Zapekanka

Ingredients:

  • 1 kg home-made cottage cheese
  • 7 Tbs farina
  • a little milk (1/4 cup?)
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 cup kefir
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 6 Tbs sugar
  • pinch salt
  • 2/3 cups dried fruit (e.g. raisins, chopped cherries)
  • oil/butter to grease pan
  • bread crumbs for pan
  1. Preheat oven to 375F.
  2. Soak farina in milk, and microwave for ~30 sec. Add more milk and repeat if it seems dry. Let it sit.
  3. Soak dried fruits in boiling water or tea. Let them sit.
  4. In a large bowl, fork-beat the eggs. Stir in the salt and vanilla.
  5. Add cottage cheese, milky farina, kefir, sugar to bowl and mix.
  6. Drain the dried fruit and mix it in.
  7. Grease and bread crumb the pan (a bund pan is great, or a loaf pan, or a muffin pan). Pour in the batter.
  8. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 45 min to 1 hr. Zapekanka will puff up as it bakes.

If baking with store-bought cottage cheese, which is more liquidy:

  • up the farina to 1/2 cup and don’t soak it
  • probably also skip the kefir
  • skip the salt (if it’s salted)