What to cook with kefir: 3 recipes

How to choose and store kefir

Kefir is a tangy fermented milk drink, thinner than yoghurt and slightly fizzy. For cooking, plain, unflavoured kefir is what you want; fruit or sweetened versions will throw off both pancakes and cold soup. Fat content is a matter of taste: around 2.5–3.2% gives softer pancakes and a rounder okroshka, while low-fat kefir makes a lighter, sharper soup.

Check the date and buy the freshest pack for drinking and okroshka. Keep kefir in the coldest part of the fridge, tightly closed, and use an opened bottle within a few days. Kefir that has turned a little more sour than you like to drink is not wasted: it is perfect for baking, because the extra acidity reacts more strongly with baking soda. If it smells off, shows mould or has separated into an unpleasant, bitter mass, throw it out.

Tips for fluffy pancakes, cold okroshka and soft dough

• Warm kefir for oladyi. Take it out of the fridge in advance or warm it slightly; the soda reacts faster and the pancakes rise taller.
• Don't stir the batter after it rests. Bubbles are what make oladyi fluffy; scoop the batter gently from the edge of the bowl.
• Chill everything for okroshka. Cook the potatoes and eggs ahead, cool them completely, and pour very cold kefir just before serving so the vegetables stay crisp.
• Kefir dough rests well. For vareniki, let it sit covered for 20–30 minutes; it becomes softer and rolls out thinly without shrinking back.

A kefir week: what to cook with one big bottle

• Saturday breakfast: fluffy kefir pancakes with sour cream or jam.
• Hot weekday: okroshka with kefir; chop the base once and pour kefir into each bowl as you go.
• Sunday batch: vareniki with potato and fried onion, made in a large batch with the family.

Use the freshest kefir for okroshka first, then the slightly older remainder for pancakes and dough later in the week.

Leftovers, freezing, kids and budget

Uncooked vareniki freeze beautifully: lay them on a floured tray, freeze, then tip into a bag and boil straight from frozen. Cooked oladyi freeze too and reheat in a dry pan in a couple of minutes. Okroshka is best kept as separate chopped base and kefir, mixed per bowl.

Children like pancakes most and can help with scooping batter or pinching vareniki edges. Kefir, flour, potatoes and eggs are inexpensive, so this little set of recipes feeds a family generously on a modest budget.