Potato “Fruits” with Cabbage Filling

Kateryna Bondar
Potato "Fruits" with Cabbage FillingPotato "Fruits" with Cabbage Filling
Cuisine
Course
Serves 4 people
Prep time
30m
Cook Time
10m

This appetizer is a piece of pure Soviet holiday theater: potato-and-carrot mash shaped into tiny “apples” and “pears,” with a clove bud pushed into the base (standing in for the withered flower on real fruit) and a bay leaf at the top playing stem and leaf. On a children’s table the illusion works every time.

Structurally it all rides on semolina — coarse durum wheat meal, sold in the US as semolina or Cream of Wheat, and known as manka across Eastern Europe. Three tablespoons stirred into warm mash swell and bind it; without them the balls slump on the sheet pan. That is also why the mash has to cool to room temperature first: the grain needs time to take up moisture, and hot mash is miserable to shape anyway. The outer coating of semolina does a second job, forming a dry, sandy crust that turns golden in 10 minutes at 220 C (425 F).

Other things to hide inside

  • Sauteed mushrooms with onion — the closest match in flavor to the cabbage.
  • A cube of brynza, the salty brined sheep’s cheese of the Carpathians; feta is the easy substitute. It melts into a savory center, so go light on salting the filling.

Part of Ukrainian cuisine — 464 more recipes in the section.

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Ingredients

  • 0.5 Kilograms
    potatoes
  • carrot
  • cabbage
  • onion
  • 1 Piece
    garlic clove
  • 3 Tablespoons
    semolina
  • nutmeg, pepper, salt
  • cloves (buds) and bay leaves for decoration
  • thick sour cream for serving

Instructions

  1. Peel the potatoes and carrot, cut them into medium cubes, boil in salted water and mash into a puree.

  2. Add a little pepper, nutmeg, the pressed garlic and 3 tablespoons of semolina to the mash, mix and cool to room temperature.

  3. Finely shred the cabbage and saute it in oil together with finely chopped onion until done, then salt.

  4. Divide the vegetable mash into 6 to 8 portions. From each, form a patty, place a little cabbage filling in the center and roll into a ball.

  5. Shape each ball into an apple (flatten slightly) or a pear (pull it upward), then coat all over with semolina. Use a matchstick to make a small hole on the top and bottom.

  6. Place the "fruits" on an oiled baking sheet and bake in an oven preheated to 220 C for 10 minutes.

  7. Insert a clove bud into the lower hole and a bay leaf into the upper one. Serve hot with thick sour cream.

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