Easy One Bite Blini with Curried Sour Cream Appetizers, Vegan, Gluten Free.
Mini Vegan buckwheat pancakes.
Warm blini, sweet and plump like baby’s fists, a dollop of golden, curried sour cream, and a delicate frond of dill. Simple. Elegant. Sophisticated. Vegan. Gluten free. Delicious. Make ahead and assemble as needed.
Have you ever stolen a party?
Hanging lanterns cast intersecting pools of light onto the Turkish carpets strewn around the room. A galaxy of candles swayed and dripped fragrant wax onto the freshly ironed linen tablecloth. Lilies spilled from burnished vases. Scratchy Turkish love songs twined sinuously through the musky air.
Hillocks of succulent kebabs, platters of caviar bejeweled blini, drifts of sugared almond crescent cookies, mounds of lemony dolmas, glistening olives, bursting pomegranates and tiny danish meatballs jostled each other for room on the heavily laden board.
The children were deep asleep under fluffy eiderdowns.
My mom’s polished copper hair glowed as she stepped shyly into the room bedecked in her sapphire ottoman robe made heavy with silver embroidery. My dad’s bearded face crinkled with awe. Pirate like he strode toward her and they danced a few steps to the Bouzouki music that tripped over the speakers.
“the house is spotless, the silver polished, the food is cooked. What if we put a note on the door that the party is cancelled and stayed in and enjoyed all our hard work by ourselves. Just the two of us?”
What a stroke of genius. The other readily agreed. And they ran down the stairs together breathless with laughter and pinned a hastily scrawled note on the front door.
Party Canceled.
We have the Flu.
Sorry.
Languorously they alighted the stairs, thieves in the night, having stolen the party from their friends.
I fortified my heart, and proceeded. I found the floor overspread with saffron, and the place illuminated by golden lamps and by candles, which diffused the odours …of a perfume compounded with honey, spread fragrance through the whole place.
-One Thousand and One Nights
If Vegan blini are for you then I think you’ll love these vegan Kebabs with Tzadziki sauce
Check out my Aquafaba page! For tips, tricks and to see all of my Aquafabulous recipes.
A make ahead one bite appetizer that will surely satisfy the guests need for a delicious bite and host(ess)'s need for no fuss cooking.
- 2/3 cup Gluten Free Flour Mix
- 1/3 cup Buckwheat
- 1 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- pinch salt
- 3/4 cup soy milk plain, (more if needed to thin the batter)
- 3 tbsp aquafaba (see my aquafaba page)
- 1/4 tsp turmeric optional for color
- 2 tbsp vegan butter melted, or canola oil
- 1/2 cup vegan sour cream
- 2-3 tsp curry powder
- fresh dill fronds for garnish
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Stir the curry powder into the sour cream and stir. This can be made a day or two ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator. I think the flavor improves with time.
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Whisk together the flours, sugar, baking soda and salt. Add the turmeric now if you opt to use it. I think the color is much more appealing with turmeric.
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In another bowl whisk the aquafaba until it begins to froth. Just a little foam on the top is all we are looking for, about three minutes by hand. Now stir in the melted butter and the soy milk. Pour the liquid ingredients into the bowl with the dry and stir to combine. If too thick then a bit more soy milk.
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Heat a heavy bottomed pan over medium and add a tsp of oil, swirl to coat.
When the pan is nice and hot then spoon in half tablespoon portions of the batter until you have about 6 blini going in the pan. Cook about 1 minute until you see little bubbles on the surface and then flip. I love my tiny offset spatula for this job. Cook another 45 second and remove from pan.
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Continue in the manner until you have gone through all of the batter. You can freeze them at this point and defrost and warm to room temperature as needed. Or use to right away: arrange the blini on a platter and top each with a tiny dollop of curried sour cream and a tiny frond of dill.
Yum!
I love the images in this post, Hanne! Also, you mentioned milk twice in Step 3; is that correct?
Alison thank you so much for pointing that Note to self: only post after caffeination. 😉 And thank you for the compliment!! So sweet.
Thanks for reminding me of that most romantic story about our parents!
It bears retelling.
Any Russian or East European will tell you this is not blini – this is oladyi.
Preach Brother!!!
HI, I just wanted to ask, if one didn’t want to use gluten free flour, one would just use ordinary plain flour? Or can one use completely buckwheat flour?
Hello fellow Hannah. Yes a regular wheat flour works great in this as well. Let me know how it goes.
Thank you for the reply!
Hey.
I loved your recipe. However, i wanted to know for how long can I keep blini batter in my refrigerator?
Waiting for your response.
Thanks in advance !
Hello Anurag, I have never tried saving the batter in the fridge. Perhaps cooking the blini.and freezing them would work? Please let me know how it goes.
I found this recipe this time last year, and was so delighted by your parents’ story! Now it’s my go-to recipe for Christmas blinis, vegan, fuss-free and delicious, thank you!