Retaking a Village

In 2013 Yekaterinburg native Guzel Sanzhapova had quit her corporate job in Moscow and was looking for a good way to use her departure bonus.

At the same time, Guzel’s father had inherited an apiary in the village where Guzel had spent many summers with her maternal grandmother. But the village was dying off. It had only 56 residents, most of them retired, idle, and with no source of income.

The apiary required daily work and tending, but, more importantly, someone had to sell the honey it produced. So, on a train ride from Moscow to the Urals, Guzel did some research and came up with the idea of using her father’s newly acquired apiary to make creamed honey.

Guzel found and purchased the necessary equipment, then spent two months with her father, learning to operate it and how to produce the best possible honey.

The village was surrounded by woods, it was summer, and so Guzel decided to also sell the creamed honey with dried wild berries mixed in. She offered the berry-collecting job to elderly locals, including her own grandmother, and her father drove eight women to gather berries in the nearby forest.

The next summer, to ensure that berries could be dried even if the summer were not hot enough to do it “naturally,” Guzel looked at acquiring an industrial dehydrator. She sought the needed $5,000 via crowdfunding, offering backers the honey produced in the village as rewards, while sharing the story of real food and social responsibility. The dehydrator, she said, would secure the next year’s production, give the villagers an opportunity to earn money and to feel useful again.

Instead of $5,000, she raised almost $15,000.

Now, each year Cocco Bello adds new products to its line: honey mousse and herbal teas, giant lollipops made with wildberry juice, and quirky wooden spoons with sugar candy, to say nothing about the bow ties.

Today the company employs 13 people from Guzel’s village and a larger one four kilometers away. Last summer about a hundred people harvested and brought berries to the production facility Guzel has built. And she’s overseeing construction of a new production facility that will employ 30. She also purchased almost 57 acres of land near the village, which she will plant with black currants, raspberries, and cherry trees.

This year also Guzel received a presidential grant, part of which was spent to bring a group of Russian and international volunteers to the village, where they built a gazebo in the center of the village. Now people who used to spend all their time behind their fences have the opportunity to get together, and they are happy to do so.

Next on Guzel’s wishlist is renovation of the dilapidated village club, so that the villagers will have a place to gather in winter, but she’s waiting for them to express their wishes. And considering how much the village has changed over the last few years, she won’t have to wait long.

When the diminutive young woman is asked where she gets her strength and stamina for all these projects, she replies simply: “I’m doing this for my family. Every one of those 56 village residents is somehow a very distant relative. It’s a big Tatar family, which ended up in this village in the Urals. How could I do anything else?”

When asked about a traditional Tatar dish that might be good to share with Russian Life readers, Guzel does not hesitate, and offers her grandmother’s recipe for shangi.

Shangi | Шанги

Shangi is a traditional baked good from Siberia and Urals, an open pie with yeasted dough.

DOUGH

½ cup water
½ cup milk
Sugar and salt to taste
½ tablespoon quick rising or fresh yeast
2½ cups flour
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

FILLING OPTIONS

2 cups cooked mashed potatoes, or 2 cups farmer’s cheese mixed with 2-3 tbs sugar, a bit of salt and one raw egg, or 2 cups cooked mashed sweet potatoes

Warm the water and milk, then add the sugar and salt, and then slowly dissolve in the yeast when the liquid is about 100-105º F. After the liquid starts to bubble, add flour.

Now it is time to add the flour. Grandmother’s recipe said to add “as much flour as the dough will take.” We offer a more precise measurement, but don’t be afraid to add a bit more or less if the dough seems to wet or dry, respectively.

Knead the dough for four or five minutes and then form it into a ball and coat with the vegetable oil. Place it in a big glass bowl and put it someplace warm, covered by a clean towel, for at least two hours, while you prepare the filling

Traditional fillings for shangi are either mashed potatoes or farmer’s cheese (tvorog) mixed with some sugar and an egg. But you can also roast and mash some sweet potatoes or pumpkin and play with the flavors and spices. The same goes for the dough, by the way. Cumin seeds can be particularly nice in a savory dough.

Once the dough has risen, divide it into four balls of equal size. Form each into a flat round with a bit of an indentation in the center, then generously spread your fillings on top.

Bake at 425º℉ for 15 minutes, until golden brown. Serve with fresh greens, or, for a contemporary twist, with some fresh pesto.

Enjoy!