Shpondry with beets

Today I`d like to share with you a receipe of old Ukrainian dish. Shpondry…

Shpondry with beets

1. Naming
2. what is it?
3. cooking Shpondry
   
   1.Naming
   Name of the dish does not have any translation and backs to the origns that even I can not dig out – and believe me, I tried. Probably it is too ancient. Unfortunately, written sources about pre 16c Ukrainian cuisine are very limited and Spondry are first mentioned in the burlesque poem of Kotlyarevsky “Eneida” in 1798. And there it is given as a very ordinady old dish, as usual as borsch or porridge (but much more fancy)
   Sometimes it is named Shpondra (single) but Spondry (plural) is more authentic to me. to say Spondry – say SH – as in shoes POND – as the word pond actually and DR as in driver and Y as in nYmph. And stress the O sound.
   2. what is Spondry itself?
   It is a dish that consists of pieces of meat that is stewed with vegetables. Some receipies request using of beet kvass, but this is a little bit modified one, w\o beet kvass.
   3. cooking Shpondry
   you will need:

• a piece of pork (pigs are very popular meat animals through all history of habitat on the territory of novadays Ukraine)
  you may use ribs or any boneless piece.
• fat or oil – you may use rendered pork or beef fat, in this case the dish will be more heavy or olive, hemp or ( step forward the modern era) sunflower oil
• frying pan
• red beets. Take an list 2 weight parts of beets for 1 part of meat. Try to get as sweet beets as you can.
• black pepper
• onion – 0.5 of the meet weight
• garlic
• plums, fresh or pickled, w/o bones. Dry smoked plums may be used too, but they have more dence taste and may be too bright.
• salt
• sugar (optional)
• vinegar. better aple but any will do (optional)

Cut the meat into the pieces appr. 1.5-2 inches long and wide. No need to make them equal.
Put them in the hot pan with a little fat of oil.
While it cooks peel and cut the beets into pieces approximately 1/4 quarter size of meat pieces. Taste your beets. The sweeter the better.
Showel meat on the pan a little bit. cook the meat ontill it will have tasty looking golden sides.
Here you may add a little bit offat or oil if your meat is lean.
Add pepper.
Add cut beets and let them fry in the oil. Do not cover the lid.
Cut onions and cloves of garlic.
Be not afraid of garlic. you may put whole head of garlic or more if you like for 1 kg of meat.
Add onions and garlic to the pan and mix with the rest. Cut plums in quarters or eights but not smaller.
When your meat will become brown as a red clay pot – add plums.
Taste it. You need to feel meat, sweetness of beets and little of sourness from plums.
Use smallest amounts of sugar and vinegar to balance sweetness and sourness. You may use the beet kvass instead of vinegar as well. But you need to keep tha jar with fermenting beets somewhere in the basement and not everyone can do this.
Than add a little bit of salt and taste again untill you like it.
You may see juices of vegetables in the pan – decrease your heat and let the water evaporate an oils incorpoTaste the beets – if they are not soft and fully cooked but ther is no more juices in the pan for stewing the dish – add a little bit of boiling hot water, mix and cover a pan with a lid. In couple of minutes taste again. Do this untill you like how the beets are cooked.

Taste the beets – if they are not soft and fully cooked but ther is no more juices in the pan for stewing the dish – add a little bit of boiling hot water, mix and cover a pan with a lid. In couple of minutes taste again. Do this untill you like how the beets are cooked.

Eat it hot or cold with dark bread or what have you.
I took the image from youtube channel, my shpondry are much more violet in colour)

BTW you definetely need to check out this channel – it is called Nashi Besahy https://www.youtube.com/@nashi.besahy