Paskha (Russian Easter No Bake Cottage Cheese Cake) Recipe

Paskha and kulich cakes are traditionally cooked and eaten at Russian Orthodox Easter to break the fast. This is a Paskha recipe that is used in my family for more than 100 years. See this recipe and this recipe for the alternative methods and some useful tips.

Utensils

• Paskha mould (or pudding bowl, if unavailable);
• Thin cotton cloth (or gauze folded several times) to line the mould;
• A colander;
• A saucepan;
• A meat grinder or a food processor;
• Mortar and pestle, if you are using cardamom pods;
• Small grater, if you are using the whole nutmeg.

Ingredients

• 1.5kg cottage cheese;
• 300ml sugar;
• 500g butter;
• 6 eggs.

• 200ml walnuts and/or almonds;
• 400ml raisins/dry apricots (whatever you like);
• 1tbsp cognac;
• Nutmeg, whole or ground, to taste;
• Cardamom, in pods (7 or 8 pods) or ground, to taste;
• Vanilla extract, to taste.

Directions

1. Drain cottage cheese: wrap it in a cloth, put it in the colander and put something heavy (1kg+) on top of it, put it all in the refrigerator and leave for a few hours to drain;
2. Place raisins and dry apricots into a bowl, wash them if needed, then add some water, and allow them to soften. Pat dry when sufficiently moist;
3. If you are using the whole nutmeg, grind it (better quality than ready-made grind nutmeg);
4. If you are using cardamom pods, peel the seeds and crush them using a mortar and pestle (better quality than ready-grind cardamom);
5. Peel almonds and walnuts and cut them;
6. Cut the apricots into raisin-sized pieces;
7. Make cottage cheese homogeneous; use a meat grinder or a food processor;
8. Melt the butter in the saucepan;
9. Beat the eggs and the sugar;
10. Incorporate the eggs and sugar mix into the melted butter;
11. Gradually incorporate cottage cheese;
12. Incorporate the taste ingredients and gently mix (raisins and apricot pieces should not get misshapen);
13. Put the saucepan onto a hob on low heat, and stir regularly;
14. Line your paskha mould with the cloth or prepare your pudding bowl.;
15. Once the content of the saucepan starts to boil (you have seen about 10 bubbles), take it off the hob and let it cool a little so that the butter is no longer very liquid;
16. Put the cottage cheese mixture into the paskha mould/pudding bowl, and put something underneath because some melted butter could leak;
17. Put it in the fridge and keep it there until you are ready to serve it.