Vanilla Syrniki with Low-Fat Cottage Cheese and Orange Zest
In our house, syrniki are a Saturday breakfast — a tradition we rarely break. As a rule, we use good store-bought cottage cheese that is low in fat and has a “grainy” texture. So-called “farmhouse” cottage cheese contains up to 10% milk fat, and once you add sour cream and sweet toppings at the table, the dish ends up far too high in calories.
In most Slavic languages, the fresh curd made by straining soured milk is called syr or something similar. That is where the dish got its name. The ingredients always include flour or semolina, eggs and sugar. You make a soft, loose dough, shape it into rounds that look like thick little pancakes, and fry them in oil.
There are plenty of additions to the dough, and everyone uses them to their own taste. Most often it is vanilla and orange or lemon zest. They lightly perfume the dough and mute the taste and smell of the egg yolks. Some people add baking powder to make the cottage cheese pancakes fluffier.
European cuisines often make similar pancakes with other firm fermented dairy products. In the Balkans, for example, there are versions made with brined cheeses such as bryndza and feta. In Italy, ricotta pancakes with spinach and potato are popular. Common additions to the dough are raisins, fruit slices, herbs and dried fruit.
Don't buy a product that is too rich. Choose fat-free cottage cheese or one with up to 5% fat. If the cottage cheese is “wet”, you will have to squeeze it out thoroughly. Otherwise the amount of flour you'll need to add to the dough will turn your syrniki into pancakes. And of course, the cottage cheese should be as fresh as possible and not sour.
The perfect syrniki dough contains a minimum of flour. The less flour you add, the more tender the dish will be. Before frying, the shaped syrniki are generously coated in flour, which forms a kind of crust. It is firmer and crispier than the soft filling, so in the end each syrnik is like a fried shell around a creamy cottage cheese center. At some point my daughter suggested frying syrniki in olive oil. It turned out that this way they taste simply wonderful.
Ingredients
3 servings
- Low-fat cottage cheese 600 g
- Eggs 2
- Sugar 2 tbsp
- Wheat flour 2-3 tbsp
- Vanilla, orange zest to taste
- Olive oil for frying
- Wheat flour for dusting
- Flaked almonds, condensed milk, strawberries, mascarpone, etc. for serving
Step-by-step recipe
- Good syrniki start, first and foremost, with good, tasty cottage cheese. It should be low in fat and grainy in texture. Most recipes tell you to press the cottage cheese through a sieve before making the dough. We never do that. At most, you can mash it with a fork to break up large lumps and loosen it. If the cottage cheese is wet, squeeze it out a little.
- Put the cottage cheese in a large bowl and mash it with a fork. Add the zest of half an orange — you can grate it on a fine grater. If the cottage cheese is sour, add a little more sugar. To my taste, it's better to make up for the sweetness with jam or condensed milk when serving, so add sugar carefully. Crack two eggs into the bowl, making sure no bits of shell get in.
- Mix the cottage cheese mixture thoroughly with a fork, trying to make it as smooth as you can. If you come across lumps, mash them with the fork. Add the flour in small portions. Don't try to make a dough like for bread. Syrniki dough should be soft and sticky, with a minimum of flour. For half a kilo of cottage cheese you'll need at most 3 level tbsp of flour — that's enough. The syrniki won't fall apart; the cottage cheese holds together perfectly during frying.
- Generously dust a table or cutting board with flour, stir the dough and turn it out onto the flour. Shape it into an elongated log 5-6 cm thick. Coat the dough generously with flour on all sides. This is important: during frying the flour forms a crust that keeps the syrniki from losing their shape and falling apart. By the way, try to make the ends of the log flat, so you won't have to reshape the end pieces. Cut the log into pieces with a sharp knife — each piece will be one syrnik.
- This amount of cottage cheese can make up to 16 syrniki; go by the size of your frying pan, since they all need to fit. We made 12 for the family. Dust each syrnik with flour to cover the cut sides of the log. Then transfer them to a plate.
- Pour 5-6 tbsp of olive oil into a suitably sized frying pan — that's the best option. Or, if you like, use refined sunflower oil. When the oil is well heated, place all the cottage cheese rounds in it. You can lay them snugly next to each other. If you can, make them a little wider by pressing them down slightly. Reduce the heat to below medium and cover the pan with a lid.
- Fry the syrniki on one side until browned — this takes 8-10 mins. You want a firm crust of a nice golden-brown color. Keep an eye on them so they don't overcook — the flour starts to burn quickly. Then turn all the syrniki over with a fork, cover the pan with the lid again and fry the other side the same way. The total frying time will be up to 20 mins, which is enough for the centers to cook through.
- While the syrniki are frying, get the serving plates ready. We usually serve them with cherry, tangerine and apricot jam. They're delicious with condensed milk sprinkled with flaked almonds. A few strawberries or some sliced fruit won't hurt either. If you have fresh mint, add a sprig. A special treat is Italian mascarpone cream cheese whipped with powdered sugar and liqueur. Give it a try, you'll love it!
- Arrange the syrniki on a plate with the tasty toppings and serve. For breakfast, I suggest adding fruit — banana, kiwi, a slice of melon or a ripe pear. If you like, dust the dish with a little powdered sugar: put it in a small sieve and shake it over the plate.
Yield: 3 servings Calories: 160 Prep: 15 mins Cook: 30 mins Ready in: 45 mins Category: Pancakes Cuisine: Ukrainian cuisine Rating: