In America, we think of blintzes as crepes filled with cheese served best in old-fashioned Jewish delis.
Ukrainian Chicken-Filled Blintzes
In Russia, the word blintz refers to the crepe itself. A traditional meal at any Ukranian/Russian table, blintzes are a special treat that can be enjoyed in a variety of ways, whether served by themselves, paired with caviar, or filled with a sweet or savory stuffing. This recipe takes a traditional chicken stuffing and adds an ingredient our family discovered in California—jicama—to add a nice texture to the mixture.
Ingredients
Blintzes
- 5 cups milk
- 2 cups flour
- 4 eggs
- 3 tbsp. vegetable oil
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/4 cup sugar
Filling
- 4 cups cooked chicken (breast or thigh meat is fine)
- 2 medium onions
- 4 medium carrots
- 1/4-1/2 of a medium sized jicama
- 1/2 cup chicken broth or water
- 2 tsp. herb seasoning (Mrs. Dash or similar), or 1 tbsp. fresh chopped herbs (dill, thyme, parsley or combination thereof)
- salt
- pepper
Directions
- Whisk eggs, sugar, oil and salt in medium bowl. Whisk in milk. Add flour and stir enough to remove most lumps. Cover bowl and place in refrigerator 20 or more minutes.
- Remove mixture from refrigerator and heat a 8" saucepan over medium heat. Oil the pan and when a drop of water will skip across the surface of the pan, ladle a small amount of the batter into the pan, swirling it so it coats the entire bottom. Once the bottom has browned, flip over and cook the other side until golden spots appear. Flip onto a plate, lightly-oil the pan again, and repeat the process.
- To make the filling, pulse chicken in food processor with steel blade attachment several times until finely minced. Set aside. Peel, dice and fry onion until golden brown. Peel carrots and jicama. Shred the carrots and jicama in food processor or with a grater, and add to onion mixture. Stir to combine. Add salt, pepper, and herbs and saute on low heat for 15 minutes or until carrots are soft. Pulse onion-carrot mixture in a food processor with steel blade several times until finely minced. Mix with chicken, and add chicken broth if too dry. It should be able to clump together.
- To form blintzes, take a blintz and place it in front of you. Add 1 1/2-2 tbsp. filling in in a horizontal sausage shape 1/3 of the way up from the bottom edge. Fold bottom edge of blintz over filling, and then fold both sides inwards. Roll blintz forward until closed. Set aside and repeat with remaining blintzes.
- To serve, heat oil in a saucepan, and place blintzes, seam side down on low heat. Press to flatten. Once golden crust has formed on one side, flip and fry other side until golden. Serve immediately with a choice of toppings such as dill or sour cream.