Kutia made from rice, wheat, oats or barley is a traditional recipe for sweet porridge with a ritual history. It is prepared on Christmas Eve, on the Old New Year and on the night of Baptism. Also kutya is a memorial dish. There is no single recipe for cooking kutya, in every family this dish is prepared in a special way.
But there are three main ingredients: grain, poppy and honey. All of them are symbolic for believers: grain means the cycle of life and rebirth of the soul, poppy - wealth and fertility, honey - the sweetness and benefits of eternal life.
Previously, treats were made from wheat, pearl barley, oats, and now there are more and more options using rice.
For different occasions, raisins, honey and honey syrup, dried fruits, cow and pean milk, cream and other sweets are added to the kutia.
Classic recipe for kutia
For the holidays preceded by the fast, cook lean kutya. The recipe consists only of the main ingredients. This dish traditionally began and ended the meal, with the recall of dead ancestors.
A simple recipe for Christmas Eve:
• Ingredients: 500 g wheat grains, 500 g honey, 2 liters of water, 100 g poppy.
• Wheat, sort, pour, pour water and boil for 1, 5 hours. Wash the finished porridge again with a sieve.
• Soak the poppy in warm water for 40-60 minutes.
• Measure half the honey, add the soaked poppy seeds and grind the mixture in a blender.
• Add mashed potatoes in porridge, pour the remaining honey. If it is thick, it is dissolved in a small amount of water. It should not be hot, so that valuable substances in the composition of honey are not destroyed. The dish should have a moderately sticky consistency. • Treats served cold. The finished dish is covered with a lid for slow cooling.
• The ritual recipe for kutia with honey and rice implies sanctification in the church. To celebrate Epiphany, you can take holy water and sprinkle it treats.
It is interesting that in the classic recipe, kutya is made from coarse grains, which should not be boiled. However, a slight deviation from the traditions is possible - the use of rice grains allows you to get a softer porridge.
Recipe for rice kutia with raisins
The option of lean Christmas kutia with the addition of raisins remains within the framework of the tradition. The ritual dish should be not only nutritious, but also beautiful, so the finished porridge can be sprinkled with chopped nuts.
Step-by-step recipe for kutya from rice:
• Ingredients: long-grain rice (such cereal is not boiled soft) - 300 g, 100 g of honey, a glass of raisins and poppy seeds, nuts: almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts, 75 g each
• Rinse rice until clear.
• Boil the cereal according to package instructions. Usually, the grains are poured with water 1: 2, brought to a boil and boiled over medium heat until it evaporates, without stirring. At the end of cooking, add a little salt.
• Soak the poppy in boiled water, after half an hour, drain the water and knead the seeds into a white mass. This is done in a meat grinder, blender or mortar.
• The raisins are also soaked in hot water for 30 minutes, then removed and dried.
• Chop nuts. Walnuts can additionally be fried in a dry frying pan, so that their flavor opens up more strongly.
• Mix the prepared rice, poppy seeds, raisins, nuts (leave part for sprinkling).
• Dissolve honey in a glass of warm water. Pour this syrup over porridge. • Stir kutia with raisins, arrange into plates and decorate.
A recipe for Christmas may contain other dried fruits. In the dish should not be milk and butter, as the day before Christmas enters the post.
Kutya with dried fruits
Another lean version kutya with sweet additives - dried fruit. Fresh fruits can ferment in porridge, they are added, but strictly when serving. Dried fruits will not spoil the dish, but rather enrich it with flavors and bright flavors.
Christmas kutia with dried fruits, step by step recipe:
• It will take: 4 cups of wheat, 0, 5 cups of sugar, honey to taste, 0, 5 cups of prunes, 0, 5 cups of dried apricots, a handful of white raisins, 0, 5 cups of poppy seeds, nuts to taste.
• Mack soak for half an hour, then grind with sugar.
• Soak dried fruits in hot water until softened, cut into small pieces.
• Chop or grate the nuts.
• Wash and boil the wheat.
• Mix ready grain, dried fruits, nuts and poppy mixture.
• From honey to make a sweet pour with warm water. The treat is ready.
Rich Kutya with Honey, Poppy Seeds, Dried Fruits and Butter
For the New Year's Eve, the recipe for kutya from rice is complemented with animal fats: milk, cream, butter. This hearty and nutritious dish can be served on any day outside the fasting frame, it is often prepared for christening.
Step-by-step recipe for the New Year:
• Ingredients: rice - 1 glass, water - 2 glasses, 70 g butter, 100 g white raisins, a glass of prunes, half a cup of dried apricots, 1 tbsp. l honey, 0, 5 glasses of poppy, 1 bag of vanilla sugar, any nuts and candied fruits for decoration, cinnamon to taste, salt. • Soak the raisins in hot water.
• Wash the remaining dried fruits and soak them separately for 15-20 minutes. Do not drain the liquid.
• Cut the dried fruit into small pieces.
• Cooked washed rice in water.
• Soak the poppy for half an hour, rinse and grind to a white mass.
• To make the finished porridge not too sticky, the rice is rinsed under running water.
• Add raisins, cinnamon, vanillin, liquid honey, grated poppy seeds and butter to prepared rice.
• Dried fruits with compote pour in porridge.
• Stir thoroughly, cover and refrigerate overnight.
• In the morning, Kutya is laid out on plates and decorated with nuts and candied fruits.
Recipe for kutia can also include gummy candies, grated chocolate, some brandy, jam, orange juice, lemon zest and even germinated seeds. There is a belief: the richer kutya on the table, the more fertile and happier the year will be.
And a few more tips: it is better to cook the grains in a thick-walled pan, so as to speed up the cooking, the cereals are soaked in advance, after connecting all the ingredients of the kutya, it warms a little more on the stove.
And most importantly - the Christmas or memorial meal begins with a spoon of kutia, joyful thoughts and warm wishes to loved ones. After all, the root of the word kutya - “kut” - has ancient Russian roots and means “joy”.
