Nalistniki

Ingredients

The pancakes

• 250 gplain flour
• 3eggs
• 500 mlmilk
• or milk and whey
• 1 tablespoonsugar
• 1/2 teaspoonsalt
• 2 tablespoonsmelted butter
• butter, for the pan

The curd filling

• 500 gtvarog
• curd cheese or quark
• 2egg yolks
• 3 tablespoonssour cream
• 3 tablespoonssugar
• or to taste
• 50 graisins, optional
• a pinch of salt

To bake

• 200 mlsour cream
• 50 gbutter
• 1 tablespoonsugar

To serve

• more sour cream
• with tea

Directions

1. Butter goes on top of them as well. Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Add the sugar and the salt to them. Whisk in about half of the milk. Sift the flour into the egg bowl. Whisk it in until it is smooth. Adding flour to a thin liquid gives lumps.
2. Make a smooth thick batter first. Then thin it with the rest of the milk. Whisk in the remaining milk gradually. Add the melted butter as well. It should be thin and pourable. Add more milk if it is too thick.
3. Cover the bowl and let it stand. Give it at least thirty minutes. Check it again after it has rested. Thin it further if it has gone too thick. Press the tvarog through a sieve. Sieving gives a smooth filling. Add the egg yolks to the curd. Add the sour cream and the sugar.
4. Add a good pinch of salt to it. Beat it all until it is smooth. Stir the raisins through the filling. Soak them briefly if they are very dry. Heat a wide pan over a medium heat.
5. Brush it with a little butter. A wide flat pan makes thin pancakes. Pour a small ladle into the hot pan. Swirl it before the batter sets. That spreads it into a thin even round. Work quickly at this stage of it. Pour off any excess back into the bowl. Give it about one full minute.
6. Turn it over with a palette knife. Give it about thirty full seconds. Stack the pancakes as they come off. Cover the whole stack with a cloth. That keeps them soft and flexible.
7. Lay a pancake browned side up. Spread filling across the lower third. Use about two tablespoons per pancake. Keep it to a line rather than a mound. Rolling them is straightforward enough. Fold the sides in over the filling. That keeps the filling in as it bakes.
8. Set the rolls in a buttered dish. Put them all down seam side first. Pack them fairly close together. Spoon sour cream over the rolls. Sprinkle a little sugar over the top. Heat the oven to one hundred and eighty degrees.
9. Bake them for about twenty minutes. Judging them takes a careful look. Cover them with foil if they darken fast. Serving them is always done hot. Lift them out onto warm plates. Spoon the pan cream over them. Serve more sour cream alongside. They are eaten warm with a fork.

Technique

• The atlas heads this as nalistniki, which is the Russian spelling with a t; the Belarusian form is naliśniki without one, from the Belarusian word for leaf. The dish is not distinctively Belarusian either — it is jointly Belarusian and Ukrainian, and Polish naleśnik is the same word again.
• Curd is the commonest sweet filling but not the definition: meat, mushrooms, berries, jam, cooked grains and fish roe are all standard. What makes them naliśniki is that the filling is placed in the centre and enclosed, which distinguishes them from plain pancakes; they are both rolled into a cylinder and folded into a rectangular parcel, and both shapes are documented.
• The batter must be genuinely thin and pour like single cream, since a thick pancake cracks when rolled. Add the flour to a thick batter first and whisk the lumps out, then thin it with the rest of the milk — adding flour to thin liquid gives lumps you cannot remove.

Substitutions

• Quark is the nearest equivalent to tvarog, the dry crumbly acid-curd cheese.
• The sour cream bake is a documented Belarusian finish but optional; the filled rolls are also eaten straight from the pan.

Variations

• Fold the sides in before rolling, which closes the ends and keeps the filling in during baking.
• Stack the pancakes under a cloth as they come off the pan, since stiff ones crack when rolled.
• The second side of each pancake browns unevenly and goes inside the roll, so its appearance does not matter.

History

Thin pancakes rolled around curd cheese and baked in butter and sour cream.

Frequently asked questions

What is Nalistniki?

Nalistniki is a breakfast from Belarus: thin crepes rolled around curd cheese. Thin pancakes rolled around curd cheese and baked in butter and sour cream.

How long does Nalistniki take to make?

Nalistniki takes 30 minutes plus resting of preparation and 40 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes about 12 rolls. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Nalistniki?

Yes, within limits. Quark is the nearest equivalent to tvarog, the dry crumbly acid-curd cheese. The sour cream bake is a documented Belarusian finish but optional; the filled rolls are also eaten straight from the pan.

What is the most important thing to get right in Nalistniki?

Turn it over with a palette knife. Give it about thirty full seconds. Stack the pancakes as they come off. Cover the whole stack with a cloth. That keeps them soft and flexible.