a large amount of it, it's easy to work, and cakes can be of normal size.

Harvested balls of dough spread on the table and stretch each of them with your hands, but you can also use a rolling pin. As a result, you should get peculiar circles. At the center of each lays more fillings. The real Ossetian pies contain a lot of stuffing and very little dough. Prepare a culinary masterpiece is not so simple. Dough from all sides must be collected in a bowl, gluing the edges in the center, but leaving a small hole. The protector should not be rude, but at the same time should hold well.

Further in the center of each cake is a groove, from which the filling is gradually stretched to the edges. After this, the resulting pancake should be carefully gently laid down on a baking sheet with parchment and once again leveled its surface. Ossetian mistresses do this all very neatly with their fingers, not with a rolling pin. The pride of every woman is a pie, the thickness of which is the same from all sides. In doing so, you should try not to tear the pancake and at the same time not to spoil its shape, which should remain necessarily round. This is due to the fact that Ossetian pies are filled with a certain symbolism and centuries-old traditions of baking exactly such baking.

Another important point is the ability to stretch the dough in such a way that the pie has the same thickness over the entire surface. Ideal is the cake, in which the ratio of the filling and dough is exactly the same in all places. It is especially difficult to make such a pie with a beet top filling, it is very juicy, and therefore there is always a risk of soaking the product. Of course, it's not easy to make such a pie, but this kind of magic can be done by real Ossetian mistresses.

There is another little nuance in making a cake. On its surface must certainly be an opening that will not allow breaking through baking during cooking. Through the hole, the steam can safely reach the surface without damaging the integrity of the pancake. Prepare the pies at 200 degrees for fifteen or twenty minutes. After that, they are very abundantly greased with their surfaces with butter. Serve on the table, as a rule, three pancakes, stacked on top of each other and cut into sectors, like a cake.

Instead of an afterword

In our article, we cited recipes for the preparation of traditional Ossetian pies with tops. We hope that our advice will help to understand the mistresses in the nuances of cooking this wonderful dish and to please their relatives with amazingly delicious and fragrant food.