Top 5: Olia Hercules’ ingredients for Ukrainian cooking

2015 saw the rise of food and flavours of the wild East – from the Black Sea and Baku to Armenia and Azerbaijan. If you have yet to explore the dishes from Ukraine and beyond, be sure to stock up on these top ingredients from Olia Hercules.

Gherkins
Where pickled gherkins are called for, every recipe in Mamushka screams for proper ‘fermented’ gherkins. If you don’t make your own, look out for the word ‘kiszony’ in Polish grocery shops – gherkins that have been pickled in vinegar just won’t do.

Horseradish leaves, blackcurrant leaves, dill heads & sour cherry leaves These first three ingredients are the typical flavourings used in pickling in Eastern Europe, while sour cherry leaves as well as horseradish leaves have tannins so they help keep your pickles crunchy. I have seen bundles of horseradish leaves and dill heads in Polish grocery shops, but failing that, ask a friend with an allotment who may grow the
plants or know someone who does, or substitute with dill stalks, mustard seeds, allspice berries or coriander seeds.

Meat
I urge you to use top-quality meat, especially when making broths. The rest of the ingredients in those recipes are so cheap and so basic that it’s worth investing in very, very good meat, as that’s where the flavour will come from. Otherwise, you can always ask your butcher for bones, which also make a beautiful stock, and they will probably happily give them to you for free.

Smetana
A type of soured cream, homemade Ukrainian smetana that you find at markets is thick
and viscous and slightly golden. I buy the lighter, Polish equivalent from Eastern European grocery shops, which I actually prefer. But if you can’t find that, a good-quality crème fraîche or a thick Greek yogurt would be fine instead.

Unrefined sunflower oil
This has a strong fragrance of toasted sunflower seeds, almost like sesame seed oil. We don’t cook with it; we only use it for dressings. I bring back to the UK the stuff that my grandmother buys from a factory located directly opposite her house in Voznesenk. But if you don’t have a Ukrainian babushka, do not despair – Clearspring produce a slightly milder version, which is equally beautiful.

Olia Hercules is author of Mamushka, available here