Chef Lesia
Banosh (банош, Carpathian cornmeal porridge)
Cornmeal and sour cream go over the flame pale and separate, then suddenly turn glossy, yellow, and almost stubborn. Stir one way only, the shepherds say, and listen.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Nalysnyky (налисники, curd-filled crepes)
Created by
The best nalysnyky are not the tidy ones. They come from the oven butter-glossed, crowded together, their pale edges browned where the pan has kissed them.
Breakfast & Brunch
Ukrainian
Comfort Food
Make Ahead
Special Occasion
35 min
Active Time
45 min cook•1 hr 20 min total
Yield8 servings
The best nalysnyky are not the tidy ones. They come from the oven butter-glossed, crowded together, their pale edges browned where the pan has kissed them, the sweet curd soft inside and the raisins swollen like little dark cherries. This is breakfast that has dressed itself for a holiday.
The crepe is only a wrapper, so don't make it thick and proud. It should be thin enough to show your fingers through when you lift it, tender but strong, with just enough egg to bend without tearing. The filling wants good tvoroh, Ukrainian curd cheese, or the closest farmer's cheese you can find. If it is wet, drain it. If it is dry, loosen it with smetana. The cheese decides the dish.
Aunt Nadia wrote this one with her usual kindness to nobody: "bake until it smells finished." I know what she meant now. Butter first smells sweet, then nutty, then the edges of the crepes begin to catch and the whole dish stops being separate parts. That's when you bring it out.
Serve them in a warm stack, enough for eight guests or one hungry Ukrainian, with smetana on the side and a spoon of jam if the table asks for it. A recipe only lives while somebody cooks it, and this one likes a full table.
Nalysnyky belong to the Ukrainian family of mlyntsi, thin pancakes cooked on a hot pan, but the filled and baked version became its own festive dish in central and western Ukrainian home cooking. They appear often at weddings, Sunday breakfasts, and Christmas-season tables, where cheese, butter, eggs, and raisins signaled generosity rather than everyday thrift. The Soviet canteen version flattened them into sweet pancakes, but village and family kitchens kept the slower finish: rolled with tvoroh, tucked tightly into a dish, and baked until the butter browns at the edges.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
plain flour
Quantity
300g
eggs
Quantity
3 large
whole milk
Quantity
600ml
water
Quantity
150ml
sugar
Quantity
1 tablespoon
fine sea salt
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
melted butter
Quantity
2 tablespoons, plus more for the pan
tvoroh, farmer's cheese, or well-drained ricotta
Quantity
600g
egg yolks
Quantity
2
sugar
Quantity
3 tablespoons, or to taste
vanilla sugar or vanilla extract
Quantity
1 teaspoon
lemon zest
Quantity
1 lemon
finely grated
raisins
Quantity
80g
soaked and drained
butter
Quantity
120g
sliced for baking
smetana or sour cream (optional)
Quantity
150g
fruit jam or honey (optional)
Quantity
to serve
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| plain flour | 300g |
| eggs | 3 large |
| whole milk | 600ml |
| water | 150ml |
| sugar | 1 tablespoon |
| fine sea salt | 1/2 teaspoon |
| melted butter | 2 tablespoons, plus more for the pan |
| tvoroh, farmer's cheese, or well-drained ricotta | 600g |
| egg yolks | 2 |
| sugar | 3 tablespoons, or to taste |
| vanilla sugar or vanilla extract | 1 teaspoon |
| lemon zestfinely grated | 1 lemon |
| raisinssoaked and drained | 80g |
| buttersliced for baking | 120g |
| smetana or sour cream (optional) | 150g |
| fruit jam or honey (optional) | to serve |
Equipment Needed
- •A 24 cm nonstick or well-seasoned crepe pan
- •A wide spatula
- •A medium baking dish
- •A clean kitchen towel for covering the crepes
Instructions
- 1
Make the batter
Whisk the eggs, milk, water, sugar, and salt until smooth, then whisk in the flour a little at a time. Stir in the melted butter. The batter should pour like thin cream, not sit on the spoon. If it looks thick, add a splash of water and don't make a drama of it.
Rest the batter if you can. Even twenty minutes helps the flour drink properly, and the crepes will tear less. - 2
Cook the crepes
Heat a wide nonstick or well-seasoned pan and brush it lightly with butter. Pour in just enough batter to coat the base, swirling quickly so it runs to the edges. Cook until the top turns matte and the rim lifts when nudged, then flip for a few breaths on the second side. Stack them under a clean towel so they stay soft.
- 3
Mix the filling
Mash the tvoroh with the egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, lemon zest, and drained raisins. Taste it. It should be gently sweet, not like cake batter, and thick enough to hold a line from the spoon. If your cheese is dry, add a spoon of smetana; if it is wet, drain it longer.
- 4
Fill and roll
Lay a crepe pale side up and spread a spoonful of filling in a short line near one edge. Fold the sides in, then roll it snugly, not tight enough to squeeze the cheese out. Keep going until the plate fills. My hands remember dumpling folds, but here the trick is restraint: less filling, cleaner roll.
- 5
Bake in butter
Butter a baking dish and pack the rolls in close, seam side down, with slices of butter between and over them. Bake at 180C until the butter has melted into the crepes, the edges are browned in places, and the smell changes from milky to nutty. That's the moment. Pull them before they dry out.
The baking is not just warming. It lets the filling settle and the crepe edges catch in butter, which is why nalysnyky taste deeper than a plain filled pancake. - 6
Serve warm
Let them sit for a few minutes so the cheese calms down, then lift them out in generous portions. Serve with cold smetana, fruit jam, or honey. The contrast matters: warm curd, browned dough, cold cream.
Chef Tips
- •Use tvoroh if you can find it. Farmer's cheese is close. Ricotta works in a modern kitchen, but drain it very well or the filling will run.
- •The first crepe is for the cook. It tells you whether the pan is too cold, too dry, or sulking for no reason.
- •Nalysnyky freeze well before baking. Pack them in a buttered dish, cover tightly, and bake from chilled or thawed with fresh butter on top.
- •Raisins are traditional in many sweet versions, but chopped dried apricots or no fruit at all is a bit more modern and perfectly welcome.
Advance Preparation
- •The batter can be made the night before and kept covered in the fridge. Whisk it before cooking and loosen with a splash of water if it has thickened.
- •Filled nalysnyky can be assembled a day ahead, covered, and refrigerated. Add the butter just before baking.
- •Leftovers reheat gently in a covered dish. Add a small knob of butter so the edges shine again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 255g)
Calories
570 calories
Total Fat
32 g
Saturated Fat
19 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
12 g
Cholesterol
200 mg
Sodium
420 mg
Total Carbohydrates
50 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
19 g
Protein
22 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from The Ukrainian Breakfast Table
Browse the full collection
Chef Lesia
Benderyky (бендерики, meat-stuffed crepes)
A benderyk is a crepe taught to hold its corners: soft pancake, peppery meat, egg-dipped edges fried crisp, and the same triangular confidence my hands learned at the varenyky table.
Chef Lesia
Deruny (деруни, potato pancakes)
Raw potato turns sly the moment you grate it: wet, starchy, already darkening. Deruny reward speed, hot oil, and the courage to leave the edges alone until they crisp.
Chef Lesia
Harbuzova Kasha (гарбузова каша, pumpkin millet porridge)
Pumpkin goes into the pot pale and stubborn, then gives itself up slowly to milk and millet until the whole breakfast turns deep orange, sweet, and spoon-thick.