Poor Man's Caviar

If a Russian friend of modest income invites you for a dinner at his home, promising to treat you to some caviar, donÕt expect a bowl full of small, black fish eggs. For you will most likely end up helping yourself to a light brown mass of, well,  suspicious looking stuff.

Never mind the suspicions. Not only is this ÒcaviarÓ  palatable and appetizing, but some even think it is as delicious as the real thing. And, by the way, at the time of empty-shelved food stores, this caviar, made from yellow squash or zuccini, was one of the few available products. Luckily, the Soviet food industry had enough squash puree in supply.

(The Russian word for this squash is kabachok, often translated as “marrow.” Kabachok, as Darra Goldstein reports in her book, A Taste of Russia, also means “little tavern.” Apparently the clustering of seeds inside squash is said to be reminiscent of people “clustering in a tavern.”)

If your host also provides you with fresh butter and a loaf brown bread, fresh from the oven, you are sure to gobble the whole bowl in a matter of minutes. And you can do this free of guilt, for squash caviar is easily affordable - it costs just R6,000-R7,000 a can in the shops ($1.50). Which is well below the price of a tiny can of black caviar (R60,000 for 113 grams wholesale, to R300,000 per can retail).

Time was, this squash puree was a delicacy indeed, especially  in the 16th and 17th centuries, after it had just arrived in Russia. At that time, fish caviar was no big deal -- Russians were eating it by the spoonful. This irony was used by the creators of the Soviet comedy, Ivan Vassilievitch is Changing his Profession, still a favorite film of Russians everywhere. In a now famous scene, a boyar from Ivan the TerribleÕs retinue shows the guests to the tsarÕs sumptuous table. Of course, the boyar deliberately ignores the ‘common’ black and red caviar, focusing on a big silver plate with vegetable puree and declares solemnly to the guests, “Imported eggplant caviar (baklazhannaya ikra).Ó Contemporary Russians invariably roll with laughter at this phrase.

So, yes, the first vegetable caviar was made out of eggplant. But then Russian cooks started replacing eggplant with squash, since eggplant grew only in the south of the country, while squash grew almost everywhere, with little effort from the gardener.

Therefore, any Russian who has a dacha can cook up squash puree at home (and those without a dacha can still do it, buying inexpensive squash or zuccini at any city market). Like we said, it is a mouthwatering meal if you eat it the Russian way -- slather your vegetable caviar on fresh brown bread with butter. Add hot baked (or even boiled) potatoes with fennel, and you could well join the camp of those who feel even black caviar is nothing like this ‘almost’ caviar.

Recipe:

In order to cook squash puree, you should take unripe, green squash, for they have tender pulp and skin and undeveloped seeds. (The squash can also be replaced by eggplant.)

Peel the squash and then grate it. Then slightly fry the whole mass in a frying pan in olive oil for 10 minutes. Then mix it all with grated carrot, thinly chopped onion, chopped and crushed tomatoes, sugar, salt and spices. Then let it stew in the same frying pan on a small fire for 10-15 minutes, slowly mixing it with a spoon until the whole mass takes on an orange color.

Ingredients:

For each kilo of squash:

1/2 cup olive oil

4-5 carrots

1/4 cup onion

2-3 tomatoes, finely chopped (or less if you donÕt like tomatoes)

Add sugar, salt and spices according to taste.