Before offering the hostesses another tasty and original recipe for cottage cheese, you should tell a little about the history of the amazing holiday for which this dish is being prepared. The bright Easter holiday has long been celebrated in Russia, as a symbol of the rebirth and triumph of the forces of life. In ancient Russia, at that time, the arrival of spring was marked, the beginning of a new cycle of agricultural work, the gods were asked for a good harvest. With the advent of Christianity, these traditions receded into the background, and the celebration itself acquired a new meaning. From now on, they began to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which occurred on the third day after he was crucified on the cross. Easter date is calculated annually on the lunar calendar. However, it always falls on the first Sunday, which comes after the full moon following the vernal equinox.
The Easter table is rich and varied. It was believed that the more plentiful the table for Easter, the more generous the harvest. Peasants must have kept the colored eggs that were served for Easter until the first day of sowing and took them with them to the field so that everything sown would give good seedlings. In addition to eggs painted and often painted with sacred symbols, it is customary to serve rich, beautifully decorated Easter cakes and cottage cheese Easter to the Easter table.
Curd Easter is a special dish that resembles a truncated pyramid in its shape. Each hostess, of course, has her own proven recipe for cottage cheese, but always use well-squeezed cottage cheese, eggs, butter or cream, sour cream and sugar to cook it. Curd Paska (Easter) symbolizes the Holy Sepulcher. She was replaced on the Easter table with the sacrificial lamb, as if to say that the time of the bloody sacrifice is over. The letters "XB" are applied to the sides of the paska, which are an abbreviation of the phrase "Christ has risen" and the image of the cross. These signs indicate that Christ sacrificed himself, instead of the Passover lamb and the need for new sacrifices no longer. Earlier, lamb cooked from butter, cottage cheese and sugar was even served at the table, however, nowadays, it is still preference for curd Easter.
Unusual recipe for curd paska - custard paska.
For the recipe you will need: 700 gr. cottage cheese; 250 gr sour cream; 50 gr fat cream; 125 gr. soft butter; 50 gr Sahara; 2 eggs; 50 gr raisins; salt.
For decoration: almonds; multi-colored candied fruits; grated chocolate.
First you need to rub the cottage cheese through a fine sieve, and best of all, do it twice. At the same time, pour raisins with boiling water and leave for half an hour to steam.
Put soft butter in a saucepan, add one egg, cream and sour cream and, on low heat, bring everything together to a boil, stirring constantly. Then pour the hot mixture into mashed cottage cheese and grind thoroughly so that there are no lumps.
Mix the second egg with sugar and salt, add to the curd mass, put raisins in the same place and mix everything.
Further, the preparation of cottage cheese is as follows. A special form must be lined with gauze folded in 3-4 layers. Put the prepared mass in the mold, press it firmly with your hands, then cover with the edges of the gauze and put the load on top.
Put paska in the refrigerator for a day. Then get the pasca out of the mold with the cheesecloth and turn it over to the dish. Gauze carefully and decorate the paska with an ornament of almonds and candied fruit. Sprinkle with grated white and dark chocolate on top.
Cooking cottage cheese is impossible without a special form in which it is placed to separate excess fluid. The traditional form (or pasochnitsa) is wooden and consists of four separate trapezoidal planks. Two planks have ears on each side, and two more planks have slots for these ears. To prevent the pasochnitsa from breaking up, additional holes are made in the ears into which small wedges are inserted. The form for the curd paska from the inside is necessarily decorated with a cross and the letters "XB". Also, images of spears, ears of wheat, sprouts and flowers, as symbols of the Resurrection and new life, can be used here. Currently, the pasochnitsa may be made of plastic. If there is no ready-made pasochnitsa, you can use salad bowls of a suitable shape, plastic buckets of mayonnaise and even an ordinary grater, laying it inside with cling film.
Choose your recipe for curdled paska and please your loved ones with it.