Nyanya or niania () is an ancient Russian dish. It consists of a sheep's caul fat stuffed with mutton brains, head meat, legs, onion and buckwheat porridge. After that, the dish can be fried in lard Nyanya`s recipe (rus.) or baked in the oven in a clay pot.Recipe on russiankitchen.narod.ru(rus.)
History
The dish is known from the 9th century.
Nyanya was forbidden by the Russian Orthodox Church because pagan Slavs used the dish in their rituals.
In literature The nyanya is mentioned in Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol: "My dear," said Sobakevitch, "the cabbage soup is excellent." With that he finished his portion, and helped himself to a generous measure of niania, the dish which follows shtchi and consists of a sheep's stomach stuffed with black porridge, brains, and other things. "What niania this is!" he added to Chichikov. "Never would you get such stuff in a town, where one is given the devil knows what."
The dish is also mentioned in Saltykov-Shchedrin's novel Old Years in Poshekhonye.A taste of literature: Trying out recipes from Gogol and Tolstoy. Russia Beyond.3 historic Russian recipes not for the faint of heart. Russia Beyond.Щи да каша. Что испокон веков ели славяне. Аргументы и акты.
See also Haggis List of Russian dishes
References