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Christmas is considered one of the greatest Orthodox holidays in the entire world. In Russia, the Nativity of Christ is celebrated on January 7, this day ends with a forty-day fast. The day before, on Christmas Eve, it is customary for the whole family to gather at a table laden with twelve lenten dishes. This meal is called a rich supper; every dish on the Christmas table has a sacred meaning. So, traditions of the Christmas table.

Traditional food for Christmas

Christmas Eve

Festive family dinner January 6 includes 12 lean dishes- the same number of apostles were participants in the Last Supper. On Christmas Eve, it is customary to cook dishes from vegetables and fruits in order to attract good luck and prosperity to the house for the whole year.

The main dishes of the table on Holy Eve before Christmas - kutia and uzvar .

Kutiei porridge is called, cooked from whole grains, with the addition of honey, crushed nuts, raisins, crushed poppy seeds. Christmas kutia can be made from wheat grits, barley, rice or barley. It is with the tasting of kutia that the meal begins on Christmas Eve.

Each component of kutya has a symbolic meaning. Grain is a symbol of renewal of life, honey symbolizes health and well-being in the house, poppy seeds and nuts symbolize prosperity and success in business. According to folk traditions, tasty and "rich" kutia provides a good harvest and becomes a talisman for the family's home throughout the year.

Traditional drink on Christmas Eve - uzvar. This is the name of a compote made from a mixture of dried fruits - apples, cherries, pears, plums and others. It is customary to add honey, dried rose hips or rowan berries, fragrant herbs (mint, lemon balm, rose petals) to the Christmas uzvar. This drink is rich in vitamins and minerals, has tonic properties and strengthens the immune system.

From the first courses on Holy Eve are served lean borscht or - thick soup with millet and fresh or sauerkraut. V different regions boiled beans are added to lean borsch, dried mushrooms or ears (dough products with lean filling, similar to small dumplings).

On Christmas Eve, cabbage, mushrooms, stewed cabbage, lean or mushrooms, or millet porridge, or with fruit fillings,. An obligatory attribute of a Christmas dinner is boiled peas, beans or beans with fried onions in vegetable oil. Also served on the table fried fish and homemade pickles - sauerkraut, pickled tomatoes and cucumbers, peppers, pickled apples.

Dinner on Christmas Eve begins after the first star appears in the sky - until that time, only children were allowed to eat. After the prayer, all participants taste kutya, then borscht and other hot dishes are served. The meal traditionally lasts 3-4 hours; on this evening, carols go to their homes, sing songs and wish the owners well-being. They are presented with sweets and pastries and invited to the table. In many families, on the evening of Christmas Eve, children carry kutya to their godparents or grandparents.

What to cook for Christmas

Fasting ends on the seventh of January , dishes from meat and poultry appear on the table - pork, goose or duck with apples, and more. Also, the Christmas menu included dairy dishes - milk porridge - or milk noodles.

Christmas table setting

In the process of preparing for the Christmas holidays, it is important not only to prepare the treats, but also to pay attention to the table setting. Most often in the decor there is a combination of white with red or green.

Lay down an elegant patterned tablecloth and complement the decoration of the festive table with paper or textile napkins in a contrasting color.

From decorative elements, you can use curly candles and figurines of angels.

The traditional decoration of the festive Christmas table is the didukh - a charm woven of ears or straw.

Colorful garlands and a well-decorated Christmas tree will help create a festive atmosphere in the room.

Treats prepared with love and beautiful setting of the Christmas table are a guarantee of a rich harvest, prosperity and well-being in the house. May 2017 bring health, love and prosperity to every home!

On my site you will find recipes for treating friends and family at Christmas. Share your family's traditional Christmas treats in the comments.

2017,. All rights reserved.

Christmas food is divided into two feasts: lean table January 6 Christmas Eve - Christmas Eve, or Holy Eve, and a generous treat on January 7, Christmas Eve. We will tell you what to cook for Christmas - what to serve on the Lenten table on January 6th. What kind meat dishes serve on January 7th at Christmas.

The evening before Christmas is the last meal. On the day before Christmas, they did not eat anything until the evening - until the first star appeared in the sky. At this time, as follows from the Bible, Jesus Christ was born.

After the appearance of the star, at dusk, before dark, they began a festive meal of 12 dishes, according to the number of the apostles who participated in the Last Supper. All food should be lean due to the ongoing Nativity Fast.

The next day, January 7, the Nativity Fast ends and the celebration of the Nativity of Christ begins. It's time to break your fast - meat dishes are included in the Christmas menu.

What do they eat on January 6, on Christmas Eve (Holy Eve) - Christmas Eve

1. Kutia

On Christmas Eve, the meal begins with kutya - porridge made from whole grains - a symbol of resurrection, and sweet honey with which it is poured, denotes heavenly bliss.

2. Uzvar

Uzvar at Christmas is traditionally served with kutya.

Kutia (kutya) and uzvar are the main dishes. With the remaining 10 dishes, improvise according to the principle "the rich are, they are glad." The main thing is to adhere to the tradition that dishes on Christmas Eve are lean.

3. Salads

Carrot and beet salad

Beets, carrots, walnuts- the ingredients of this healthy and tasty salad.

Red cabbage salad

In addition to red cabbage, the salad contains an apple, green onions and nuts.

4. Pepper stuffed with vegetables

Rice, fleshy peppers, carrots, herbs, onions, tomatoes.

5. Dumplings

Dumplings can be served with any filling - with potatoes, mushrooms, berries. The dough is traditionally prepared without eggs or milk.

6. Vegetable stew

Use any vegetables in the stew - for example, cook potatoes with mushrooms and onions.

7. Lean borsch with mushrooms

Borsch with cabbage, tomato, oyster mushrooms.

8. Lazy cabbage rolls without meat

Cabbage rolls according to this recipe are prepared from cabbage, rice and carrots.

9. Fish cakes

It is advisable to include fish dishes in the Christmas menu.

10. Pickles

Preparations from vegetables, sauerkraut Is a traditional addition to the Christmas table.

11. Lean pies and donuts

Pies and pies can be stuffed with mushrooms, potatoes, cabbage. An important rule: such baked goods should not contain eggs and dairy products.

Stewed cabbage pie

The cake is shaped into individual cakes.

12. Fruit baked with honey and nuts

Baked apples and pears are a healthy and tasty dish.

Also for sweets, you can serve, roll with jam, etc.

What to eat for Christmas January 7

The next day, January 7, they begin to celebrate the Nativity of Christ. On this day, meat dishes are served with the Lenten meals as the Nativity Fast is over.

At the Christmas table, it is advisable to serve meat from representatives of three elements: earth, air and water (that is, mammals, birds, fish).

At the end of the meal, two types of sweets are served: juicy, made from berries and fruits, and dry - sweets, cookies.

1. Chicken stuffed with rice

Use chicken or chicken, rice, raisins.

2. Chicken with apples in the oven

The Nativity of Christ has always been the main and bright holiday in Russia, it has always been eagerly awaited, and celebrated widely and cheerfully. Festivities, sleigh rides and triplets, fortune-telling are traditional Russian fun on this holiday. Of course, among all the entertainment, the people did not forget about the feast. Moreover, in Russia before Christmas there is a long and rather strict fast.

After fasting, just before Christmas, on January 6, Christmas Eve begins. It precedes breaking the fast. You can start breaking your fast only with the appearance of the first star. You are amazed at the knowledge, experience and their intelligent application by our ancestors. You couldn't eat much on Christmas Eve. Only the dishes, which we will talk about below. And this is without knowing such concepts as diet, how to get out of fasting, etc. They just limited it and that's it.

And only on January 7, in the morning, the real breaking of the fast began. And a piglet and a roast goose, and lamb, and hare, and a glass too, everything was on the table. Traditional Christmas dishes are meat dishes. Another obligatory dish is baked goods. All kinds of pies, pies, pies, pies, pancakes with different fillings, casseroles. From the sweets served fruits, berries, honey, gingerbread, cookies.

How is it? Have you got an appetite already? Let's get down to business.

Menu for the festive table on Christmas Eve and Christmas: Russian cuisine

Since the Christmas feast begins on Christmas Eve, January 6, and continues on the 7th, I think we should start on Christmas Eve. Let's try to go through this briefly.

Menu:

On Christmas Eve:

On Christmas:

On Christmas Eve, as a rule, the whole family gathered, and in general anyone could come in, so a lot of people gathered. Since ancient times, 12 dishes were put on the table on the last evening before the birth of Christ (as a symbol of reverence for the 12 apostles who were with the Savior). There had to be an even number of people at the table, and if there was an odd number, then an empty chair was delivered and the device was set.

Well, come on, now we will analyze 2-3 recipes for traditional, obligatory dishes on Christmas Eve before Christmas and the rest are optional, but preferred. You can cook something similar if you like.

1. Kutia (sochivo) classic with Uzvar

Kutia is the "mistress" of the Christmas table. Uzvar is another must-have dish on the Christmas table. If kutya is considered the mistress of the holy supper, then uzvar is her master.

Ingredients:

For kutya:

• Peeled wheat (polished) - 2 cups
• Raisins - 1 glass
• Walnuts - 1 glass
• Poppy - 1 glass
• Sugar - 3-4 tablespoons

For the Uzvar:

• Dried fruits - depending on the number of guests. Based on the calculation of 100 g of dried fruit per 1 liter of water. If you want a thicker uzvar, put 120 g of dried fruit per liter of water.
• sugar - at the rate of 3 tbsp. for 1 liter of compote. Do it to your liking.

Preparation:

1. First, wash the wheat in cold water.

2. As soon as the water becomes clear, set to cook. The ratio of water to grain is 2 to 1. The wheat will cook for about 40 minutes.

3. We also wash the poppy well and fill it with boiling water.

4. Remember to stir the wheat periodically so that it does not burn.

5. Dry the peeled walnuts in a dry frying pan for about 5 minutes. Remember to shake or stir.

6. 20 minutes after the start of cooking, the wheat should be salted.

7. We wash the raisins.

8. We wash the dried fruits, then fill in cold water and leave for 20 minutes.

9. Fill the poppy with water, for 100 g of poppy - 70 ml. water, put on the lowest heat and simmer until the liquid is absorbed for about 30 minutes. If it turns out that the liquid has been absorbed earlier, add a little more water.

10. Pour the raisins with boiling water for 15 minutes.

11. Set the dried fruits to boil, right in the liquid with which we poured them. Once boiled, add sugar and cook for 10-15 minutes.

12. The poppy is also ready, there is no liquid. Set aside and close the lid.

13, It's been 40 minutes, our wheat is ready. Let's rinse it with cold water.

14. We begin to collect kutya. Put the finished wheat into a deep cup.

15. Pour the nuts into a plastic bag,

wrap and roll with a rolling pin several times so that the nuts are crushed. You can cut them with a knife, rotate them in a meat grinder or grind them in any other way. But this one is the fastest.

16. Add nuts to wheat.

17. Add the raisins, after draining the water.

18. Sprinkle poppy seeds with 2-3 tablespoons of sugar and grind well in a mortar. Well, if there is no mortar, grind it in a cup with a rolling pin, to a semi-liquid state.

19. We also add it to our kutya.

20. Now add the honey. It is advisable to add it liquid. To do this, you can warm it up or dilute it with a little warm water.

Mix everything well. Our kutia is ready. Our uzvar is also ready and infused a little.

Serve kutya on the table with an uzvar.

Bon Appetit!

And now I want to show you a more common version of modern kutya:

2. Video - Christmas kutia made of rice

And one more, well, completely simple recipe for kutya - for children

3. Video - Kutya from rice

4. Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

• Beets - 1-2 medium
• potatoes - 3 medium
• carrots - 1 medium
• Canned green peas - 3 tbsp
• onion - 1 medium head
• pickled or pickled cucumbers - 2 medium
• Sauerkraut - 3/4 cup
• Salt, sugar, pepper
• Vegetable oil

Preparation:

1. Boil beets, potatoes, carrots, cut into cubes.
2. Peel the onion, also cut into cubes.
3. Mix all the ingredients, season with the vegetable oil you like. I love it very much with unrefined sunflower oil.

Bon Appetit!

5. Two recipes for dumplings with potatoes

The first recipe uses sour cream as a sauce. Please use vegetable oil... The second recipe corresponds to all the canons of Christmas Eve.

A few days ago, you and I prepared unusual, large dumplings in a frying pan. But the recipes for making dumplings and especially fillings for dumplings probably cannot be counted.

6. Delicious and simple multicolored bean salad

Bean salad cooks quite quickly, it is a very nutritious dish that can fully replace meat. Beans contain a large number of protein, vitamins, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, as well as fiber, which has a positive effect on the digestive process and lowers cholesterol.

7. Peppers stuffed with vegetables

Stuffed Peppers or Cabbage Rolls - This dish is usually prepared with rice and meat as a filling, but for a lean Christmas table, it can be wrapped in cabbage leaves mushrooms and millet. It turns out very tasty!

The rich composition of pepper makes it very beneficial for the heart and the maintenance of immunity. Beneficial features especially relevant for diabetics and those who control body weight, since Bell pepper despite its ability to stimulate appetite, it lowers blood sugar levels.

8. Fish with ginger sauce

it is allowed to eat it on Christmas Eve.

9. Seafood

In addition to fish on Christmas Eve, you can eat any seafood.

We prepared two excellent seafood salads. Today you can safely use them.

10. Eggplant stuffed in the oven

Eggplant and mushrooms are another gorgeous ingredient for your Christmas table.

Much has been written about eggplants and that it is very useful product, all sorts of usefulness in them can not be counted, and that they have a very low calorie content, and indeed one of the most healthy vegetables at the potato level.

11. Apples baked with honey and nuts

Chief winter vitamin dessert- a delicacy!

Ingredients:

• Apples - 4 pcs.
• Honey - 4 tbsp. l.
• Walnuts - 100 gr.
• Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg- taste.

Preparation:

1. Wash the apples. Cut off the top with the stalk. Cut out the core and some pulp from them. So that the apple cider remains.
2. Grind the nuts into coarse crumbs.
3. Mix honey with nuts, add cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg to taste and stuff with apples.
4. Cover the apples with caps with stalks. Place the apples in a fireproof dish. Add some water.

Bake in the oven at 180 degrees until the apples are tender. From time to time water the apples with the resulting syrup.

12. Spicy pumpkin

Another gift for those planning to organize a traditional Christmas Lenten dinner.

Ingredients:

• Pumpkin - 1 kg.
• Sugar - 1 tablespoon
• White wine vinegar - 125 ml.
• Olive oil - 3 tablespoons
• Garlic - 1 clove
• Black pepper, a pinch of ground cinnamon
• A handful of fresh mint leaves

Preparation:

1. Peel and seed the pumpkin, cut the pulp into long oblong slices 1 cm thick, cut each slice in half.
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet, fry the pumpkin with peeled garlic for 3 minutes. Once the garlic has darkened, remove it. Remove the pan with pumpkin from heat, carefully drain off excess fat.
3. Sprinkle pumpkin with sugar and cinnamon, mix well, pour in vinegar, add mint and pepper to taste.

Cover, let it brew for at least 15 minutes. It can be served both cold and hot.

Bon Appetit!

Well, now let's consider what you can cook on Christmas day for breaking the fast. Of course, first of all, we will consider the preparation of geese and ducks. Several different options we cooked for New Year.

13. Christmas goose and duck

Today I will try to tell and show you step by step how to cook geese and ducks for New Year and Christmas. Since their preparation for two neighboring holidays does not differ from each other. Here are recipes for whole baked geese in the oven and chunks in a pan and duck in the oven. Please watch and repeat.

Another goose recipe.

14. Video - Christmas goose

15. Pork in orange marinade

Ingredients:

• Pork leg - 3 kg.
• Oranges - 4 pcs.
• Apple - 1 pc.
• Honey - 1 cup
• Muscat wine - 1 glass
• White dry wine- 1 glass
• Water - 1 glass
• Cinnamon - 2 sticks
• Onions - 3-4 pcs.
• Garlic - 2 cloves
• Olive oil - 4 tablespoons l.
• Rosemary - 1 tbsp l.
• Salt pepper

Preparation:

1. Rinse the meat, season with salt and pepper.
2. In a large bowl, combine the juice of 2 oranges, honey, wine, cinnamon, chopped onions, chopped garlic, rosemary, olive oil, salt and pepper.
3. Put pork in this marinade, cover with foil and leave in the refrigerator for a day. Turn the marinated meat from time to time to marinate evenly.
4. The next day, remove the meat from the marinade, put it in a fireproof dish, pour the marinade over it and add water. Arrange slices of 2 oranges and an apple on top.
5. Cover the dishes with foil. Bake in the oven at 180 C for 3 hours. Turn the meat over from time to time and pour over the marinade.

When it's almost done, remove the foil and brown the meat.

Bon Appetit!

You and I have not prepared completely cold dishes. Let's see a jellied fish.

16. Jellied fish

One more absolutely New Year's dish, it's aspic. From what they just don't make it, and from various poultry meat, and from beef, especially offal, pork, rabbit meat. We make aspic mainly from fish.

17. Fish baked in the oven in puff pastry and fish in batter

18. Video - Beef aspic

19

19. Jellied meat of beef, pork and chicken

Ingredients:

• Pork shank - 1 pc.
• Chicken legs - 2 pcs.
• A little beef - 500-600 g.
• Onion, Bay leaf, pepper, salt, spices

Preparation:

1. Put all the meat in a saucepan, about 5 liters, and fill it with water. We do not cook.

2. Just leave it in water for 1.5-2 hours. After a couple of hours, the blood remaining in the meat will be released into the water. You will see the water turns red.

3. We drain this water, wash the meat and fill it again with clean water. We put to cook. Add onions, carrots, bay leaves.

4. Bring to a boil and remove the foam so that the surface of the water is clean. Usually we remove with a spoon with holes. Unfortunately it was not at hand. After removing the foam, close the lid and leave to cook for 3.5 - 5 hours. (As I have said more than once in my recipes, the cooking time depends on many reasons: which stove, which meat, which water, etc.) Therefore, check. The meat should be free from bones.

5. After 3.5 - 5 hours, half of the water boiled away. We only added half a liter of water once.

6. Remove the meat from the broth, and add garlic to taste, salt and pepper to the broth.

7. Add chopped parsley and dill. Bring it almost to a boil, but do not boil. Mix well and leave to stand on a warm stove.

8. We take on the meat. The meat is already well cooked.

9. Separate from the bones and cut into small pieces.

10. Mix all types of meat, salt, pepper, mix well.

11. Put a few chopped carrot rounds in a deep cup

12. Add greens.

13. Put the meat on top

14.and fill with broth. We put it in the refrigerator overnight and in the morning your jelly is ready.

Meaty, tasty, fragrant.

Bon Appetit!

20. Different pies for Christmas

I have already released several recipes for making pies. This is very delicious pies and not really complex recipes... We prepared them for the New Year, but not all. We take and cook for Christmas.

21. Video - Delicious Christmas turkey

According to tradition, at Christmas, hostesses prepare from ten to seventeen lenten dishes for the festive table. The fact is that Christmas Eve or Holy Evening, as the evening before Christmas in Ukraine is called, is the last day of the Christmas fast. The next day, January 7th, the food becomes much more satisfying.

1. In the first place, of course, kutia... A traditional and delicious Christmas dish, served on both Christmas Eve and the Christmas table. Classic kutia is made from wheat. But if you do not like such a dish, then you can replace cereals with rice, barley grits, barley. Also, poppy seeds, nuts, uzvar and honey are necessarily added to kutya. The more additives, the better. Remember, kutya is not removed from the table at night. It is believed that on this night deceased relatives come to the house and the kutia is left for them.

2., it is also a compote from dried fruits: dried pears, apples, prunes and so on.

3. The third main course of Christmas is lean borscht... You can cook it with mushrooms or fish. Borscht can be replaced with cabbage (thick soup made from sauerkraut with mushrooms) or vegetable stew without meat.

4. Vareniki... Dumplings can be prepared with various fillings: mushrooms, cabbage, potatoes, cherries. Salted dumplings can be seasoned with fried onions or sauces to taste. Sweet ones can be served with honey.

5. A fish must be on festive table on Christmas Eve, as it is one of the symbols of Jesus Christ. It can be like sliced ​​herring with onions in sunflower oil, and just fried River fish... Even fish sandwiches are welcome.

6. - probably everyone knows how to cook it. Boiled or baked (which is much tastier) vegetables - beets, potatoes, carrots, cut into cubes of about the same size. Chop onion, pickles, add pre-cooked beans. Salt everything, season with vegetable oil.

7.. Instead of meat, stuffed cabbage is used as a filler mushroom filling... It can also be buckwheat with onions or carrots with rice. There are many options.

eight. . Can be prepared from both yeast dough, and from puff. Add a lot of fried onions and grated carrots to the filling.

9.Mushrooms... Mushrooms can be either one of the dishes (marinated or fried), or they can be a filling for a dish.

It's almost mid-November - it's time to bake Christmas muffins for presents! Have you ever made a cake that needs to stand for a month or even two before use? Then try it. Having prepared such a cupcake once, you will come back to it every year and try more and more new combinations. Almost all Christian countries have their own similar and at the same time unique recipes sweets for a festive Christmas table. In Russia, unfortunately, after the Soviet era, this tradition, like many uniting families, has not survived. So let's bake gingerbread cookies, cookies, such cupcakes, attracting and uniting all family members. How nice it is when, long before the New Year and Christmas, a holiday begins to blow in the house: the children think about a letter to Santa Claus, you start making lists of gifts, the husband thinks about an interesting pastime for the holidays ....

Dried fruits Alcohol Wheat flour Butter Chicken egg Almonds Brown sugar Molasses Soda Salt