Undoubtedly, the holiest holiday for all believers is Christmas. On this day, people of different ranks and classes gathered together at the table and were happy about the birth of Jesus Christ. And no matter how rich or modest the decoration and the dishes were, the invariable dish was kutia or, as it was also called, coli and juicer. It was a mixture of cereals cooked with honey and poppy milk. And how to cook kutia for Christmas in our time, to learn is easier than ever.
The origins of the dish
Holy fasting requires special observance just before
Christmas, but with the advent of the first star, guests begin to be served festive dishes. However, there is a mandatory order in this.
So, the traditional porridge is served first, which has long since become ritual for all Christians. But still it has much more ancient roots, dating back to antiquity. The thing is that in the distant past it was believed that at the time of the birth of a child, the curtain between the worlds of the living and the dead is momentarily opened, and therefore reverence for the ancestors is most appropriate in this short period. So Christmas was the only holiday combining both the appearance of the new and the commemoration of the forgotten, and most dishes began to have a certain meaning.
The meaning of kutya
Already the ancestors knew exactly how to cook kutia according to all the rules of Christmas, because each of its components had its own meaning: grains in porridge - the fertile power of the earth, reverence to her as the mother of all living things; poppy milk and honey - the sweetness of life and its abundance, as well as Christian paradise; nuts and raisins are sources of health and well-being. So, in the end, Kutia combined all the meanings of the continuation of the human race. Therefore, the ancients believed that the richer the composition of this ritual cereal is, the better and more productive the next year will be for them.
If we talk about the lexical meaning of the word “kutia”, then the ancient Greek “kukkia”, which can be translated as “boiled grain”, became its source. Its other name - “juiciness” - has a simpler meaning - “juice, oozing, juicy”, and the third name of the dish - “colivo” - came from antique fruits “kolibo”, which served with grains as a funeral offering to the ancestors.
The time difference makes itself felt
The current
recipe for Kutia Rozhdestvenskaya, of course, differs from the original, because over these many years the human diet and product range have clearly changed and enriched. However, it is worth noting that its main components remained unchanged. Previously, it was prepared from rice, rye, wheat, barley and barley with the addition of raisins, nuts, sweets, marmalade, jam, dried fruit and other sweet and nutritious ingredients. However, how to cook kutya, having much more products available? Of course, according to the preferences of their loved ones. The minimum set for this special cereal is whole wheat without husks (1 cup), poppy seeds and walnuts (100 g each), honey (1-3 tablespoons). Optionally, add raisins, almonds and pieces of fruit.
Easiest recipe
To prepare the right tasty juicer, already in the evening you need to rinse the wheat and soak its grains in a large amount of water, and in the morning grind the poppy until milk is obtained, crush the nuts and proceed directly to the porridge. To make it soft, cereals need to be cooked over low heat for a very long time (literally several hours). And then add to the same pan or mix in a separate large bowl with poppy milk, honey and nuts and sugar to taste. It is important that the porridge remains liquid, this is the consistency of a traditional juicer.
Now you know how to cook kutia according to the simplest recipe, but serving a meal is of considerable importance. So, kutia should be served in deep clay cups and eat it with a spoon, scooping up more. After all, this porridge is a symbol of the most fertile nature, and you should draw its wealth with pleasure and appetite.
Rice Option: Phase One
However, there is another recipe. Now we will tell you how to cook rice kutya. To do this, we need 1 glass of rice and poppy seeds, half a glass of raisins and almonds, as well as honey and sugar to taste. We start with the usual: sort out rice from husks and small stones, rinse thoroughly, put it into a small cast-iron cauldron (any food in it acquires a more homely and vibrant taste) and fill it with water so that the liquid completely covers the cereal and exceeds it by 1 phalanx. We put it on a big fire and bring it to a boil with the lid ajar. On average, it will take 5-10 minutes. Then, when the water begins to boil, transfer to a minimum fire, tightly close the lid and cook until the liquid completely disappears. In the end, turn off the gas and try the rice for softness, let it brew for another quarter hour.
The second and final stage
Now, if you want to learn how to cook rice kuta correctly, you need to remember the next point. This is a very delicate cereal, which does not have a very bright and rather specific taste, and therefore further preparation requires a careful combination with other products to make our juices work wonderfully.
So, first chop the almonds into small grains and transfer to a saucepan. Now we add raisins scalded with boiling water, our boiled rice, a little sugar and water (from a teapot cooled to room temperature). Mix lightly and let stand for as long as we prepare lean milk. For it, fill the poppy with boiled water in a ratio of 1: 1 and leave it to swell for 1-2 hours. Then we transfer it to the mortar and crush, gradually adding more water (in the end, 1-2 tablespoons of water should go). Now squeeze the poppy, transfer it to a small ceramic cup and add sugar and honey to this liquid until a pleasant sweet taste is obtained.
Option 3: from barley groats
Since you now know how to cook
wheat and rice kutia, you just need to learn its recipe with
barley groats, which we need only 2 tablespoons. And besides it, you need 3 liters of water, 1 cup of poppy seeds, 6-7 tablespoons of honey and 2-5 - jam. First, wash the barley and boil over medium heat, constantly engaged in removing the resulting foam. Now, when you notice that the cereal has become slimy, immediately drain the water, change the dishes, add milk and cook until tender, stirring constantly. Then we turn off the fire and let it brew for 5 minutes, while we will grind the poppy soaked in advance in water similar to the recipe in which we learned how to cook kutia from rice.
To summarize
We proceed to the final stage: we mix barley,
poppy milk, honey and raisins and heat it over low heat for about 5 minutes with continuous stirring, then cover and let it brew for 15 minutes. Before serving guests with kuti, season it with delicious jam. Of course, this recipe can be constantly enriched with your own creative solutions. For example, you can find an excellent combination of several types of nuts or use syrup instead of jam, and before serving, decorate the dish with fresh fruits, candied fruits and dried apricots, and gourmets will also find use in sweet berries. Remember that it all depends on your imagination and culinary abilities, because on Christmas you need to cook with great pleasure!