Take an Eastern European Tour via These Hearty, Low-cost Recipes

Being from the Deep South, I must admit that "comfort foods" is a term that means a lot to my tastebuds. But I'm lucky--I find comfort in almost any food! It need not be, for example, Southern banana pudding or pork barbecue (even though writing those words is indeed making me very hungry...).

Some of my favorite foods are from places far away--especially Eastern European dishes. Not only are these foods delicious and hearty, but they are made from basic, inexpensive ingredients like flour, carrots, cabbage, eggs, and other low-cost items that I tend to already have on hand.   And it's like taking a mini-vacation at dinnertime!

Here are some of my favorites:

Walnut Chicken Soup from Georgia: Georgian as in the republic south of Russia, not the state near Alabama. This incredible soup (called "satsivi" in Georgia) can be described as heaven in a bowl. It's made from ground walnuts and garlic, mixed with vinegar, coriander, and, my favorite part, ground marigold (yes, the flower--tastes similar to saffron...). Here's a pretty authentic satsivi recipe--except Georgians insist this dish does NOT contain onions. This is the most expensive dish on the list to prepare--and that's just due to the walnuts, which I buy on sale.

Russian Potato Salad: The Russian dish "olivei" is technically a salad, but add a piece of French bread and it's a whole meal. Warning: this dish may not look super exciting, but many people find it to be addictive. It's made with boiled vegetables, eggs and mayonnaise. No olives in this salad, despite that the name looks a lot like the word "olive" (it's pronounced ah-leev-yay). Here's a link to an olivei recipe (many people use peas rather than cucumber...).

Beet Soup from the Ukraine: This soup is made from beets, cabbage, beef and potatoes. While it originated in the Ukraine, Russians eat it constantly. They serve it with sour cream, which initially seemed like the grossest thing I could possibly add to warm soup until I tried it. Then, as with olivei salad, addiction sets in. Here's a borsch recipe, but add beef cube to make it real. It doesn't get much cheaper than cabbage, beets and potatoes.

Rice Pilaf from Ubekistan: This dish called "plov" is made of rice, meat, onion, and spices. This dish is actually Central Asian, but it was so popular throughout the former USSR that many Eastern European countries have their own variations (Middle Eastern countries fix a similar dish called plavi--each region uses slightly different ingredients and cooking methods). Here's a plov recipe with a photograph that makes me very hungry.

Dumplings: All of the Eastern European and Central Asian countries seem to have their own dumpling dish--all incredibly tasty and all slightly different. In Kyrgyzstan, the dish is called "manty." (Here's a recipe for Kyrgyz manty.) I don't think you can purchase these in the U.S., but you can buy Russian dumplings called "pelmeny" that have a similar taste.  Get them at any Russian grocery store in Los Angeles for under $5 for a package. A family of four or five needs only two packages to feel really nice and full.

Meat-filled Potato Cakes from Lithuania: No matter how you cut it, these potato cakes (called "cepliani" in Lithuanian) do not look appetizing--but don't be deceived! Pretty clever to wrap the meat in potato instead of flour, don't you think? Then they top it with bacon and eat it with sour cream. That sounds about as unhealthy as Aussie cheese fries from The Outback, but they taste even better! Here's a Potato Cakes recipe, but the instructions scare me. I'll leave this one to experts like Foodie Daddy.

What are some of your favorite foods from "exotic" places? Or do you just like to stick to the foods you've already tested and tried?