Maslenitsa: Thick Pancakes with Red Currants 'Kissel' Sauce

I decided to post the recipes I liked here in the blog parallel to the postcards theme. Won't be posting many recipes though. It still is a postcards blog in the first place. :P Oh, got one more postcard while I was cooking the pancakes. It's an official from Netherlands that was bought by the sender in an antique shop in France. :]

The following week the Orthodox and Russian folk tradition celebrates a holiday called "Maslenitsa" (from Russian "maslo" - butter) also known as the Butter or Pancake Week. It is celebrated during the last week before the Great Lent (7th week before the Easter holiday, Orthodox religious calendar in this case).
The pagan side of the holiday: It celebrates the end of Winter, during the week people eat round yellow pancakes that represent the sun, play games like snowball fights and visit relatives and on the last day of the week - Forgiveness Sunday - burn on a bonfire the symbol of this holiday - a straw doll representing Maslenitsa (or Kostroma) and Winter itself.
The religious side of the holiday: The beginning of Great Lent is traditionally tied to the beginning of Spring. During the Maslenitsa week people aren't allowed to eat meat already, so rich foods like pancakes (butter, eggs and milk) are eaten instead.

Thick Pancakes with Red Currants 'Kissel' Sauce

The Pancakes

Ingredients (for 2-4 people):   

3 eggs

150 ml milk

130 g flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

small pinch of salt

cooking oil

Cooking (cooking time about 30 minutes):

Separate egg yolks and whites. Put the yolks into a bowl, add milk and mix well. Add flour, baking powder and salt to the bowl and mix the dough well. Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks and carefully add to the dough. Bake small pancakes on a hot pan using a bit of oil.

The Sauce

Ingredients:

400 gr frozen red currants (or other berries)

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon potato starch

Cooking (about 7-10 minutes):

Put frozen berries and sugar into a pot and cook the berries and the juice (from unfreezing the berries) until boils. Dissolve the starch in some water and gradually add to the berries while stirring at the same time. To be sure the sauce isn't too thick don't pour all starch at once. Cook for some more seconds till thickens and serve. If the sauce is really thick - you can also serve it as a separate dessert called "Kissel". Serve Kissel as it is or with milk.

Enjoy! :]

P.S. Copyright to all photos to recipes belongs to me. If you want to use the photos somewhere - ask me for permission or at least inform me. Thanks!