3 Things You Didn’t Know About Lithuanian Christmas (Eve) – Part 2

Here comes the second part of my “trilogy” about Lithuanian Christmas Eve. And yep, it’s about filling your belly!:)

As I mentioned in Part 1 of this extended post, Kūčios (Koo-chos), or Christmas Eve, is a very important and honored celebration in the Lithuanian culture. And what’s a celebration without food?

Since you already learned that there are some rituals followed on Kūčios night, you will not be surprised to learn that there are specific requirements for food as well. This night is the culmination of the advent period, during which loud celebrations are not encouraged, and more religious people fast. Traditionally, at Lithuanian Kūčios, there have to be at least 12 dishes (signifying the 12 apostles). Originally only 9 dishes were required but as life improved, people added more. And since it’s the last day of advent, none of them must contain meat. What do we eat, you ask? Well, some typical dishes include fish, made in a variety of ways. Herring, in particular, is a favorite. It is a salty fish that can be prepared with onions and vinegar, with cooked shredded carrots, with nuts, mushrooms and cooked vegetables, to name just a few recipes.

The other dishes include beet salad (the Red Salad that I posted a couple of weeks ago), which can be made again a thousand different ways (with beans, pickles, herring, cooked potatoes, etc.); white salad, which is a newer addition to the table; dark rye bread, wine, eggs (although in some regions even eggs are shunned until Christmas day), Christmas cookies (Kūčiukai), poppy-seed milk, mushrooms, peas and beans.

As you can see, food is simple and made from the products that used to be and are readily available in Lithuania.

Ideally, one should attempt to try a little bit of each of the dishes – for good and full life in the coming year. It is a difficult task, though – the feast is pretty filling!:)

Since I am talking about Christmas Eve, I thought I’d share a recipe of the Christmas cookies. Nowadays, you can get them in any food store in Lithuania. But  what fun is that?:) Many people make them from scratch, just like in the olden days. As with everything, there are as many recipes as there are cooks and some of them are great while others are meh..

This recipe is from my amazing sister Marija, who entered the wondrous world of baking just recently and has already tried out recipes worth sharing.

Ingredients

Bonus: since the original recipe uses metric measurements, I included both the grams and the ounces for your convenience. 

flour, 650 g (23 oz or a little over two cups)

sugar, 10 tbsp

butter, 80 g or 3 oz (2.8 to be exact:)

poppy seeds, 5 tbsp

yeast, 40 g or 1.4 oz or 8 tsp

a pinch of salt

water, 200 ml or 7 oz

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 170 C or 350 F
2. Sprinkle some flour onto the baking sheet. Set aside
3. In a bowl, place yeast, butter, salt and sugar in warm water.
4. Mix thoroughly until well combined.
5. Add flour and poppy seeds. Knead the dough.
6. Place it in a warm place to rise.
7. Knead it again and then let it rise again (do this 3 times in all).
8. Roll the dough so it’s about 1 cm (about half an inch)thick.
9. Cut it into 1 cm (about half an inch) pieces.
10. Place the pieces onto the baking sheet
11. Bake for 15 minutes, moving them around a bit.
12. Enjoy!

 

What are your favorite recipes for this festive season?

Do you have an appetizer, an entree or a special dessert that is reserved for special occasions?

Photos used in this post are courtesy of my father, Michailas Aizenas.