Cheburaki: A street food associated with a generation of Russians

Cheburaki is a dish that looks quite similar to Vietnamese dumplings. (Source: The Moscow Times)

This dish with a thin dough crust, meat filling and deep fried is very popular all over the world with many different versions.

This pastry is basically triangular or semi-circular in shape, with a puffy stuffed belly and a beautiful edge with small wavy folds.

In Vietnam, the cake is called banh goi because of its shape like a puffy pillow, with a filling of minced meat, vermicelli, and wood ear mushrooms. In Poland, this cake is called pierogi, with a filling of potatoes, salted fish, minced meat, cheese, and fruit served with butter, sour cream, or fried onions.

In Latin American cuisine , the cakes are called empanadas, with sweet versions including ingredients such as butter, eggs, chocolate, honey, fruits...

Italian Mpanatigghi is filled with almonds, walnuts, chocolate, sugar, cinnamon, cloves and minced beef. Bangladeshi Kushli pitha is usually filled with coconut and jaggery spiced with cinnamon.

In Russia, this cake has two popular versions: chebureki (singular - cheburek) and belyashi (singular - belyash).

Belyashi dish. (Source: The Moscow Times)

Although today you can find chebureki all over Central Asia, the word "cheburek" was actually not popular in Central Russia until the 1950s. The first dictionary to include the word was the pre-war "Explanatory Dictionary" by Dmitry Ushakov (1935-1940).

Chebureki was originally a Crimean Tatar dish, and later made its way to Central Asia and quickly became a favorite among the local population. From the 17th century, the Tatars began to settle in the area across the Moskva River and gradually cheburaki entered the local cuisine.

When making this dish, Moscow chefs modified it and added minced pork or beef, unlike the Muslim Tatars or Bashkirs who usually used beef or fatty lamb.

And just like Vietnamese dumplings are often associated with school and college students, for most Russians, chebureki are associated with the youth of a generation.

Forty years ago, the chebureki cafe (called cheburechnaya) was not only a place to eat and drink but also considered a social center where students gathered with friends, discussed news, and shared life stories.

Today, one of Moscow’s first chebureki cafes still operates on Sukharevskaya Square. Locals say they often see luxury cars carrying older patrons who come to the cafe to relive the atmosphere of their youthful years.

cheburaki 2.jpg — Cheburaki cafe in Moscow. (Source: Moscow Times)

Belyashi, a pie from the homeland of Tatarstan, is quite different. The crust is made from dough kneaded and rolled out thinly, without yeast. The filling is made from minced meat and onions.

The dough is cut into thin circles, a little filling is placed in the middle, then the baker carefully gathers the edges of the cake, leaving only a small hole in the middle, and then bakes it in the oven. Therefore, the original shape of the cake is round, similar to the dumplings in Asia.

When fried in oil, this dish has a rather complicated process. First, it is turned upside down so that the filling there cooks first, creating a crust that prevents the meat juices from leaking out. Then, it is turned over and fried until cooked. During the frying, the cook will occasionally drip a little oil onto the meat inside the cake.

This is a very tasty dish, but it is very fatty. It is believed that in the past, the Tatars needed such a high-energy dish to help them work in the harsh winter. Now, it is recommended to eat only 1 to 2 pieces of this cake at a time.

Besides contributing a delicious dish to Russia and the world, cheburaki or belyashi also shows the important role of the Tatars, the second largest ethnic group in Russia, in the life of the people of the capital Moscow./.

(Vietnam+)

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