Pojarski Smitane
(Russian meatballs with sour cream sauce)
First of all, please don’t ask me how to pronounce the name of this recipe. I haven’t a clue. In my house, we grew up cooking AEbleskiver. I can pronounce that for you. I can even veganize it so that the batter tastes the same as the original when you lick the bowl. But Pojarski Smitane is a new one to me.
I was never that big a fan of meatballs before I gave up meat, to tell the truth. They were “just OK”. This is a very good version of Russian meatballs, complete with a yummy sauce served with sour cream and fresh dill. I hope you will find it much tastier than “just OK”. приятного аппетита! (That’s Russian for “Bon Appetite,” according to Google Translate.)
For the “meatballs”:
4 slices good, white bread (not the pre-sliced version that comes in a bag with brightly coloured polka dots on it!)
1 cup soymilk
1 lemon, juiced and zested
1 lb. tempeh (plain or soy flavored, not the fancy teriyaki or garden varieties)
3 cloves garlic, crushed or pressed
½ c. vegan Parmesean cheese, grated (I like the little purple can made by Galaxy Nutritional Foods. It tastes just like the real thing you ate as a kid in the ‘70s that came in a giant green can)
½ c. finely diced red bell pepper
½ c. finely diced celery
¼ t. celery seed
¼ c. finely chopped fresh dill
¼ c. finely chopped green onions (the green ends rather than the white bulbs)
Vegetable oil for frying
For the sauce:
¼ c. vegan butter, such as Earth Balance brand
1 c. finely diced shallot
½ c. good white wine (if you wouldn’t drink it straight, it doesn’t belong in your cooking)
2 T. all purpose flour
1 T. paprika
1 c. vegan broth, beef flavoured, if possible (Edward and Sons makes a good beef flavored bouillon cube, and Better Than Bouillon makes a good “no beef” flavored paste)
½ c. vegan creamer, plain or regular flavoured
1 T. lemon juice
½ c. vegan sour cream (I like Toffutti brand’s version)
¼ c. finely chopped fresh dill
Start off by making vegan buttermilk: pour the tablespoon or two of juice you get out of a lemon into the cup of soymilk and stir it to mix it throughout. Allow it to stand for several minutes to “curdle” the soymilk slightly. In the meantime, cut the loaf of white bread into 4 slices, maybe up to an inch thick. Remove the crusts as well as you can, and cut the bread into little pieces (approximately ¼ inch cubes). Put the bread into a bowl and pour the “buttermilk” over it, stirring to coat each piece. Set aside and allow bread to soak for a minimum of ten minutes.
Using the grater attachment on a food processor, shred the tempeh. Put the shredded tempeh into a large bowl and add the rest of the meatball ingredients. (I literally threw a red bell pepper, seeded and chopped into big chunks, a few stalks of cleaned celery, the garlic, and a few green onions that had been peeled and cleaned into the food processor with the regular blade and pulsed a few times until everything was diced.) Mix well. Add the buttermilk soaked bread and mix again.
You may find it works better to give up on the spoon you were stirring everything with and just use your hands to really mix everything together. Form the mixture into “meatballs,” or as Darren does it, into tear drop shapes that are 3” long, 2” at the widest part, and1 ¼” thick. Put the “meatballs” in the fridge while you make the sauce.
While the meatballs are chilling, melt the butter in a medium sized sauce pan and chop the shallots finely in a food processor. Sauté the shallots in the butter until soft, then add the wine and bring to a boil. Cook this mixture for several minutes. Make your beef flavored broth (I used the microwave) while the shallots and wine are cooking. Remove the shallots from heat and whisk in the flour and paprika. Keep whisking as you add the broth and the creamer. Heat gently and add the lemon juice. Keep warm, but do not boil.
Pour about a quarter of a cup of vegetable oil into a large skillet. When it is nice and hot, begin frying the meatballs that have been chilling in the fridge. Fry them for approximately 3 minutes on each side, cooking them in batches and removing them to paper towel lined plates when they are done.
Chef McGrady serves the dish by pouring the sauce on a large platter and topping with the meatballs around the edge of the platter. He then swirls the sour cream in the middle and sprinkles everything with the chopped dill. If I’m not serving this at a fancy dinner party that the Queen of England might want to attend, I add the sour cream directly to the sauce once it’s cooked and put the meatballs on a plate (or in a corningware container in my lunch bag to take to work) and spoon a little sauce over them. A dash of fresh dill scattered on top is the final touch.
