Kulish

Ukrainian history could be not only seen or watched, but also tasted. Especially, when we talk about such a simple and nutritious dish as kulish.

This work participates in "Ukrainian brands in global trends" contest. Would you like to feel the real taste of freedom, steppe and unrestrained adventures? So you definitely should visit Zaporizhia. Only there could be found an unsurpassed dish, the main ingredients of which have been unchanged for hundreds of years. Do you know what it is? Yes, the most delicious age-old Cossack kulish!The history of kulish began more than 500 years ago. As all Cossacks were unmarried, so they have to know how to cook. Kulish was cooked over an open fire almost every day and from very easy ingredients: millet, salo, potatoes and onions. Simple, fast and very nutritious!And if the Turks cut off the Cossacks from food supplies, or they had to sail far away on seagull boats, the Cossaks used a modified recipe with sprouts of typha instead of cereals. And after returning from the military campaign, they cook special homemade kulish with the meat of hunted quarry. Then the Cossacks settled all over Ukraine, some went to the South of Russia, and preserved their recipes from generation to generation.Why did the Cossacks choose kulish as their usual, but so favorite dish?First of all, it was easy-to-cook and very nutritious for a large number of hungry and tired soldiers. Its main ingredient - millet - is non-perishable food, what was very important for the Cossacks. Also almost everything could be added to the dish for make it more interesting.Recipes that can be found on the Internet now are modifications of that ancient kulish. But they are worth trying! Since the restoration of Ukrainian Independence, many new recipes of kulish have emerged. Here are some of them. The first one is kulish by chef of the most fashionable restaurants in Zaporizhzhia. It’s based on sweet childhood memories but with adding of such delicacies of duck fillets, two types of lard and even a little sugar.The second recipe is a special offer from the city's suchefs with different types of fish instead of meat. As the authors of this recipe explain: “Cuisine of Zaporizhzhia, first of all, is about river fish. It was cooked, fried, salted, smoked and baked. The variety of fish depended on abundance: Dnipro pike, catfish, roach, bream, tench, sturgeon and trout".Well, if all of the above does not impress you, so try a molecular kulish! To create it, chefs needed to use, as they say, "fashionable culinary gadgets" and add sublimated carrots, garlic powder, a special kind of lard and onion crunch.Even in such an unusual form, kulish is still a part of our Ukrainian history. Therefore, kulish can be unanimously called a brand of the Zaporizhzhia region.And to prove it, in September 2021, the first Kulish battle in Ukraine was held in Zaporizhia, in which five famous culinars compete for the title of super chef!If you want to feel free and independent, to discover the indomitable spirit of a Cossack warrior - come to Zaporizhzhia!Author of the text: Nikita NikulinPhoto: Sergey Lichkaty