Russian Blini/Blinchik (Stuffed Pancakes)

Some of you might already know this about me, but I am the lucky wife of a Russian man. Lucky, not only because Russian men have amazing manners and are extremely handsome, romantic, caring and smart, but also because Russian food is absolutely delicious!
Only, in our case, my husband is not much of a cook himself (however, he’s the sweetest because he never let’s me do the dishes, and trust me, I create a lot of dirty dishes)

Luckily, I’ve been blessed by gaining a new gorgeous sister in my life. Not only is Leila (my husband’s sister) extremely talented and turns literally everything she touches into magic, but in the kitchen she creates amazing treats and is always very happy to teach me <3

That’s why last time we visited Israel we decided to make a day of it. We got together, went shopping, cooked the entire day in Leila’s kitchen in Jerusalem and had a lovely dinner together with our loved ones. It was a beautiful (and delicious) day. It’s such a great experience bonding with someone while cooking, you find a certain harmony and connect over the aroma’s and flavors and deep conversations.

What’s on the menu

We made the delicious Russian blini you are going to read about today, which are crepes (thin pancakes) filled with meat. But we also made some fresh no knead-bread with fresh basil and dried tomatoes, oven baked Camembert with pecans and honey, and a perfect biscuit, chocolate and dulce de leche cake!  (both will soon join the blog). It was really a feast that won’t be forgotten.

But I must say, that out of all the dishes, the Blini was the absolute star. This classic Russian dish is a thin crepe wrapped and filled with minced meat and fried onions, and then gently fried in a pan to get a crispy crust around it. This is then topped with some sour cream. The crispy crepe and the minced meat together with the creamy sour cream just makes a heavenly bite, you have to try this.

We also made a vegetarian version with vegetarian minced meat, and later on for our Chrismukkah party, I made another vegetarian version from 3 types of mushrooms and roasted chestnuts, cooked slowly in red wine and fresh herbs. All versions were amazing, but today I am going to share the original with you.

How to make Leila’s Blini

Start with frying up the onions and garlic until golden

Add the spices and fry for one minute longer until they are fragrant. Then add the minced meat.

Keep cooking with the meat, moving it around the pan until fully cooked

When done, remove from heat and let it cool at room temperature

Make the Crepes

In A bowl add the flour, salt and sugar. In a separate bowl, mix together egg and sour cream

To the wet bowl, add 1 teaspoon baking soda by pouring a little bit of boiling water on top of it, just enough to make that soda bubble on the teaspoon and clean it up from baking soda. Mix well together.

Add the wet to the dry and whisk to combine

Add water and keep whisking until there are no lumps

The batter is ready when it is the consistency between milk and heavy cream

Then to make the crepes, just heat up a medium non stick pan and pour some oil in a small bowl. Peel one onion and cut it in half.

Using a fork, dip the onion in the oil and run it around the bottom of the pan to oil it up very lightly

Then, pour about half a ladle in the pan and tilt to turning it around, you want the batter to reach the entire pan until it’s covered in one thin layer. Let it cook for just a couple minutes, until bubbles form on the top. Then use a spatula to turn it to the other side. Remember that the first one is never perfect! Continue to a second one. If it breaks while flipping, you can add another egg to the batter to stabilize it more. After it’s flipped, give it 5-10 seconds to cook from the other side

Move to a separate plate and continue with the rest of the batter. Keep stacking them up until they are all done. The next step will be to fill and roll!

Roll these beauties up and create some crisp

Once you’re done with the crepe’s, it’s time to stuff them up with the meat you made before. Make sure you have your meat next to you, the crepes and something to put the rolled Blinis in.

Here’s a step by step GIF to show you how to roll:

After they are all rolled up, add them seal side down to a plate. At this stage, you can either store them until ready to eat, or go ahead and finish the last step

Make sure you don’t fry them too long in advance and that there is just a little bit of oil, you want them served warm and crisp!

Place them, seal side down in the pan with a bit of oil on medium-high heat.

Then after a few minutes, when the bottom has a nice golden brown look and a nice crisp crust, turn them over

Fry for a few more minutes and remove to a plate with a paper towel to allow the excess oil to be absorbed

While these are frying, mix up some sour creme with fresh chives

Add a nice dollop of cream on these delicious Blini and dig in!