These old school Polish pancakes are lighter, fluffier, and cheesier than the batter-based standard. The batter—really more of a dough made from cottage cheese and egg barely bound together with flour—is sliced into rounds and baked, rather than cooked in a pan. Be careful not to overwork it when adding flour; the pancakes should be fall-apart tender.

Featured in: “Old School Pancakes So Good They Don’t Need a Pan.”

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Floral poppy seeds perfume tart fresh blueberries in the filling for borůvkový koláč, a traditional Czech dessert. The seeds must be ground to release their flavor; buy them pre-ground from Kalustyan’s, or grind whole seeds as finely as possible using a spice grinder, blender, meat grinder, or mortar and pestle. Poppy seeds turn rancid quickly, so buy them from a source with reliable turnover, then store whatever’s left in the freezer. When lining the pan with dough in step 1, it may be helpful to use the bottom of a water glass to press it into an even layer.

Featured in “Flower Power,” by Gabriella Gershenson. 

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This Passover, consider ditching the usual jarred gefilte and make your own instead. This gefilte fish recipe is lighter, fresher, and less cloying than the dense, oblong patties found on the shelves of Jewish groceries next to the matzo ball mix and egg noodles. Those who enjoy a sweet-and-sour taste should double or triple the sugar. Horseradish is an essential accompaniment. 

Featured in “You Never Forget Your First Gefilte Fish,” by Anya von Bremzen.

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The best vegetarian borscht recipes are as closely guarded as state secrets. This chunky, beet-based soup, common in countries throughout Eastern Europe, is adapted from a version recorded by the late spy Markus Wolf, better known as the “man without a face.”

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Zhizhig galnash, beef and dumplings with pungent garlic sauce, is Chechnya’s national dish. Benjamin Kemper learned to make it at Nazy’s Guest House in Pankisi, Georgia, a remote valley inhabited by ethnically Chechen Muslims called Kists. You don’t need any special equipment to make the pasta dough, which is surprisingly easy (and quick!) to shape. Don’t let the short ingredient list fool you—it amounts to a decadent, impressive feast. Use the best beef you can afford. The broth can be made up to four days in advance (do not skim the fat; it’s pure flavor).

Featured in “Muslim Georgia: A Journey to the Hidden Kitchens of the Kists,” by Benjamin Kemper.

Note: If bone-in shanks are unavailable, substitute 4 lb. beef chuck plus 2 lb. small marrowbones.

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Welcome to One Pot Bangers, Benjamin Kemper’s column, where you’ll find our freshest, boldest cooking ideas that require just one pot, skillet, or sheet pan. Busy week? We’ve got you covered with these low-effort, high-reward recipes from around the globe.

Khachapuri adjaruli, that internet-famous carbo-kayak jammed with cheese, eggs, and butter, seems to get all the attention when it comes to Georgian food. But the more time I spend in Georgia, the more enamored I become with the country’s subtler, lesser-known vegetable dishes such as ajapsandali. 

Ajapsandali is a spicy, rib-sticking vegetable stew made with eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, and—importantly—fistfuls of fresh herbs. It also happens to be vegan. Reminiscent of ratatouille and pisto manchego, it’s bolder than both in the flavor department—so much so that (lo siento) I no longer make pisto, despite living in Madrid.

Compared to Georgia’s fussier, technique-heavy recipes like satsivi (turkey cooked in walnut sauce) and khinkali (soup dumplings), ajapsandali is basically a free-for-all, a blank canvas ideally suited to recipe-averse cooks: No one is getting canceled for making ajapsandali “wrong.” After all, depending on the region and the cook, the stew might arrive bobbing with carrots and potatoes in addition to the standard late-summer veg. Spices—most commonly coriander and blue fenugreek—are usually in the background jazzing things up, though they’re not always present. Ground chiles or ajika, Georgia’s fiery red pepper condiment, give the dish its signature kick. 

My favorite version of ajapsandali contains a mix of cilantro and parsley, though Dark Opal basil, dill, and celery leaves are frequent foliage add-ins. Peering over the shoulder of Georgian chefs like Meriko Gubeladze (of Tbilisi’s Shavi Lomi) has taught me that the key to the dish’s multilayered freshness is dropping in chopped herbs at different stages of the cooking process, as South Asians are wont to do with spices. 

In Kakheti, Georgia’s wine country, locals drizzle piping-hot bowls of ajapsandali with unrefined sunflower oil, whose sesame-like scent, paired with the cilantro and garlic, always transports me a couple of thousand miles east. In Imereti, in the center of the country, cooks make a thick, relish-like ajapsandali that’s eaten chilled alongside grilled meats. And in Samegrelo, farther west, the dish is spicy enough to make your nose run. No matter the region, ajapsandali always comes with a basket of tonispuri, Georgia’s chewy quintessential bread licked by the flames of a tandoor-style tone oven.

At home, I make do with the crustiest baguette I can find. After ladling out bowls of steaming ajapsandali, I like to pass around a jug of olive oil for friends to pour from liberally. Then I pray for leftovers: Few dishes brighten one’s morning like a bowl of the reheated stew topped with crumbled feta and a runny fried egg. Khachapuri who?

Ingredients

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This classic, crispy potato latkes recipe comes to us from New York City’s beloved appetizing store, Zabar’s. Don’t overmix your batter and remember: The thinner the latke, the crisper the fry. Adjust the thickness of your potato pancakes to your own preference by using the back of a fork to press them down directly into the hot oil.

This latkes recipe is adapted from the new book Zabar’s: A Family Story, with Recipes, by Lori Zabar, published by Shocken. Text © 2022 Lori Zabar.

Featured in: “This 88-Year-Old Delicatessen Is Still Where Jewish New Yorkers Get Their Latkes.”

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Eingemachtes can refer to a variety of jams and confections. This beet version comes from baker Ellen Gray’s grandmother, Dorothy, who served the treat as a part of her Passover Seder. Chremsel (sweet matzo fritters) were a fixture on Gray’s other grandmother, Minnie’s table. Here, she swaps out the traditional dried fruit filling for a seasonal rhubarb. Paired together, the two dishes make for a fresh and modern take on old-school Ashkenazic Passover dessert. 

Featured in “Our Favorite Passover Dessert Recipes Offer a Chance to Pause, Reflect—and Try Out New Ingredients.”

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When Elyssa Heller, owner of Edith’s Eatery & Grocery in Brooklyn, was growing up, her mom made matzo ball soup every year for Passover. But she also prepared the dish throughout the entire year—for Heller whenever she was sick, or even for regular weeknight dinners. 

Today, Heller considers this belly-warming recipe, which has evolved throughout the decades, a symbol of the long and winding journey of Jewish people to America. Her mom added her own interpretations to the traditional techniques—like roasting the chicken separately and including lots of parsnip in the broth—resulting in a richer, sweeter matzo ball soup that Heller considers comfort in a bowl.
Featured in: “For My Family, This Passover Staple Is Year-Round Comfort Food.”

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Born during the Stalinist era in the Black Sea port of Odessa, Larisa Frumkin grew up eating her mother’s varenyky, a staple dumpling of Ukrainian and Russian cooking. However, as an outspoken critic of the repressive Soviet regime, she was exiled with her young daughter Anya von Bremzen in 1974. The two arrived in the United States with two suitcases and no chance of return. (Von Bremzen would eventually document their story in her cookbooks Please to the Table and Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking.) Frumkin currently lives in Jackson Heights, New York and teaches how to prepare dishes like these dumplings at multinational cooking school The League of Kitchens. She recommends a traditional filling of fresh farmer’s cheese, a tangy pressed cottage cheese known as tvorog or syr in most Slavic countries. Frumkin teaches that the easiest way to roll out the dough is using a pasta sheeter, but a rolling pin also works fine. You can make sweet or savory varenykys by either adding sugar to the cheese or salt. This  sweet version is traditionally served with preserved sour cherries and sour cream.

Featured in “Upstate New York’s Ukrainian Community Rallies for Ukraine—One Pierogi At A Time.”

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