Take your vegetable cooking repertoire to the next level with one of the most unexpected plant ingredients - beet tops.
Victoria DreyOssetian pies are probably one of the most prominent dishes in the cuisine of the North Caucasus region. Since ancient times they've been known as round closed flatbreads with thin dough and a generous amount of filling inside. And speaking of fillings — there are dozens of them, from vegetarian ingredients such as pumpkin, beans, potatoes and all sorts of different kinds of greens, to savory meat variations. This one with crumbly cheese and beet greens is called tzakharagin.
Despite beet being a very popular vegetable in Russia, their leafy tops are quite difficult to find even here. I get mine from my parents’ garden, but it’s also possible to buy them at a farmers markets during the new beet season.
Beet tops have a signature bitter-sourish taste that goes very well with the cheese filling. Those who love cooking pies with beet tops usually preserve them in the summer in order to then be used during the year simply by freezing these like many other greens.
Luckily, there’s an option to substitute beet tops with nearly identical greens that can be found more readily — mangold – which is literally the same red beet tops. So, if you see it in the grocery store, be sure to grab it!
Cheese is another important ingredient in this recipe. If you’re not able to buy proper Ossetian or Adygei cheese, then just substitute it with hard Feta. In fact, any type of mild cheese which crumbles and does not melt while baked will also do. Another option is the combo of tvorog, or cottage cheese, with some Feta type of cheese — adding tvorog makes the filling more juicy and enriches the taste.
Dough:
Filling:
1. Mix slightly warm (not hot!) milk, water, sugar and dry yeast until the last two dissolve.
2. Put the liquid mixture into a large bowl with sifted flour and salt, and start mixing with a fork or spatula.
3. Next, add vegetable oil and mix everything again with a mixer, or simply with your hand. You should get a quite smooth and even sticky dough.
4. Cover it with wrap and then set it aside in a warm corner to rise. It should double in size; this usually takes 45-90 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, prepare the filling: finely chop the beet tops. Feel free to mix it with any other greens to your taste. It’s also possible to add some chopped spinach, green onion and dill.
6. Grate the cheese or just crumble it with your hands, and mix with chopped greens and tvorog — this is the best filling combo among all of the possibilities, as I explained above. Add a pinch of salt if you use an unsalted type of cheese.
7. Divide the filling into 3 equal parts. With your hands, firmly shape each part into a sphere.
8. Back to the risen dough: pinch it down and divide into 3 pieces. Round the pieces into balls.
9. Working with one at a time, slightly roll out a piece of the dough and place a filling sphere in the middle of the surface.
10. Now, here comes the key step in this recipe — shaping the Ossetian pie. Start with tying the edges of the dough on top of the filling, and seal them properly.
11. Turn the ball over so that the seal is on the bottom and very gently roll out the ball into a flat pie: start with your hands.
12. Continue with a rolling pin. Finally, create a small hole in the middle for the steam to escape during baking.
13. Bake the pie at 240°C for 7-10 minutes. Repeat all the steps with another two pies while baking.
14. Immediately after taking them out of the oven, grease each pie with a generous slab of butter. Enjoy either hot or cooled!
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