Russian Grated Beet Salad for #Food of the World

We are visiting Russia this month for the #Food of the World event. I picked a very easy Russian grated beet salad from Natasha's Kitchen.

I have tried a few Russian recipes in the past and for this month I was planning to try my hand at baking a Russian bread, but time just slipped out of my hand and I finally had to pick something relatively simple. That is when I landed on Natasha's grated beet salad.

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Russian Honey Cake -- Medovik (with Eggless Custard Filling)

For this month's International Cooking Challenge, Saras @ Saras Yummy Bites is taking us to the world's largest country in the world, Russia. Russia's cuisine is very diverse just like the country and she gave us 3 traditional recipes to choose from. I picked this irresistible Russian Honey Cake from the list.

I made it as a part of my Russian meal I did earlier this month. This honey cake is very different from any cake I've ever made. The cake part is not a cake after all, it is basically rolled out dough that is baked in the oven to make somewhat like thin pancakes. These thin cakes are then layered with creamy custard filling and then chilled to make a delicious cake.

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Russian Tomato & Cucumber Salad

This is a very simple Russian tomato and cucumber salad that doesn't need a separate post, but I'm doing it anyway. The dressing is very very simple with just vinegar, oil, salt & pepper. Very refreshing and healthy salad. 

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Salad Olivier -- Russian Potato Salad

I found this Russian Potato Salad called Salad Olivier on Smitten Kitchen. It is a very simple potato salad but the addition of dill pickles, carrots and peas makes it a little different. I never bought dill pickles before and I didn't realize there were 20 different kinds of pickles in the store. It took me good 10 minutes to figure out what to buy. Carrots and peas make the salad look more colorful. 

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Borscht -- Russian Beet & Vegetable Soup (Vegetarian Recipe)

When I think of Russian food, first thing that comes to mind is Borscht --  beet & vegetable soup. To be honest I'm not a bog beets fan, so this was soup was something that I was not too excited about and kept looking for other dishes. But finally I realized I had no time and then ended up making the soup anyway. I was surprised that I liked the soup, it is very hearty and technically I didn't taste the beets as much as I feared I would. The color sure makes the beet presence apparent and I really loved how photogenic this soup was.

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Russia -- A Simple Vegetarian Russian Meal

BM# 44: A-Z Cooking Series -- Around the World in 30 days
Country: R for Russia

Dishes: Borscht (Russian Beet & Veggie Soup), Tomato & Cucumber Salad, Salad Olivier
We are going to Russia today. Russia is a country in northern Eurasia. Russia has over 160 different ethnic groups and indigenous people in Russia. Ethnic Russians with their Slavic traditions, Tatars and Bashkirs with their Turkic Muslim culture and so on. My knowledge of Russia was from the Russian folktale books that we used to read as kids. My dad used to buy these books at book exhibitions and we also had a subscription to a kids magazione called 'Mischa'. My mom still has those books and my son loved reading them while we were in India.
Russian cuisine widely uses fish, poultry, mushrooms, berries and honey. I wanted to bake the famous Russian Black bread, but I wasn't sure if there will be any takers for it at home. Pirozhki and Blini were also on my to-make list but never materialized.

This meal was not actually on my initial plan, but the amazing meals that Varada & Pradnya have been making for the BM inspired me to make a meal too. So here I am with a few Russian dishes that can be served for a meal.

I decided on trying simple, easy-to-make dishes form Russia and here is what I made:

• Borscht -- Russian Beet & Veggie Soup
• Salad Olivier -- Russian Potato Salad
• Tomato & Cucumber Salad
• Russian Honey Cake 

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 44.

An InLinkz Link-up