Pshonyana Kasha (пшоняна каша, millet with cracklings)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •A fine sieve
• •A heavy 3-litre pot with lid
• •A wide frying pan
• •A slotted spoon
• •A wooden spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Wash the millet

   Tip the millet into a bowl, cover with cool water, and rub it between your fingers until the water turns milky. Pour it off and repeat until the cloudiness calms down, then pour a kettle of boiling water over the grains and drain well. Smell it now: it should smell clean and faintly grassy, not dusty or bitter.

   This is the step that doesn't forgive laziness. Millet carries a bitter dust on its surface, and no amount of crackling fat will hide it if you leave it there.
2. 2

   Render the shkvarky

   Put the pork cubes into a cold wide pan with the 2 tablespoons water and set it over a low flame. The water helps the fat start gently; it will hiss away, then the fat will run clear and the cubes will begin to tick against the spoon. Cook until the edges are deep gold and crisp under the spoon, then lift the shkvarky out with a slotted spoon and leave the fat in the pan.

   If you're using bacon, keep the heat low and salt later. Bacon brings its own salt and catches faster than salo.
3. 3

   Sweeten the onions

   Add the onions and a small pinch of salt to the rendered fat. Cook low, stirring often, until they are soft, pale gold, and sweet smelling, with no hard browning. This is the kasha's little zasmazhka, the slow-sweated flavour base, and it is what makes a plain grain taste cared for.

   Keep the onion and fat warm. They go in after the millet rests, so the sweetness stays bright instead of being boiled flat.
4. 4

   Simmer the grain

   Move the drained millet to a heavy pot with a spoonful of clear crackling fat. Stir over medium heat until the grains are hot and smell nutty. Pull the pot off the flame, add the water or stock and the salt, then return it to a gentle simmer. Cover and cook until the liquid disappears and small holes pock the surface; drag a spoon through, and if it leaves a track and the grain is tender with a tiny bite, stop.

5. 5

   Rest and fluff

   Take the pot off the heat and leave it covered until the grains finish swelling. If your lid drips, tuck a clean tea towel under it. Fluff from the bottom up with a fork or wooden spoon. If the grain is chalky, sprinkle in a little hot water and cover again; if it is wet, leave it uncovered for a few minutes and let the surface dry.

6. 6

   Crown with cracklings

   Fold the onion and enough of its fat through the millet to gloss every grain. Taste for salt and black pepper. Spoon the kasha into a big bowl, crown it with the shkvarky, and scatter over the dill. The cracklings go on top at the end: boil them and they lose their bite, but crown the hot millet and they stay crisp while their fat perfumes the whole bowl.

Chef Tips

• •Buy hulled millet that smells fresh, not stale or oily. Old millet turns bitter quickly, and washing can only do so much.
• •The scalding rinse matters. Aunt Nadia would call it fuss and then do it anyway, because she liked winning arguments with food.
• •Salo gives the cleanest shkvarky, pork belly gives meatier ones, and bacon makes a smokier, saltier pot. All work. Taste before adding extra salt.
• •If the pork is lean, add the spoon of unrefined sunflower oil. It keeps the onions generous and gives you that green-gold smell, Ukraine in a bottle of oil.
• •No pork at your table? Fry onions and mushrooms hard in unrefined sunflower oil until the edges brown and fold those through instead. It becomes a different kasha, a bit more modern, and still worth feeding to people.
• •Serve it with something sour: fermented cucumbers, pelustka, or tomatoes from the loud shelf. In August we'd eat fresh cucumbers by the fistful; in January we open a jar instead.

Advance Preparation

• •The millet can be washed, scalded, drained, and held for a few hours before cooking.
• •Render the shkvarky a day ahead if you like, but store the cracklings and fat separately. Warm the fat before folding it through, and add the cracklings only at the end.
• •Cooked kasha keeps for 3 days in the fridge. Reheat it in a covered pan with a splash of water, then refresh it with a little hot fat so the grains wake up again.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 255g)