Healthy Recipes of Russian Low Fat Salads. Recipes of Olivie and Vinegret.
Easy and healthy recipes.
I haven't met yet a Russian family, or a family, that came from Russia, who does not make these healthy meals for every holiday. Two salads that are easy to make, are called Olivie and Vinegret. They are low fat vegetables meals that can be served as a healthy side dish or as an appetizer.
These salads are very healthy, very delicious and very easy to make. They are so popular that they may be called Russian center table salads.
The amounts of ingredients are up to desired number of eaters; just try to keep it proportional, no vegetable should prevail, unless you love it.
Olivie
Said do be invented by a French chef Lucien Olivie, who owned a restaurant in Moscow in the middle of 19 century, this recipe went far away from its original scratch. The original ingredients are so exotic, that no Russian family could even recognize them, not saying a word about their availability.
Contemporary Olivie salad sometimes is called Winter salad, though Russians rarely call it Winter salad, they rather call it Olivie salad. It is called Winter salad mostly because its ingredients are available all year round, in winter as well.
Here what an average Russian woman will put into her Olivie:
Boiled eggs, carrots, potatoes.(You can boil them together in one bowl. You may peel carrots before boiling, but potatoes should be boiled with their skin, you'll peel them before chopping.)
A can of green peas.
Pickled cucumbers.
Small peeled fresh cucumber.
A can or two of tuna (can be substituted by chopped cooked chicken, or ham).
Mayonnaise mixed with Ranch dressing or with vegetable oil. (You can experiment)
Chop the vegetables and eggs, mix all ingredients together, salt and pepper according to your taste. Add your dressing.
Though mayo dressing can hardly be called low fat dressing, but by using less amount of it you can make your salad healthier.
Enjoy!
Vinegret
"Vinegret" is a name that I heard only in Russia and it is used to name a healthy recipe of a festive meal.
Chopped boiled potatoes, and beets. Potatoes and beets should be boiled in their skin. Peel them before chopping.
Chopped boiled carrots.
A can of green peas.
A can of sour kraut (sauerkraut).
Chopped red onion.
Chopped pickles.
Mix all the ingredients, add salt. Add olive oil (amount vary according your taste, but it should be OILY). I mix olive oil with regular vegetable oil.
Enjoy.
