Pelicans are a diverse group, and we just celebrated the holiday season with recipes that reflected our different cultures. Here are two recipes for holiday traditions from around the world.

Steph Munn’s Blini – Russia
Ingredients:
3 cups of slightly warmed milk
1 egg
2 ½ cups of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
½ teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of sugar
3-4 tablespoons of canola or sunflower seed oil
Directions:
1) Mix the egg into warm milk.
2) Stir in the (sifted) flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar, do not overbeat. Make sure batter is liquid enough. If not, add warm water.
3) Add oil.
4) Preheat a frying pan (nonstick or cast iron) and use a bit of oil or ghee (purified butter) to fry them.
5) When hot, pour ¼ cup of the batter into the frying pan and tilt it back and forth so that it spreads to form a round pancake. Fry on one side for about 30 seconds then, using a long and narrow spatula, flip over and fry on the other side for about 20 seconds.
You can eat them with berries, whipped cream, nutella, sour cream, or caviar!

Andrew Graciano’s Pão de Queijo – Brazil
Ingredients:
½ cup of olive oil or butter
⅓ cup of water
⅓ cup of milk or soy milk
1 teaspoon of salt
2 cups of tapioca flour
2 teaspoons of minced garlic
⅔ cups of freshly grated parmesan cheese
2 beaten eggs

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2) Pour all the wet ingredients and salt into a large saucepan over high heat.
3) When mixture comes to a boil, remove from heat and stir in the tapioca flour and garlic until smooth. Set aside to rest for 10-15 minutes.
4) Stir the cheese and egg into the tapioca mixture until well combined (the mixture should be chunky). Drop rounded, ¼ cup size balls of mixture onto an ungreased baking sheet.
5) Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes or until the tops are lightly browned.