Cabbage blini with eggs& hot sauce

Brunch Weekend project

Serves 4

Prep 20 min

Cook 40 min

This recipe started on one side of the globe and ended up on the other. Buckwheat blinis and kefir are staples in Eastern Europe, long before kefir became a gut-health fix in the West. Often used as a buttermilk substitute in baking, kefir adds a subtle tang, while fried cabbage brings a nod to okonomiyaki. Topped with eggs, hot sauce, and more of that good-for-your-gut liquid gold, it’s a hearty way to kick off Pancake Day. Fried, scrambled, or boiled? We couldn’t decide—it’s delicious with any, so take your pick.

Ingredients

100g	plain flour
100g	buckwheat flour
2 tsp	caster sugar
½ tsp	baking powder
¼ tsp	baking soda
550ml	kefir (the runny drinkable kind, not yoghurt)
6	eggs
1 tbsp	olive oil
30g	unsalted butter, melted, plus 70g extra for frying
50g	cream cheese
½	sweetheart cabbage, finely shredded (240g)
8	rashers of streaky bacon
50ml	hot sauce (we used Valentina Salsa Picante)
10g	chives, finely chopped
	fine sea salt

Method

Whisk together both flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and 1 teaspoon salt. In a separate bowl whisk together 450 millilitres kefir, 2 eggs, and oil. Add the wet ingredients to the dry bowl in stages, combining with spatula, until a smooth batter is formed. Mix in the melted butter, and set aside.
Whisk together the cream cheese, remaining kefir, and ¼ teaspoon salt. Set aside.
Place a 20cm non-stick frying pan over medium high heat and lightly butter. When hot, add ¼ of the cabbage (about 60 grams) in an even layer, and let cook untouched for about 30 seconds until beginning to brown. Ladle over ¼ of the pancake batter (about 200 grams), swirling the pan to distribute evenly. Cook for about 3 minutes, or until the edges of the pancake are set and beginning to brown.
Carefully flip the pancake over and cook for about 2 minutes. Remove the pancake to a tray and keep warm while you repeat the process with the remaining cabbage and batter. Set aside somewhere warm.
Return the pan to medium high heat and fry the bacon until crispy. Set aside on the pancake tray.
Return the pan to medium high heat and lightly butter. When hot, fry the eggs until the whites are set and the yolks still runny. Set aside.
To serve, place each pancake on a plate. Lay an egg on each pancake along with 2 bacon rashers each. Drizzle over the cream cheese mix and dab the hot sauce around. Sprinkle with chives, and serve immediately.