lovely little poppy-seeds

lovely little poppyseeds

I definitely have a thing for poppy-seeds. They taste great, look cool, and seem help me relax when I eat a lot of them... not sure why ;-)

These famous/infamous little seeds seem to pop up around the winter season in traditional Eastern European foods. One dish that I've had the pleasure of eating is Kutya (also Kutia): a traditional sweet Ukrainian (and Russian, Eastern Orthodox) dish eaten on Christmas Eve for good luck and fertility. It's basically cooked wheat with honey, ground poppy-seeds, nuts, and sometimes dried fruit. It's so tasty and satisfying that I crave it year-round!

Recipes: KUTYA, Ukrainian Christmas Kutya ( Kutia)
And here's a Lithuanian recipe for Poppy-Seed Milk (dairy-free!)