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.
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Oladky (оладки, kefir pancakes)
Created by
The batter should fall from the spoon in a lazy ribbon, not pour like cream. That thickness is what gives oladky their soft middle and crisp golden edges.
Breakfast & Brunch
Ukrainian
Comfort Food
Quick Meal
Budget Friendly
10 min
Active Time
20 min cook•30 min total
Yield18 to 20 small pancakes, serving 4
The first true thing about oladky is the batter: it sulks on the spoon before it drops. Too thin and you get flat little pancakes, nice enough, but not the thing. The thing is puff. A tender middle, a golden rim that catches in your teeth, and that warm kefir tang under the sweetness.
This is weekday food, after-school food, Saturday breakfast when someone has remembered there is kefir going sharp in the fridge. No yeast, no waiting. The soda wakes up in the soured milk and lifts the batter quickly, so you mix gently, let it sit only while the pan warms, then fry by spoonfuls until the edges look set and the smell changes from raw flour to something round and buttery.
Aunt Nadia wrote these with one instruction, "not liquid, Lesia," which is very helpful and not helpful at all. So here is the measure your hand can learn: the spoon should stand in the bowl for a second before leaning. Serve them hot with smetana, honey, sour cherry jam, or apples cooked soft in butter. Enough for eight guests or one hungry Ukrainian.
Oladky belong to the Ukrainian family of small pan-fried batter cakes, alongside mlyntsi, but they are thicker, dropped from a spoon rather than spread thin across the pan. Soured milk batters are older than bottled kefir in Ukrainian home cooking, but kefir made the dish faster in the twentieth-century kitchen because its acidity reacts directly with baking soda. Regional home versions shift with the pantry: wheat flour in the central and southern kitchens, buckwheat where buckwheat is the everyday grain, grated apple when autumn starts crowding the table.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
plain kefir
Quantity
300ml
room temperature if you remembered
egg
Quantity
1 large
sugar
Quantity
2 tablespoons
fine sea salt
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
plain flour
Quantity
220g
plus a little more if needed
baking soda
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
apple (optional)
Quantity
1 small
peeled and coarsely grated
unrefined sunflower oil
Quantity
for frying
smetana (optional)
Quantity
to serve
sour cherry jam or honey (optional)
Quantity
to serve
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| plain kefirroom temperature if you remembered | 300ml |
| egg | 1 large |
| sugar | 2 tablespoons |
| fine sea salt | 1/2 teaspoon |
| plain flourplus a little more if needed | 220g |
| baking soda | 1/2 teaspoon |
| apple (optional)peeled and coarsely grated | 1 small |
| unrefined sunflower oil | for frying |
| smetana (optional) | to serve |
| sour cherry jam or honey (optional) | to serve |
Equipment Needed
- •A wide heavy frying pan
- •A tablespoon for dropping the batter
- •A flexible spatula
Instructions
- 1
Warm the kefir
Pour the kefir into a bowl. If it is fridge-cold, let it stand while you find the pan and plates, or set the bowl briefly in warm water. It should feel cool, not icy. The soda works faster when the kefir is not shocked cold.
- 2
Mix the batter
Whisk the egg, sugar, and salt into the kefir, then stir in the flour and baking soda. Stop as soon as no dry pockets remain. The batter should be thick enough to drop slowly from a spoon, with soft lumps here and there. If it pours like cream, add another spoonful or two of flour.
The thickness is the dish. Thin batter spreads before the soda can lift it; thick batter holds its little mound and puffs in the pan. - 3
Fold in apple
If you are using apple, fold it through now with a light hand. Grated apple makes the middle softer and a little fragrant, especially in autumn, but plain oladky are just as welcome. Don't beat the batter after the soda is in. You want the lift left inside it.
- 4
Heat the pan
Set a wide frying pan over medium heat and add enough sunflower oil to gloss the bottom. When a tiny drop of batter lands with a quiet lively sizzle, the pan is ready. If the oil spits hard, lower the heat; oladky need time to cook through before the outside goes too dark.
- 5
Fry by spoonfuls
Drop heaped tablespoons of batter into the pan, leaving space because they will puff and spread a little. Cook until the edges look set, the top is dotted with small bubbles, and the underside has gone sunflower-gold. Turn once and cook the second side until it sounds right under the spatula, soft in the middle but no longer wet.
- 6
Serve at once
Lift the oladky onto a warm plate and keep frying in batches, adding a little oil when the pan looks dry. Serve them while the edges still have their crispness, with cold smetana and sour cherry jam or honey. The first one is for the cook. This is kitchen law.
Chef Tips
- •Use real kefir or another unsweetened soured milk. Plain yogurt thinned with a splash of milk works in a modern kitchen, but the flavor will be softer.
- •Do not overmix once the soda is in. The batter forgives a lump; it does not forgive being beaten flat.
- •If the pancakes brown before the centers cook, the pan is too hot. Lower the heat and make the next spoonfuls a little smaller.
- •Leftover oladky reheat well in a dry pan. They lose the first crisp edge, but they come back soft and breakfast-ready.
Advance Preparation
- •Oladky are best cooked straight after mixing, because the kefir and soda start working immediately.
- •You can measure the dry ingredients the night before and leave the kefir and egg ready in the fridge, then mix in the morning.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 215g)
Calories
510 calories
Total Fat
21 g
Saturated Fat
6 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
14 g
Cholesterol
75 mg
Sodium
510 mg
Total Carbohydrates
69 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
24 g
Protein
11 g
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