Russian Recipes for Grade School Project Ideas..?

My husband lived in Siberian Russia for a few years, so I think I can help :)
Borscht (beet and cabbage soup)
Blini (Russian pancakes) - you can serve with cooked ground meat, mashed potatoes with onion, berries, or chocolate sauce.
Pashka- a cheesecake-like dessert; it is a special dish you make once a year, for Easter, and eat it with the Russian Easter cake.
Pierogi (you can even buy these in the frozen foods section next to the ravioli)

www.allrecipes.com has a good selection of recipes, just type in "Russian". I also have quite a few Russian cookbooks if you cant find one of those recipes online, let me know.

Too bad you don't live nearer to me, we have so much cool Russian stuff!I

P.S. My husband says " I don't know what to tell you because no American grade-schooler would want to eat anything from Russia" lol. He is trying to remember a yummy dessert he used to eat over there- I will update my answer if he finds it.

L., he never could remember what that dessert was. I took a quick look at my cookbooks to see what might keep well. From what I have read, desserts in Russia are usually very light, many are based on fruit, and served with tea. Tea-drinking is very big over there. You could possibly make the Russian Teacakes and serve a hot drink out of a teapot. I found a recipe for a spiced honey drink, the cookbook said is one of Russia's oldest drinks and in old Russia vendors would sell it in the streets. Let me know if you need the recipe, it looks very easy. The Russian Easter cake also looks easy and like it would stay good overnight. Good luck!

I'm guessing vodka is out of the question?

I actually did the same thing in school. We made Russian tea cakes. They were little cookie ball things rolled in powdered sugar. Super easy to make ahead of time too. Not sure of the recipe but google Russian tea cakes and you'll find lots of options.

I also think that Russian Tea Cookies will be a relatively easy item to make that the kids will like.

Red Russian soup is also good. You could make it in a crock pot, but I think it would be alot of effort because of the number of ingredients, and who knows if the kids would like it.

Sounds like a really fun project for the kids with all the different countries!

HI-
What about Russian Tea Balls...they are cookies. I really like them...my mum made them one year. Here is an old family recipe from a lady on allrecipes.com
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/russian-tea-cakes-i/Detail....
It looks WONDERFUL! And they will definitely keep. =)
Happy cooking, and what a cool project!

How about syrniki? They will hold better then ponchiki till morning, and are sure better for kiddies. They are basically cottage cheese pancakes, but you can make the dough thicker, shape them into small balls and deep-fry. I posted a recipe on food.com under "Kolobki". You can use ricotta, or walk on the wild side and visit some of the Russian stores around the area -samovar in MV, for example-for Russian cottage cheese. Heck, make a date out of it and go have some pelmeni with your kid!

For a savory option, you could do "navy macaroni"- basically elbow Mac with ground beef stir-fried with some onions. On a good day, we were allowed to drown this in katsup-true Soviet cuisine :D

Hth, and don't hesitate to ask if I can help. I did eat only Russian food 0-13 :)

I agree with Amanda! I recommend Russian Tea cakes too! I remember making them as a kid with my neighbor and they were so easy and yummy! The kids will love them! You should be able to find a recipe on the internet somewhere. Good luck!
A.

Russian Doughnuts
Ponchiki

Ingredients:
2 eggs.
4 tbsp sugar.
25g softened butter.
1/2 cup milk.
2 cups self raising flour
(or 2 cups plain flour and
2 tsp baking powder).
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon.
1/2 cup vegetable oil (for frying)

Method:
Melt the butter and beat together with the eggs and sugar until smooth. Add the milk and mix to combine.

Sift 1 1/2 cups flour and cinnamon into a bowl. Make a well in the middle and gradually stir in the liquid, combining to make a dough.

Knead the mix to make a smooth elastic dough, adding the remaining flour in batches until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl without being too sticky.

Roll the dough out to around 6mm thick. Cut out rings of dough using two concentric cutting circles, the larger about 7cms in diameter.

Heat a saucepan of vegetable oil on medium. Drop the dough rings into the oil when hot and cook until lightly golden. Don't have the oil too hot otherwise the outside of the doughnuts will cook quickly whilst the inside will not.

Cook's tip: if the inside of your doughnuts are still raw after cooking, pop them in the microwave for a minute or two to finish off the cooking.

Remove the cooked doughnuts from the oil and set aside onto paper towels.

Serving
Eat whilst still warm, sprinkled with icing sugar, or cinnamon and caster sugar.

Russian Cheese Blintzes Recipe

Ingredients 4 eggs, beaten
1 cup Small curd cottage cheese
1 cup Sour cream
1 c. flour
1 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
Strawberries

Direction
Mix eggs, 1 cup cottage cheese and 1 cup sour cream.
Add flour, sugar and salt; stir until thick.
Fry in 5-inch pancakes on griddle.
Place 1 heaping teaspoon cottage cheese in center of each pancake.
Roll up; top with sour cream and strawberries.

I found this website:
http://www.waytorussia.net/WhatIsRussia/RussianFood.html

Plov

It's a sweet rice and raisin dish. I can't remember the recipe off-hand, but you basically cook white rice, add cream and raisins and let it sit overnight. Add a little sugar to taste. Plus, it's great cold. It was one of my favs growing up. I'm sure you could google a good recipe, or I could message you mine later if you want.