The best recipes for Christmas

The Slovak Christmas tradition is rich in customs and traditions that go back to the ancient past, but even today they create the right magical atmosphere.

Christmas is based on the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ and the pre-Christian celebration of the winter solstice. Their peak is Christmas Day, originally associated with magical rituals ensuring abundance, health and happiness. 

The main event of Christmas Day is a joint dinner, after which Santa arrives with gifts. Most children in preschool age believe that gifts are really brought by an invisible Santa, to whom they previously sent their wishes in the form of a letter written with their parents or painted by hand.

Where did Christmas traditions come from?

Gifts are given under a decorated tree, usually a conifer, while living trees have been replaced in many families by increasingly perfect artificial imitations. The decoration of the tree comes from Germany, where it is documented at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. In Slovakia, however, the tree did not appear until the 19th century, and since then it has become a symbol of Christmas, first in cities and then in villages. It is decorated with lights, candles and other decorations symbolizing light and hope.

Christmas markets, the largest of which are in Bratislava, Košice and Žilina, have become a traditional meeting place for acquaintances, work colleagues and family. Visitors can warm themselves with a glass of mulled wine or punch, taste baked cookies, buy handicrafts and soak up the cozy Christmas atmosphere thanks to the accompanying program.

Christmas customs and traditions

Slovakia is rich in various pre-Christmas and Christmas customs. For example, on Ondrej, girls and young women are used to pouring lead into water through the eye of a key, and from the resulting shapes they then guess what profession their husband will have. Or the girls write the names of boys on 24 pieces of paper for Ondrej, put them under their pillow, and from December 1 throw one away every morning after waking up. The one who stays with them on Christmas Eve will tell them what their future husband's name will be. Or on Barbora, generous girls put a cherry blossom in a vase, and if it blooms by Christmas day, a wedding within a year is certain! On Lucia's day, girls dressed in white with floured faces come to sweep the corners of the house with goose feathers in order to expel evil forces from the house.

On Christmas Day, many people decide to fast until dinner, or at least they don't eat meat. 

Christmas Eve dinner begins in many families with prayer and thanksgiving to God. During the Christmas dinner, the father of the family cuts an apple crosswise - if a star remains from the core, the family will be healthy, if a cross, someone in the family will get sick or die. The legs of the table are chained together to keep the family together. On Christmas Eve, fish is eaten as a symbol of Jesus Christ. In the past it was true that on Christmas Day food should be eaten animal without legs, on the first Christmas holiday animal with two legs and on Stephen's Day animal with four legs. On Christmas Eve, carp scales or money are placed under the tablecloth so that the family will prosper throughout the year and have plenty of money. Even the food during the Christmas dinner has its own symbolism - garlic is supposed to ensure health, bread for daily sustenance, honey to be nice and kind to people. There is an extra plate on the table - for random travelers or as a memory of the deceased who can no longer sit with us at the Christmas dinner table.

Fried carp with potato salad in a healthier version

A main unit on the Christmas table is fried carp (or other fish) with potato salad.

When preparing it, you will definitely appreciate the Orava Airy-4 hot air fryer, whose well-thought-out design and ventilation technology with 1,700 watts enables revolutionary food preparation without fat. You will save almost 60 percent of the time, while the finished food will be as juicy and crispy as possible.

Ingredients for carp:

●      4 carp fillets

●      salt, pepper

●      flour, egg, breadcrumbs for coating

●      a little olive oil – food preparation is much healthier in a hot air fryer, without using a large amount of fat

Procedure:

1. Salt and pepper the fillets and let them rest for half an hour.
2. Coat the carp in flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs.
3.  Select the desired program and turn on the Orava Airy-4 hot air fryer.

Ingredients for potato salad:

• 1 kg of boiled potatoes
• 2 boiled eggs
• 2 sterilized cucumbers
• 1 small onion
• sterilized peas
• mayonnaise (according to taste, you can mix it with yogurt)
• salt, pepper, mustard

Procedure:

1. Boil the potatoes in their skins, peel them and cut them into cubes (using a strainer).
2. Add chopped eggs, cucumbers, onions and peas.
3. Season with mayonnaise, salt, pepper and a little mustard. 

 

 

 

Christmas fish soup otherwise also without flour

 

In addition to cabbage soup, you can also prepare fish soup for the Christmas dinner table. Don't forget to take advantage of the Orava RM-207 kitchen mixer, whose 1.5-liter container is completely sufficient for the preparation of bulky foods. Therefore, you do not need parts of fish or root vegetables to cut, they fit comfortably in the container, and thanks to its performance, the blender mixes food comfortably even very finely. Place the parts of the fish that you have peeled and deboned on a plate. Some people like soup as a broth, others in the form of a thick creamy soup. You can also use root vegetables. You don't have to cut it, just put it together with the broth in the Orava RM-207 blender. Its container is large enough to hold whole pieces of vegetables. Thanks to its performance, the blender blends food very finely, so if there are small cubes in it, it can also handle them. However, the soup must be strained through a sieve. 

The material from which the container is made does not capture the odors or taste of food, and is therefore perfect for preparing homemade soups or sauces.

Ingredients:

• carp head, eggs and milk
• 1 carrot, parsley, celery
• 1 onion
• bay leaf, allspice, black pepper
• butter, plain flour for the roast
• nutmeg
• fresh parsley

Procedure:

1. Boil the head, carcass and eggs together with root vegetables and spices in a pot for 45 minutes, then strain the broth.
2. Remove the head and bones. Set the meat and vegetables aside on a plate.
3. Pour the strained broth into the blender and add the vegetables. Mix everything together to create a soup with an amazing creamy consistency.
4. If you want, you can also add a light roast to the soup if you want the soup to be even thicker. 
5. Boil eggs and milk in a small pot. Sweetheart, turn the innards and cook for another 10 minutes. Add roe broth to the soup. Thanks to this, it will be even more pronounced.
6. Cut the milk, the meat from the head and bones, and the heart into smaller pieces and add them to the soup.
7. At the end, season the soup with nutmeg and a sprig of parsley. You can also add a buttered bun cut into 1 x 1 cm pieces to the soup.
    

Christmas cake generous

A popular cake, which cannot be missing from the Christmas table in many families, is the so-called generous man. This sourdough cake doesn't skimp on anything - it has a good portion of poppy seeds, cottage cheese, nuts and jam. The Orava Chefino-M kitchen mixer will help you prepare sourdough. If you don't have this cake on your Christmas Eve table, try baking it this year - its preparation is really fast thanks to the robot. You will be pleasantly surprised how adults and children will enjoy it. 

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 300 g semi-coarse flour
• 20 g of yeast
• 150 ml of lukewarm milk
• 50 g of powdered sugar
• 1 KL of vanilla sugar
• 1 tbsp of grated lemon peel
• 70 g of butter
• 1 yolk
• a pinch of salt
• butter for erasing the mold
• egg for brushing
  

Cheese filling:

• 200 g of cottage cheese
• 1 yolk
• 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp of vanilla sugar
• ½ KL of grated lemon peel
  

Poppy filling:

• 100 g ground poppy seeds
• 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar
• 1 KL of cinnamon sugar
• 2 tablespoons of hot milk
  

Nut filling:

• 100 g ground walnuts
• 2 tablespoons of hot milk
• 1 tbsp powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons of vanilla sugar
  
  

Jam filling:

• 100 g of plum jam 
  
  

Procedure:

1. Prepare the yeast: mix 100 ml of lukewarm milk with 20 g of yeast, 1 tsp. of sugar and 1 tsp. of flour. Leave to rise in a warm place for 15 minutes.
2. Mix the sifted flour with powdered and vanilla sugar, add salt, grated lemon peel, melted butter, yolk mixed with the remaining milk and leavened yeast.
3. Using the Chefino-M kitchen mixer, make a semi-solid dough, which you leave to rise in a warm place for another 30 minutes. 
4. In the meantime, prepare the fillings - mix all the necessary ingredients for the cottage cheese filling together, separately prepare the walnut and poppy seed fillings in the same way.
5. Press the risen dough into a circle on a greased baking sheet. Leave a slightly raised edge around the perimeter. Spoon all the fillings, including the jam, onto the dough, starting from the middle. Brush the edge of the cake with beaten egg. You can add raisins on top. Bake for about 30 minutes at a temperature of 180 to 200 °C.

Source of recipe and photos: varecha.pravda.sk

We wish you a wonderful Christmas and bon appetit!