Recipe and image by Kathy Paterson
It’s best not to skimp on the sour cream – it adds great mouthfeel. You could also pop pieces of sliced smoked salmon under the pickle to make it more substantial.
When I’m working with active dried yeast, I heat the milk until very warm, but not too hot, otherwise that will prevent the yeast from activating. If the milk is too cool the yeast struggles to activate.
Makes about 30 blini
Buckwheat Blini
1 cup buckwheat flour
¾ cup plain flour
200ml milk
1 tsp honey or sugar
1 heaped tsp active dried yeast
a good knob of butter, melted, plus extra for cooking
2 eggs, separated
a squeeze of lemon juice
To Finish
250g Tatua sour cream
a few sprigs of dill, picked
Pickled Beetroot
⅓ cup sugar
⅓ cup vinegar
¼ tsp mustard seeds
1 small-medium beetroot, very thinly sliced and cut into thin strips (julienne)
1 small-medium Granny Smith apple, very thinly sliced and cut into thin strips (julienne)
ake the pickle, put the sugar, vinegar, mustard seeds and 90ml of cold water in a small saucepan over low heat and simmer until the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil and then turn off the heat. Put the beetroot and apple in a heatproof bowl and pour over the pickling liquid. Leave to stand for at least an hour to cool and for the flavours to mingle. Cover and put in the fridge if not using straight away.
To make the blini, sift the buckwheat and plain flour into a large bowl with a good pinch of salt and make a well in the centre.
Pour the milk into a small saucepan and add the honey or sugar. Heat until warm, then remove from the heat. Sprinkle over the dried yeast and leave in a warm spot until the yeast is frothy, about 5 minutes.
Pour yeast mixture into the well in the flour. Add the melted butter, egg yolks and a little squeeze of lemon juice and gradually whisk together until you have a smooth batter (one that will fall relatively easily from a spoon). Cover and leave in a warm spot for an hour, the batter should almost double in size.
Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form, then fold a large tablespoonful into the batter to loosen. Carefully fold in the remaining egg white.
Heat a large frying pan over medium heat (or use a barbecue hot plate) and grease the base with a little butter. Drop dessertspoonfuls of the batter into the pan, in batches, so as not to overcrowd the pan, and cook until bubbles form on the surface of each blini. Flip over and cook for a few seconds until golden brown on both sides. Repeat with remaining mixture, wiping the pan with extra butter, if needed.
To serve, drain the beetroot and apple from its liquid. Dollop sour cream on each cooled blini and top with pickle. Sprinkle over the picked dill sprigs.