Guryevskaya kasha
The Guryevskaya kasha combines many different flavors and aromas. It was not without reason that it was so popular among the Russian nobility. The layered dessert with semolina is creamy, fruity, nutty, spicy and simply special. It can also be prepared in many different ways. Use this recipe to make the Guryev porridge at home.
Servings 4
Ingredients
- approx. 1.2 l milk
- 300 g cream
- 20 g sugar
- zest of 1 organic lemon
- 1 pinch of salt
- 100 g semolina
- 30 g butter
- 1 pinch of ground vanilla bean
- butter for greasing the baking tin
- 90 g apricot jam
- 90 g raspberry jam
- 60 g walnut kernels roasted and finely chopped
- 30 g raisins
- 1 tbsp sugar for sprinkling
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Pour 1 l of milk into a larger baking tin and bake in a preheated oven at 392 °F (200 °C) for approx. 15 - 20 minutes until a skin forms, which is partially golden brown. Carefully remove the milk skin with a slotted spoon or fork and transfer to a clean plate. Place the milk back in the oven and bake for approx. 7 - 10 minutes until another milk skin forms, then remove it again. Repeat the process about 6 - 8 more times until you collect enough milk skin.
- Pour the leftover baked milk into a thick-bottomed saucepan and weigh it out. Pour in enough more milk so that you have a total of 400 ml milk in the saucepan.
- Add cream, sugar, lemon zest and salt to the milk, bring to the boil while stirring and reduce the heat.
- Sprinkle the semolina into the milk, stirring constantly, bring to the boil and continue to cook, stirring constantly, for approx. 2 - 3 minutes until it reaches a thick consistency.
- Remove the semolina porridge from the heat and immediately stir in butter and vanilla.
- Grease a casserole dish or baking tin that is not too large (in my case a rectangular 16 cm x 12 cm tin) with butter.
- Spread some semolina on the bottom of the baking tin and smooth it out. Place some milk skin on top. Add a few dollops of apricot and raspberry jam and sprinkle walnuts and raisins on top. Repeat the layers of semolina, milk skin, jam, nuts and raisins until everything is used up, making the last layer from the semolina.
- Sprinkle the layered dessert with sugar and cinnamon and bake in a preheated oven at 392 °F (200 °C) for approx. 15 minutes.
- Leave the Guryevskaya kasha to cool slightly and serve warm.
Notes
- The milk skin gives the Guryev porridge a creamy and slightly caramelized note. Optionally, you can leave it out if you want to save yourself the effort.
- You can take the milk skin off the baked milk when you have prepared it.
- Use as large a casserole dish as possible to bake the milk. This will give you more milk skin at once.
- For this recipe you need a cooked semolina porridge with a firm consistency and not a runny porridge.
- Adjust the amount of sugar for the semolina porridge to your taste and depending on how sweet your toppings are.
- Instead of jam and raisins, you can use various dried, candied, can or fresh fruits.
- You can replace walnuts with other nuts, kernels or seeds.
- You can also add a little honey or fruit syrup to the layers.
- Refine the semolina porridge with any spices of your choice.
- You can divide the layered dessert into several small baking tins to serve them individually after baking.
- See the detailed tips and tricks for making the Guryevskaya kasha at the top of the article.