Sulchiny by Valentina Timofeeva (the village of Ust’-Volma, Kresttsetsky District) is among the winners of Tasty Traditions recipe contest.

We’re inviting you to take a closer look at this ancient recipe and cook this simple and remarkably tasty dish yourself.

Sulchiny is an ancient country dish made from rye flour and richly smeared with butter. It was sulchiny that coachmen passing by the district of Kresttsy were regaled with. Even Catherine the Great, who came to halt in Novgorod lands when coming from Moscow to St. Petersburg, got to taste Novgorod cuisine, and sulchiny as well.

This ancient recipe has been carefully kept by Valentina Timofeeva, an inhabitant of the village of Ust’-Volma. She’s got the recipe from her grandmother, Maria Yakovleva, and mother, Aleksandra Vinidiktova.

As Valentina Timofeeva told us, the name of the dish comes from word сукач (sukach) meaning “to roll dough into very thin layer”. This is one of the main secrets of cooking sulchiny.

Ingredients:

• 1 kg rye flour
• 1 cup water
• 1,5 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup millet
• 2 cups milk
• 150 g butter

The filling:

• Rinse millet thoroughly.
• Scald millet to cut the bitterness.
• Put millet into boiling water and cook for 15-20 minutes.
• Pour off the remaining water and pour in milk.
• Boil millet until cooked. When milk boiled away, add butter, salt and sugar to taste.

When cooked, mix well and put a lid on the pot to let the porridge stew properly.

The dough:

• Mix up rye flour, salt and water.
• Knead dough so that it wouldn’t stick to your hands.
• Make several small balls (egg-sized) and then roll them out into thin layers.
• Fry these flatbreads on a hot dry frying pan on both sides quickly to prevent getting them too dry.

Serving:

• Smear the hot flatbreads on both sides with butter and put on a plate.
• Spread the hot millet mush over the flatbreads and fold the edges. *
  

*Traditionally, the edges are folded from two sides up to the center, and then the halves are folded to each other to make a rectangular shape.

• Sulchiny are served with melted butter and eaten hot, dipping into the butter.

Enjoy!