Kissel - general principles and methods of preparation
Kissel is a sweet gelatinous dish. And get a drink or dessert from it, depends on the amount of starch introduced into the liquid. This is an original Russian dish. If earlier it was cooked on peas or oats, and it was sour, hence the name is “jelly”, i.e. sour, now they prefer sweet jelly. They are cooked from fresh (frozen) fruits and berries, cocoa, milk, oatmeal, dried fruits, jam. Starch acts as a thickener. Most often, potato, but sometimes corn or wheat.
Kissel - food preparation
Starch is one of the main components of this dish. Thanks to him, as if by magic, an ordinary compote turns into jelly. Before adding to the pan, the starch must be diluted with a cooled broth, juice or water. Usually it is diluted in a ratio of 1: 4 (one part of the starch is mixed with four parts of water). Starch solution should be poured into boiling liquid as quickly as possible, stirring intensively with a spoon. Otherwise, it forms lumps, because swells pretty quickly. For liquid jelly, you need to take 30 g of potato starch, medium density - 40 g and for thick - 70 g (per liter of liquid). If corn starch is used, its amount should be increased by 1.5-2 times, because it has a weaker viscosity. If the jelly is boiled on potato starch, then after boiling, it is immediately removed from the heat, and the jelly on corn starch should be boiled for another five minutes.
Kissel - the best recipes
Recipe 1: Cherry Jelly
At the mention of jelly, many have an association with a square briquette, which is sold in a store. Yes, it’s easy and convenient - dilute the cake mix with water and boil it. But a concentrate is a concentrate. Like jelly, but not the one that my grandmother or mother cooked. And if you cook the most natural jelly, from real berries or fruits, for example, cherries. There will be much more benefit. Moreover, it is cooked for one or two. By the same principle, other fruit or berry jelly is prepared.
Ingredients: 0.5kg of cherries (any frozen, fresh), sugar (to taste), starch - 6 tablespoons, water - 1.8l.
Cooking method
If the cherry is fresh, it should be poured with water and brought to a boil. If frozen, then throw immediately into boiling water without defrosting. As the water and berries boil, add sugar and boil for about ten minutes.
Dilute starch in half a glass of cold liquid and pour into boiling berry broth, stirring vigorously. As the mass begins to boil (the first large bulks appear), immediately turn off the fire.
Recipe 2: Milk Jelly with Yolks
A slightly modified version of the classic milk jelly. In this recipe, egg yolks are added. Kissel can be decorated by dropping any fresh berries into a glass. If you add frozen berries, then such a drink, if it does not quench your thirst, will pleasantly refresh you on a particularly sultry day. By consistency, the kissel should resemble kefir. Children with pleasure will drink this kissel to the fairy tale "Geese-swans", with milk rivers and jelly banks.
Ingredients: milk - 0.8l, sugar to taste, chicken yolks - 4 pcs., a bag of vanilla sugar, starch - 2 tbsp. l., optionally - zest of lemon, orange.
Cooking method
Grind the yolks with sugar until it dissolves. Dilute starch in an incomplete glass of cold milk. Pour sugar into the remaining milk according to the recipe and boil, then pour the diluted starch. The mass should be constantly disturbed so that there are no lumps. For convenience, you can use a whisk. Remove from heat. Kissel requires quick cooling. Therefore, you should put a container with jelly in a dish with cold water. While the jelly is cooling, it must be whipped. Add vanilla sugar and chopped zest to the cooled mass.
Recipe 3: Fruit and Milk Jelly
This work is no longer like a drink, but a dessert - delicious and healthy. Two-tone jelly will especially appeal to children. For fruit jelly, you can take any compote or juice. It is better if it is cranberry, cherry, blackcurrant, i.e. with intense coloring. The jelly turns out to be quite thick and is laid out in a bowl.
Ingredients - 0.5 l of milk, a bag of vanilla sugar, granulated sugar to taste, 0.5 l of compote (juice), 5 tbsp. starch (2.5 tbsp per milk and fruit base).
Cooking method
First you need to cook jelly from milk. In an incomplete glass of milk, dilute starch (2.5 tbsp). Pour the remaining milk into the pan, add sugar (regular and vanilla) and boil. Pour dissolved starch into a thin stream and mix thoroughly and quickly to avoid lumps. Remove from heat. For milk jelly, it is better to take corn starch, but you can also cook on potato. Put the thick milk mass in the bowls, bowls, or other small dishes, half-filling. The consistency should resemble thick semolina.
Cook by analogy with fruit jelly. Dilute the starch in a glass of compote, boil the remaining liquid and pour, stirring, the starch mass. At the first sign of boiling (gurgling bubbles appeared), remove from heat. Cool a little and put it on top of the milk. Let the dessert cool and serve. You can sprinkle with chopped mint leaves, powdered sugar, coconut, chocolate chips.
Recipe 4: Jelly for jam
If in summer you can cook jelly from fresh berries, then why not cook it from jam in winter. To do this, absolutely any jam, as well as jam, jam or twisted berries with sugar, is suitable.
Ingredients: jam, water - 1.5l, a pinch of citric acid, 4 tbsp. starch.
Cooking method
Dilute the jam in one and a half liters of water to make a fruit drink. Taste, if too sweet, add a little water, if not very sweet - put another jam in a spoon or two. If raspberry jam or twisted berries were used, it is recommended to strain the broth using a sieve, gauze or colander. Squeeze the cake, and put the fruit drink on the fire.
In an incomplete glass of water, dilute starch. Pour it into a boiled fruit drink. Do not forget to constantly intensively stir the liquid. As the jelly boils, remove from heat.
Kissel - useful tips from experienced chefs
Kissels, after adding potato starch, do not boil, but only bring to a boil. Because with prolonged boiling, the paste breaks down (loses its properties) and the consistency of jelly becomes watery.
To avoid the appearance on the jelly film, its surface should be sprinkled with powdered sugar.
Comments
