DessertAI

Syrnyky

Name: Syrnyky
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Ukrainian
Ingredients: 500 g Dry curd cheese (tvorog); 2 piece Eggs; 50 g Caster sugar; 80 g Plain flour; 3 g Fine sea salt; 5 ml Vanilla extract; 40 ml Sunflower oil; 150 g Sour cream, to serve

Ukrainian curd cheese pancakes, crisp at the edge and soft as custard inside. Breakfast in most houses, dessert in the rest, and twenty minutes either way.

Prep: 15 min
Cook: 15 min
Difficulty: Easy

About this dish

Syrnyky take their name from syr, which in Ukrainian means the fresh curd the cakes are made from rather than the aged cheese the word suggests in English. They belong to the economy of a household that keeps milk: yesterday's curd, an egg, and just enough flour to hold it together. Every family argues about that flour — too little and they collapse in the pan, too much and you have eaten a scone.

Vegetarian
Not vegan because of Dry curd cheese (tvorog), Eggs, Sour cream, to serve
Contains gluten because of Plain flour
Contains dairy because of Dry curd cheese (tvorog), Sour cream, to serve

Ingredients

4servings

500gDry curd cheese (tvorog)
2piecesEggs
50gCaster sugar
80gPlain flour
3gFine sea salt
5mlVanilla extract (optional)
40mlSunflower oil
150gSour cream, to serve

Instructions

Press the curd cheese through a sieve into a bowl, then mash in the eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla until smooth.
5 min
Tip: Sieving is the step not to skip: curd straight from the tub stays lumpy, and the lumps become dense spots that never cook through.
Add the flour and fold it in with as few strokes as it takes to bring the mixture together. It should stay soft and slightly sticky rather than firm.
3 min
Tip: Every extra turn develops gluten, and gluten is what makes a syrnyk rubbery instead of tender. Stop while it still looks a little untidy.
Dust a board with flour, roll the mixture into a log, cut it into eight and pat each piece into a puck about 2 cm thick. Coat lightly in flour.
5 min
Tip: Two centimetres is the compromise: thinner and they dry out before they colour, thicker and the middle is still cold when the outside is already dark.
Heat the oil in a wide pan over medium heat and fry the syrnyky for 5–6 minutes on each side, until deep gold and springy.
12 min
Tip: Medium heat, not high. Nothing inside is raw — the heat is there to set the egg and build a crust, and a hot pan does the second long before the first.
Serve warm, with the sour cream alongside.
2 min
Tip: They are at their best straight from the pan. Reheated, the crust softens and never quite returns.