Vegetarian recipes from Russia

Meatless Russian cooking leans on roots and tubers available all winter, on rye and buckwheat, on fermented dairy, and on brine rather than vinegar for keeping things. Dill, spring onion, horseradish and mustard set the tone. Grated potato fried in oil becomes draniki; cooked beetroot diced with pickles and beans gives vinegret, a winter salad that needs no fresh produce at all.

A meal is built in three stages: a cold starter or salad, a soup, then a main. The long and frequent Orthodox fasting periods produced a whole repertoire without meat or dairy, which is why these dishes stand up on their own. Conversely, curd cheese and sour cream take the lead as soon as the fast ends: syrniki are pan-fried tvorog cakes, and buckwheat blini are served savoury or sweet. Okroshka is nearly drunk rather than eaten, raw vegetables in cold kvass.