How to cook kutya on January 13, what are the ingredients. How to cook kutia: History, traditions and cooking secrets!! Generous kutya with milk

For Christmas and Kolyada, it is always customary for us to cook kutya from whole wheat grains. Here are some simple recommendations on how to make kutia tasty and juicy.

It is customary for us to cook kutya with the whole family, nuts are stuffed, peeled, everyone takes turns rubbing poppy seeds in the generic makitra, even from the grandmother. The elders tell how it was before. For a moment, children forget about their tablets and smartphones...

There are many recipes for kutya, it is now made from cereals and rice. But we will tell you about the classic rustic.

1. Natural ingredients. Buy everything. For kutya, you will need wheat in grains. It is often sold unsifted in the husk, and no one wants to mess with it, choosing a peeled store. Just fill it with water and all the husks will float, strain and you will get grains that are much tastier and healthier.




For kutya, you will also need poppy seeds, nuts, raisins and honey. The most difficult thing is with poppies, since we rarely grow it here. But you still look for it in the local market, they take it out for the holidays (we have this Czech poppy). Store-bought poppy does not rub well, is too dry and does not give such a taste.


2. Soaking. Before you start cooking kutya, all the ingredients must be soaked. Wheat and raisins are best left overnight, or at least 2 hours before cooking. The raisins should swell and become round. Poppy can be poured with boiling water for half an hour before you start rubbing, but we also leave it overnight.


Note. It is important not to overexpose the poppy in water, in a warm room it can begin to sour, like everything else.

3. Infusion. While the wheat is being cooked, it should crunch pleasantly on the teeth, poppy seeds are rubbed, it should separate from the walls of the makitra. Add and mix all the ingredients according to the recipe. In our case, these are wheat, poppy seeds, nuts and raisins. Dissolve honey in warm water and add to taste. We leave kutya to infuse so that the grains “make friends”. The most delicious kutya is when it spends the night in a cold place, but half an hour is enough before use.


Bon appetit and delicious kutya.





P.S. Kutya is better to eat in a day, otherwise it will turn sour. It is better to cook more later, it is full of vitamins. Add more warm water and it can be eaten instead of soup.

Products for kutya are peeled grains: wheat, barley, rice, and sweet additives: earlier to eat - honey with water, and today candied fruits, nuts, raisins and honey.

The dish has pagan roots. Funeral kutya was placed on the table as a treat for the dead to honor their ancestors. It was believed that this way you can attract success and happiness to the house for the whole year. But despite the non-pagan roots, kutia has taken root in the Orthodox culinary tradition and is blessed in the church, symbolizing the unity of the living and the dead in common immortality.

Customs and traditions associated with kutya

The name of the dish is of Greek origin: in Byzantium, this word was called a funeral treat of boiled wheat. Together with other Christian traditions, the custom of preparing kutya came to the Slavs, where it took root for many centuries.

Sweet porridge with honey and nuts symbolizes prosperity, abundance, fertility, health and well-being, so it was put on the table on major holidays. It was believed that the richer the dish turned out (more satisfying and with a large number of additives), the more successful the year would be. It is with kutya that it is customary to begin the Christmas meal and end with it too. According to the established tradition, all family members and, in addition to them, pets and livestock should taste the dish - this will protect them from diseases and give them good health.

Lenten kutya is prepared on Christmas Eve, because fasting is still going on at this time. For her, you can not use any products of animal origin - no butter, no milk, no cream. On Christmas, it is customary to treat relatives living separately, friends, and neighbors with their kutya. The more people try it, the more benefits it promises in the future. In a separate bowl, kutya is left for the dead ancestors, who, according to beliefs, protect the house.
Kutya is brought to the temple to consecrate it, but if this is not possible, you can sprinkle the dish with holy water yourself.

Types of kutya: sweet and savory, kolivo and juicy, lean and “rich”

Despite the common name, kutya is not one, but several dishes with a common basis. On Christmas Eve, kutya is put on the table with an abundance of sweet additives, honey, nuts, and raisins. Before Christmas, completing the fast, she looks more like a delicacy than a memorial dish. On Epiphany, the number of ingredients is traditionally less, so it is not so sweet.
On significant holidays that do not fall on fasting, they prepare a generous kutya, in which they put a large amount of heavy cream, butter, milk and other additives.

In addition to the composition, different kutya and different consistency. Steep kutya - kolivo, outwardly resembles friable sweet porridge. The semi-liquid dish is called sochivo, it is customary to eat it with spoons. This type of kutya got its name due to the fact that one of its components is "juice" or lean milk obtained from nuts, poppy or hemp.

Composition of kutya: ingredients required and optional

The basis

The basis of the dish is boiled whole grains of wheat, barley, pearl barley, oats, rice, buckwheat and others. To separate all the excess, the grits are first pounded in a mortar, adding a little water there. After the grain is soaked and then boiled. The base of the kutya should be soft, so it is better to overexpose it on the stove than to remove it ahead of time.

Wheat is the traditional basis of kutya, but lately rice has become increasingly popular. Yes, this is a noticeable departure from tradition, but it goes well with honey, raisins and nuts. The rice dish is usually served at the wake, but it is quite possible to prepare it for Christmas. If rice is boiled in milk, kutya will no longer be lean, and it cannot be served on Christmas Eve, but during other holidays it will become a table decoration.

Refueling

The second component of classic kutya is dressing. For a lean dish, milk from nuts, poppy seeds, almonds is used, and for a modest one - cream, butter, milk.

Nut or poppy milk is prepared by grinding the base in a mortar, grinding in a meat grinder or blender until a white liquid appears. This will be juicy, it will replace milk in kutya. In addition to juicy, almost every recipe contains honey or syt. In some kutya recipes, dried fruit compote, fruit drink or sugar syrup is used as a dressing.

Other Ingredients

Nuts, raisins, dried fruits, candied fruits, steamed poppy seeds, marmalade, spices, jam are put in kutya. Dried fruits are pre-soaked. Fresh fruits are rarely used, because during long-term storage they can ferment in the porridge, ruining it. If you already include fruits, then it is better just before eating, so that they retain their taste and texture.

Kutya recipes

Funeral kutia

This dish is an essential attribute of commemoration or holidays, where it is customary to honor the dead ancestors.

Ingredients:

• a glass of rice;
• 2 glasses of water;
• salt;
• sugar;
• 50 grams of raisins;
• 2 tablespoons of honey;
• 50 grams of candied fruits or marmalade sweets.

Rinse the rice, then boil it into a crumbly, not sticky porridge. Add sugar, salt and honey. Soak raisins in hot water for 10 minutes to soften, then pat dry. Now raisins and rice can be combined. Before serving the finished kutya on the table, it is laid out on a plate in a slide, decorating with marmalade or candied fruit.

Christmas kutya

They cook it at Christmas time, take it to church for consecration and treat relatives and close people before Christmas. Christmas kutya symbolizes fertility, wealth and prosperity throughout the year.

Ingredients:

• sweets to taste (preferably marmalade);
• 100 grams of raisins;
• a glass of pre-peeled wheat;
• berry compote (you can cook it from dried fruits);
• 2 tablespoons of honey;
• 50 grams of candied fruits;
• nuts for decoration.

If there is no wheat, then rice is also suitable for kutya. Pour the cereal with cool water, boil until tender. Pour the compote into the porridge and mix the mass well: it should turn out semi-liquid, like a traditional dish that was put on the table. The consistency of the dish depends on the amount of compote: if someone wants a cool kutya, then quite a bit is enough - for taste, if liquid is required, one or two glasses are poured. Lastly, put sweets, honey, raisins, candied fruits in kutya and garnish with nuts.

rich kutia

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of wheat groats;
• ½ cup sugar;
• ½ cup chopped dried apricots;
• ½ cup poppy;
• ½ cup chopped prunes;
• raisins, nuts;
• cognac to taste;
• honey to taste.

First, boil the grains, and soak the poppy seeds in hot water for a few minutes. Then strain and rub the poppy with granulated sugar. In another bowl, soak prunes, raisins and dried apricots for 20 minutes (also in hot water). Mix chopped dried fruits with nuts, poppy seeds and wheat. At the very end, add some honey and any brandy for taste.

The subtleties of cooking, storing and serving kutya

Grains, cereals are best boiled in a bowl with a thick bottom. In thin-walled cereals, it can burn and spoil the taste of the dish.

After connecting all the components of the kutya, heat for another 10 minutes. Ideally - in a clay pot in the oven, but you can also in a saucepan on the stove, and in a slow cooker.
Thick kutya is diluted with a small amount of compote, grain water or warm water, then it will acquire the desired consistency and not lose its taste.

If you need to prepare a dish for the future for several days in advance, raisins are added before serving, since when stored in kutya, it will quickly lose its taste. Honey and fresh fruits can ferment, they are also not recommended to be put into porridge ahead of time.

On the night of January 13-14, I celebrate the Old New Year. There was a belief that a rich table would provide the owner with prosperity for the whole year. The main dish of the Holy Supper - it is supposed to start dinner with it - this is kutya. Kutia is so nutritious and rich in trace elements and vitamins that it can be safely used as an independent dish for the daily diet, and not only on the Old New Year holiday, because it is very tasty. On St. Basil, which is marked red in the January calendar, it is recommended to cook a generous, rich kutya, taking into account all traditions and prescriptions.

Traditionally, kutya is made from wheat, but earlier, according to tradition, it was also made from barley and even rye. Nowadays, the modern analogue of kutya, made from rice, is gaining more popularity. Porridge is cooked from pure grains. The next step in the preparation of kutya is the addition of honey or sat (honey diluted with water). Later, they began to add poppy milk, prepared from grated steamed poppy. It turns out very tasty kutya with the addition of nuts, raisins, dried fruits.

For our ancestors, the ingredients of Rich Kutia were not just a tasty addition. Each product had a special meaning: grain is a symbol of resurrected life; honey represents health and well-being (sweet life); poppy symbolizes prosperity in the family. All ingredients for kutya are prepared separately: crumbly porridge is boiled from cereals, raisins and poppy seeds are steamed, nuts are crushed. Combine already finished products, which are heated for 10-15 minutes. Kutia should turn out watery - it is so juicier, according to an old recipe, try to cook it with honey.

Wheat kutya with poppy seeds and nuts

We will need:

1 glass of wheat
100 g poppy
100 g shelled walnuts
2-3 tbsp. spoons of honey
sugar to taste

How to cook: Sort the wheat, rinse and boil in water until cooked. Rub the poppy thoroughly until milk is formed. Add honey and mix well with porridge. The last chord is a handful of chopped walnuts.

Kutya wheat

We will need:
1.5 cups wheat
200 g honey

How to cook: Pour the peeled wheat grains with cool water for 2-3 hours, then boil them until cooked, then drain them in a colander. Dilute honey with hot water, pour boiled wheat over it, bring to a boil and cool.

Wheat kutia with jam

We will need:

400 g wheat or 250 g rice
1 cup berries (you can use fruit jam instead)

How to cook: Sort the wheat, wash and boil. Throw the finished grain in a colander, cool and add berries / fruits. If the rich kutya is thick for a generous evening, dilute it with sweet water or syrup. For rice, the same recipe.

Wheat kutia with candied fruits

We will need:

2 cups wheat
50 g candied fruit
½ cup walnuts
honey

How to cook: Wash the wheat. Boil in water over low heat for 2 hours. In 4 tbsp. l. water, stir honey to taste, pour wheat with honey syrup for 30 minutes. Chop the nuts a little and fry. Add candied fruits, nuts to wheat and mix well.

Rice kutya

Ingredients:
250 g rice,
100 g raisins,
100 g almonds
sugar,
cinnamon,
poppy.

Cooking: Rinse the rice, add water and cook until cooked, without stirring. Drain in a colander and rinse with boiled cold water. Scald the almonds and raisins with boiling water, chop the almonds a little. Dilute sugar in a small volume of water, mix rice, almonds, cinnamon, raisins and pour over sugar syrup.

Kutia from barley groats with poppy seeds

Ingredients:
2 cups barley groats,
3 liters of water
1 glass of milk
0.5 - 1 glass of poppy,
2-3 tbsp. honey spoons,
2 tbsp. spoons of cranberry or currant jam.

Preparation: rinse the grits, boil in water over moderate heat, removing the foam. As soon as the cereal begins to secrete mucus, drain the excess water, transfer the porridge to another bowl, add milk and cook until the cereal is ready, stirring all the time. Pour poppy seeds with boiling water, leave for 5 minutes, then drain the water, rinse the poppy seeds, pour boiling water again and, as soon as droplets of fat begin to appear on the surface of the water, immediately drain it. Grind the steamed poppy in a mortar, adding 1 teaspoon of boiling water to 1 tbsp. poppy spoons. Mix prepared poppy seeds with porridge, add honey and, stirring constantly, heat over low heat for 5-7 minutes. Then remove the porridge from the heat and season with jam.

Cooking a rich kutya is not at all difficult. It is good to eat it in the family circle, with friends, in the kitchen, in the evening, with a seagull or drink it with a home-made uzvar, Bon appetit! Happy holiday of the Old New Year!))

Photos are taken from open sources

How to cook kutia: History, traditions and secrets of cooking...........

One of the symbols of Christmas is kutia. How did this ritual dish appear and how to cook kutya correctly?

/ Shutterstock.com

There are many names for this ritual porridge: Kolivo, Eve, Sochivo, Syt. Most often, kutya is served as a funeral dish, but also on New Year's Eve (according to the old style), on Christmas Eve, on Epiphany and other Orthodox holidays. Kutya is an indispensable dish during Lent, it is prepared on the days of commemoration of the dead. There are several options for how to cook kutya:

rich kutia (lean kutya with different ingredients, which is prepared on Christmas Eve);

generous kutya (before the New Year, a modest dish with the addition of butter, cream or milk);

hungry kutya (for Epiphany, a dish that mainly consists of a grain base and a sweetener).

Depending on the amount of liquid added, kutya can be semi-liquid or crumbly. The word kutia itself has Greek roots and is translated as boiled wheat, and is associated with the cult of worship of the dead in the Ancient world (Greece and Rome). Although scientists say that ritual food from wheat with honey appeared much earlier. In fact, the tradition of cooking porridge with honey came to Christianity from pagan cults.

Symbolism of kutya and traditions

The grain from which kutia is prepared symbolizes eternal life, resurrection and abundance. Honey is a symbol of heavenly bliss, health and a prosperous life. Poppy and nuts are symbols of prosperity and fertility. As for the Christmas kutya, in the old days it was believed that the richer (that is, tastier and more satisfying) kutya, the better the harvest and the higher the wealth in the family.

With kutia, they begin the Christmas meal on Christmas Eve (with the first star) and end with a spoon of this dish, exchanging wishes and remembering dead ancestors. Christmas kutya is Lenten, as fasting continues until the holiday itself. Kutya is traditionally eaten by all family members and even treated to livestock and domestic animals so that they do not get sick and bear fruit in the new year. Kutya is carried to the godfathers and senior family members who live separately. In addition, according to an old tradition, the owner of the house threw the remains of kutya from a spoon up, and how many of the grains stuck to the ceiling, so many sheaves of bread were waiting for the new year. Also, spikelets were placed under a bowl with kutia and then they were kept for a whole year, like a talisman. Be sure to leave a bowl with this delicacy for the souls of deceased ancestors.

How to cook kutya

Kutya is cooked from a variety of cereals and whole grains: wheat, pearl barley, barley, rice, oats, even buckwheat, etc. Wheat or other whole grains are usually first crushed in a mortar with the addition of water and separated from the chaff. After cooking in the oven for several hours (up to 3 days), in modern conditions you can get by with a stove or oven. Wheat and cereals can be soaked, so the cooking time will be significantly reduced. They should be well boiled and become soft, acquire a slightly whitish tint.

Kutya made from rice is also very popular now (although this is a departure from tradition), and it is not so difficult to cook it. It is sometimes believed that rice kutya is served mainly at wakes, but it can also be prepared at Christmas. To properly boil rice, you need to pour one glass of cereal with one and a half glasses of boiling water, cover the pan tightly with a lid, cook the rice for three minutes on high heat, six on medium, three on low. For another twelve minutes, without opening the lid, let the rice brew for a couple.

In general, rice can be steamed from the very beginning, like other cereals. The main secret of preparing the base for kutia is to make it brewed, soft and at the same time crumbly. You can also boil the base for kutya in milk (here you need to be careful, since not all cereals are boiled soft in it) or in a mixture of milk and water (but such kutya will no longer be lean).

For Christmas kutya, it is customary to serve lean milk from poppy seeds, walnuts or hazelnuts, or from a mixture of them, or from almonds, if the kutya is modest, you can fill it with cream, milk and butter. To prepare nut and poppy milk, you need to steam the poppy seeds and pour over the nuts with boiling water, then grind them in a mortar, scroll in a meat grinder, grind with a blender until a white liquid is released.

Also, kutya is traditionally seasoned with liquid honey or honey dressing with saty - for it, honey must be dissolved in boiled warm (but by no means boiling!) Water. Also in Ukraine there was a tradition to cook semi-liquid kutya, turning it

In the Orthodox faith, kutya, or kolivo, symbolizes eternal life and resurrection. Therefore, it is customary to cook sweet rice porridge for a wake. It is placed in a common deep plate and placed in the middle of the table. Each guest scoops one spoonful of kutya from the plate and sends it immediately into the mouth, remembering the deceased.

Traditions of cooking kutya

There is no single traditional recipe for kutya. In families, the recipe for this dish is passed down from generation to generation, and everyone considers their version to be the most correct. Despite this, all recipes use similar principles and similar ingredients.

The taste of kutya varies depending on the additives and dressings of the funeral porridge. It can be prepared on the basis of pearl barley, millet and rice, and flavored with sugar, honey or sweet syrup. A pleasant combination of neutral cereals and sweet dressing give the funeral dish a specific taste and unique aroma.

Kutya recipe for a wake

Kutya is supposed to be served for a commemoration on the 9th, 40th day, for six months and for a year. She also opens a memorial meal and on special dates.

Ingredients:

• 0.5 cup long grain rice
• 2 glasses of water
• 100 g white raisins
• 50 g candied fruit
• 1 tbsp honey

Put the raisins on a plate, remove the tails. Rinse and leave in water for 20-30 minutes. Then rinse and dry again. So that honey is well absorbed into rice and gives the desired sweetness to kutya, melt it in a water bath. Chop the candy. Since the fruits added to kutya symbolize the heavenly fruits bestowed on humanity by the Almighty, not only raisins, but also dried apricots, prunes, cut into pieces, and poppy seeds can be put in kutya.

Before cooking rice, soak it in water for at least 2 hours to remove excess starch and gluten. Drain the water. Immerse the rice in fresh cold water and bring to a boil over the fire. Bring to a boil and after 2 minutes reduce heat to low. Rice should not be stirred with a spoon. On a slow fire, the porridge will not burn, but will slowly gurgle, absorbing water. When the rice is completely boiled and there is no water left in the pan, pour honey into it and add raisins with dried fruits and other ingredients as desired. Stir and let stand for another 2 minutes.

Transfer the hot kutya to a deep bowl, smooth the surface and garnish with raisins. Cover with a saucer and leave to cool slowly. Kutya should be consecrated before serving on the memorial table, it is better to do this in advance by visiting the church during the morning service.