These Carrot Oladky (morkvyani oladky – морквяні оладки in Ukrainian) are one of many dairy-based dishes eaten during Masnytsia or Syrny Tyzhden (translated as Butter Week or Cheese Week). Masnytsia is Ukrainian carnivale which takes place a week before the start of Lent, which often occurs at the end of February or in the first half of March, seven weeks before Orthodox Easter.
I focus this post on my favorite Masnytsia food, oladky (singular – oladok, less often oladka), small puffy fried pancakes similar but more flavorful than American pancakes, comfort food that I enjoyed in homes and restaurants while working in Ukraine. But, first some background on Masnytsia:
Masnytsia is an ancient Slavic celebration of winter’s end and earth’s spring rebirth connected with the pagan god Yaril. It is distinguished by several traditions, rituals, and beliefs, some of which continue today.
When Kyivan Rus adopted Orthodox Christianity in 988 C.E., the church chose not to destroy folk rituals but to give them religious meaning. Thus, the church added a fasting period before Easter, the most important Orthodox feast day. According to church teaching, this allows believers to cleanse their souls and bodies of negative energy.
In preparation for the strict dietary restrictions of Lent (when meat, dairy, and eggs are forbidden and the use of oil is restricted), church canons require believers to reduce meat consumption over several weeks, culminating in Masnytsia, when the meatless diet is limited to dairy products, flour, grains, eggs and fish. Masnytsia is the last fling before the strict fast begins with the first Sunday of Lent called “Forgiveness Sunday,” when a liturgical reading instructs the priest to ask his congregation for forgiveness for trespasses and congregants forgive him and each other.
The usual locale for Masnytsia is a city or village center or a neighborhood park. The holiday’s main symbol is a centrally placed straw effigy called opudalo (опудало), symbolizing winter.
Straw Effigy of Winter — Opudalo — at Kyiv Exhibition Center
During the week, people, some in folk dress and others in costumes and masks, gather for live music, dancing, singing, and various folk performances.
Women in national dress, — Holosiyivskiy Park, Kyiv
Clown entertaining children in Holosiyivskiy Park, Kyiv
In fictional costumes in Kharkiv
Fiddlers at Holosiyivskiy Park, Kyiv
Singers entertaining at Museum of Ukrainian Folk Architecture and Rural Life in Pyrohovo, Kyiv Oblast
Dancers in Kharkiv
Masnytsia ends with the burning of the opudalo on Forgiveness Sunday, a symbolic goodbye to winter and welcome to spring.
Burning Straw Effigy in Kramatorsk
Masnytsia is a cheerful holiday; work is discouraged, and food plays a pivotal part. The week is spent visiting and celebrating with relatives, godparents, and neighbors. Families arrange feasts and parties, and many potlucks are held, with each cook contributing a dish to the communal table. Restaurants and street vendors also sell holiday fare. Indulgence is the hallmark of this holiday with butter, milk, cheese and eggs as the significant recipe ingredients. Cooks are expected to prepare numerous dishes using these ingredients throughout the week.
Tea with mlynsti (crepes), oladky, red caviar, sour cream and apricot jam
Pancakes are a holiday staple because ancient Slavs believed that round and golden pancakes personified the sun, a sign that a warm and gentle spring is fast approaching. Depending on the region, thin crepes (mlyntsi) are served with jam, honey, cheese and sour cream. Nalysnyky and plachynda (filled crepes) are stuffed with cheese, mushrooms, onion jam, pumpkin, smoked salmon, red caviar and sour cream.
Nalysnyky with mushroom fillling
Cheese and dill plachinda
Oladky, thick yeast or baking powder/soda-leavened pancakes come plain in various flours or with optional fruit, nut, and vegetable additions. Pancakes are fried in oil, spread with butter and served with heaping spoons of sour cream.
One of the oldest dishes served this week is varenyky, dumplings filled with sweet or savory cottage cheese, lavishly dressed in butter or sour cream. Varenyky are made from various flours (wheat, rye, buckwheat) or, more recently, flours tinted with vegetable juice or puree (spinach, beet, carrot), boiled or steamed, and filled with mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, mushrooms, poppyseed paste, sweetened cheese and raisins,
Beet-tinted varenyky filled with sweet farmers’ cheese and raisins
Only the skill and imagination of a cook determine which other dishes are served during Masnytsia, and regional differences abound.
Rustic cheesecake
Cheesecakes (plain, elegant, rustic, fruit-filled or chocolate coated), noodles and halushky (unfilled dumplings similar to gnocchi) cooked in milk, cheese noodle casseroles à la kugel, cheese and vegetable fritters; baked pyryzhki (little buns), flatbreads and other baked good often complete holiday menus.
Pyrizhky filled with sauerkraut
Oladky are a pan-Slavic dish with roots in ancient Greece, where their precursors were probably thick sourdough pancakes fried in oil. Thus, the root of the word oladky is derived from the ancient Greek word ἐλάδιον<ἔλαιον, which means oil. Versions of this name appear in Ukrainian, Russian, Belarusian and Polish. Even the Yiddish name of potato pancakes latkes has the same root.
Initially, Ukrainian cooks prepared oladky from a simple recipe of wheat flour, wild yeast, fresh or soured milk with or without eggs. Over time, other flours (potato, rye, buckwheat) were used, and butter was incorporated in the batter. Oladky can be made with plain flour, but they are also made with potato, carrot, pumpkin, beans, rice, millet or squash additions.
This Carrot Oladky recipe uses simple ingredients and equipment (a pot, a bowl, a whisk and a frying pan). It is easy to make in several steps: cooking the carrots, combining wet and dry ingredients, and frying. The batter is leavened with unflavored kefir and baking soda rather than buttermilk or plain unflavored yogurt and yeast. Kefir is naturally fermented milk, which adds a pleasant tanginess to the oladky. Carrots are precooked and puréed for a smooth batter and result in oladky that are thicker and smaller than crepes. Oladky puff up and become fluffy in the center with golden, crisp edges when fried in a generous amount of oil.
Carrot Oladky are subtly sweet. Thus, they can be served savory or sweet. Of course, whether savory or sweet, a large dollop of sour cream is essential. Adding salty smoked fish such as trout, mackerel, whitefish, caviar, and dill makes a delicious, savory starter or lunch. A dusting of powdered sugar, a spoonful of honey, a handful of toasted nuts or a few berries transform these small, fragrant, orange-hued pancakes into a delightful dessert.
Sweet oladky can also be made by adding grated apples, raisins or raspberries to the batter. When coarsely chopped or grated nuts, fruits and various vegetables are added to the batter, oladky resemble fritters rather than American pancakes. Assorted spices and extracts such as cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg and vanilla may be added to enhance flavor. Jams, various syrups, honey supplement the traditional sour cream topping.
Whether savory or sweet, these Carrot Oladky make a nourishing breakfast, an excellent lunch or supper and are especially satisfying on a cold early spring day. I usually serve 2-3 oladky per person.
For centuries, until Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Masnytsia was a joyous holiday, celebrated in communities throughout Ukraine. Today, traditional celebrations are impossible in many damaged or destroyed regions, and where possible, difficult and subdued under constant threat of drone and missile attacks. But memories of happier times remain. Hopefully, Masnytsia traditions and cheerfulness will be resumed after Ukraine’s victory.
Carrot Oladky ingredients
Carrot Oladky – Tender Carrot Pancakes
7 ounces (200 g) carrots, cooked and puréed
2 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
⅔ cup or 5.072 fluid ounces (150 ml) kefir
6 ounces (170 g) all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon, optional
¼ teaspoon ground ginger, optional
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, optional
¼ teaspoon ground cloves, optional
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
½ cup sunflower or corn oil for frying, more as needed
Preparing batter: Bring ingredients to room temperature.
Cook carrots in a small amount of water until tender. Drain thoroughly, pat dry with a paper towel and cool.
Purée carrots in a food processor, scraping the sides of the bowl to ensure a uniform texture.
Carrot purée
In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs, granulated sugar, baking soda and salt until smooth. Add vanilla and kefir to the eggs and mix until combined.
Sift together flour and cardamom. Gradually add flour to the egg mixture, whisking continuously.
Add carrots and butter, whisking until smooth. (The batter should be thick but pourable. To maintain pourability, add 1-2 tablespoons of kefir.) Set aside for 10 minutes after mixing.
Oladky batter ready for frying
Frying oladky: Pre-heat oven to 200°F (93.3C). Place a baking sheet fitted with a rack in the oven.
Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and add oil. Once the oil is hot, scoop a heaping tablespoon of batter into the pan, forming a 3-inch (7.6 cm) round. Space additional tablespoons of batter in the pan so the pancakes don’t touch
. Frying oladky
Cover the pan with a lid and cook the pancakes for 2 minutes over medium-low heat or until the surface becomes matte and the edges start to brown. Turn the pancakes over and fry for 2 more minutes. Transfer them from the frying pan to the oven baking sheet and cover them with a clean kitchen towel.
Continue frying the remaining batter, adding more oil to the pan as needed When finished frying, transfer to a heated platter for serving.
Serve hot or at room temperature with sour cream and savory or sweet additions..
Makes 24 -3-inch (7.6 cm) oladky.
Serves 8-10.
Leftover Carrot Oladky should be stored in a zippered plastic bag in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. They can be reheated for a few seconds in a microwave before adding sour cream and other toppings.
Finished
Savory carrot oladky with sour cream, whitefish and dill
Dessert oladky with sour cream, blueberries, strawberries, toasted almonds and honey
Photo credits:
Singers at Museum of Architecture and Rural Life, Pyrohovo, Ukraine —© Viktord –132331890 –Dreamstime.com
Mlyntsi and Oladky with Tea –© Iakov Filimoov – 20824665 – Dreamstime.com
Dancers in Kharkiv Town Center –© Lestertairpolling – 87386679 – Dreamstime.com
Costumes in Kharkiv Town Center –© Lestertairpolling – 87387121 – Dreamstime.com
Straw Effigy in Kyiv Exhibition Park-© Dmytro Tolmachev– 111911972 – Dreamstime.com
Burning Straw Effigy in Kramatorsk-© Viktoria Zolotoreva– 141637212 – Dreamstime.com
All other photos: © Slava Johnson
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