Kurnik (Russian chicken pie)

Savoury Pastry | Russian

Kurnik is a big and hearty Russian pie (pirog) filled with meat, grain porridge (kasha), nuts, mushrooms, potatoes and other vegetables. Traditionally, kurnik was considered a dish served for festive events like wedding or religious holidays. In case of a wedding, kurniks were made for both spouses. Then they were broken in two over the heads of a newly married couple. The name of the dish is probably associated with one of the fillings, specifically, with chicken. The traditional kurnik has several types of layered fillings, with the pancakes laid between the layers. Nowadays, kurniks are mostly prepared in a simpler way, with one kind of filling.

Ingredients

For pancakes: flour – 2 cups
milk – 3 cups
egg – 2 pcs.
sugar – 4 tsp.
salt – 1 tsp.
vegetable oil – 2 tbsp. For the filling: chicken – 1 piece weighing 2 kg
hard-boiled eggs – 2 pcs.
onion – 2 bulbs
dry porcini mushroom – 50 g
buckwheat flakes – 0,5 cup
vegetable oil – 0,5 tbsp.
butter – 4 tbsp.+ a little for greasing
dill – 0,5 bundle
flour – 2 tbsp.
parsley – 0,5 bundle
salt – to taste. For the dough: butter – 125 g
sour cream – 125 g
egg – 2 pcs.
flour – 2 cups

Preparation method (receipt)

Wash the chicken and cut it in half. Put in a pot with water and bring to the boil. Skim off the foam and season. Cook for 40 minutes. Then cool the chicken, remove the skin and bones and cut the meat into pieces. While the chicken is boiling, rinse and dry the buckwheat. Fry it in a dry preheated frying pan for 3-4 minutes. Boil 1 glass of water, add salt, pour 0.5 tbsp. vegetable oil and pour in the grain. Cook until done. Add 1 tbsp. butter in the finished porridge. Soak mushrooms in hot water for 10 minutes, then rinse and cut. Peel onion and slice into semi-circles. Warm up 1 tbsp butter in a frying pan, fry onions and mushrooms for 5 min. Bake pancakes. To do this, slightly beat up the eggs, add milk, salt, sugar and vegetable oil. Pour in flour, stirring constantly. Heat the frying pan, grease with a little oil. Pour in the dough in small portions, fry for 1 minute, turn to the other side and fry for 0.5 minutes. Transfer the pancakes to the plate, oiling them with butter. Chop eggs to bits. Add mushrooms with onions and eggs to the prepared buckwheat, salt to taste and stir. Wash, dry and grind parsley and dill. Melt the remaining butter in a frying pan, add flour and a little chicken broth. Stir until smooth. Put the chicken meat, stir again and remove from fire. Overstrew with greens. Prepare dough for the kurnik. Sift flour, add melted butter, sour cream and eggs. Knead dough. Put the dough on a floured surface and knead until it is smooth and elastic. Roll 1/3 of the dough into a thin circle. Put it on a baking sheet oiled and covered with a sheet of parchment. Place 2-3 pancakes in the dough circle center. Put part of the chicken filling on a pancake. Cover with 2-3 pancakes. Lay part of the buckwheat filling from above. Cover with pancakes again. Continue placing in layers until all the pancakes and the filling expire. Roll out the remaining dough in a large circle and use it to cover the kurnik. Pinch the edges of the pie at the bottom. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Make 3 holes on top of the pie and insert paper tubes into them. Place in the oven and bake for 45 minutes.