Every childhood is associated with certain smells. Mine are filled with the smells of baked pies, vanilla, sugar powder. My grandma, Busya, baked everything under the sun. 

7 o’clock in the morning and you don’t have to look at the clock to know that. It’s the smell of fried dough coming from the kitchen, that lets me know precisely what time it is.

My grandma, Busya, is preparing breakfast. As I lazily continue to lie in bed, I am trying to guess if it’s the smell of oladyi (pancakes) or blini (crepes) or belyashi (ground meat in fried dough). I hope it’s belyashi and the taste of juicy meat, wrapped in a crispy fried dough shell appears in my mouth.

Outside the window lies eternal snow. It’s brutally cold. So cold, that even the food needed an overcoat. It seemed like everything we ate – fish, meat, cabbage, rhubarb – was dressed in dough keeping it warm and juicy.

Overwhelmed with anticipation, I run to the kitchen to say good morning to the goddess of the kitchen, my grandma. “Eat while they are hot!”, she used to say, and I dive my mouth into the crispy fried dough with super-flavorful meat inside. My morning is already perfect. And I am ready to go outside and brave the cold. 

Childhood memories of taste are a powerful thing…

When I cook belyashi, blini, or oladyi for my granddaughters today, I emotionally connect with my dear grandmother, Busya, who is always watching and smiling at me. I wonder if she approves my way of cooking.

If you are curious about the recipe, it’s super simple, provided you are using ready made pizza dough. It’s a little more time consuming if you make your own yeast-based dough. My grandma wouldn’t approve of anything not done from scratch. 

The filling consists of ground pork and/or beef with raw sweet onion, salt and pepper. I sometimes add chopped garlic and cilantro for flavor. 

I divide the dough into small balls, spread them out on the board, flatten them into circles with my hands, place raw ground meat in the middle, gather up and pinch the dough circles leaving a small hole in the middle. 

I fry the belyashi in a skillet with a generous amount of olive oil first on the side with the hole and then flip them onto the other side. I allow some space between the belyashi because the dough rises during frying. I also make sure to lower the heat, not to burn the patties. I make sure that the meat in the dough shells is cooked. When ready, I place the belyashi on a paper towel for a couple of minutes to remove the extra oil.

Belyashi are a fantastic comfort food and are usually eaten with beer, wine or tea.

P.S. All the food featured in this post has been prepared and photographed by me.