Polish Christmas Eve food: Wigilia dishes explained

At a Wigilia table in the UK, a British guest may hear of barszcz and kutia for the first time, while the host has to track down their ingredients. Wigilia is the meat-free supper of 24 December, and Polish Christmas Eve food is easiest to understand by looking at what goes into it. We stock beetroot kvass, dried mushrooms, poppy seeds, ready poppy seed filling and dried fruit for compote. Give your British guests a real taste of Wigilia this year!

Key takeaways:

• Start of the evening: the meal begins with the first star and a thin wafer shared with good wishes before anyone eats.
• Twelve dishes: the count is symbolic, and not every home serves exactly twelve.
• Soup base: Christmas barszcz gets its sour taste from beetroot kvass, which ferments for four to five days.
• Mushroom water: the strained liquid left after soaking dried mushrooms goes back into the cooking.

What is Wigilia, the Polish Christmas Eve dinner?

Wigilia is the supper held on Christmas Eve and, in Polish tradition, the most important meal of the year. Many of its ingredients are in the Christmas food section of our shop, including sauerkraut, walnuts, honey and poppy seed filling.

Polish Christmas Eve traditions: the first star and the wafer

The supper begins when the first star appears, and Polish Christmas Eve traditions also call for hay under the tablecloth and an extra place set for an unexpected guest. Before the first course, the family shares oplatek, the Polish Christmas Eve wafer: a thin sheet of flour and water broken between people as they exchange wishes.

Why is Polish Christmas Eve food meat-free?

Polish Christmas Eve food is meat-free because Wigilia is a fast day that rules out meat but allows fish. That leaves fish, mushrooms, cabbage, poppy seeds and dried fruit to carry the menu.

What are the 12 Polish Christmas Eve dishes?

The 12 Polish Christmas Eve dishes are meat-free courses that include soups, fish, dumplings and desserts.

Barszcz with uszka and mushroom soup

Barszcz is a clear, sour beetroot soup served with uszka, small dumplings filled with dried porcini. The other traditional soup is mushroom soup made from dried mushrooms: some homes serve one of the two, others both.

Carp, herring and pierogi

Herring is the older Christmas Eve fish, while fried carp became a common sight on the table only after the Second World War. Pierogi for Wigilia are filled with sauerkraut and mushrooms, which keeps them meat-free.

Kutia, makowiec and dried fruit compote

The sweet end of the meal usually brings makowiec, a yeasted poppy seed roll, and kutia in homes that keep the eastern Polish custom. Kompot z suszu, a drink of cooked dried fruit, is poured alongside.

Barszcz for Polish Christmas Eve dinner: the sour beetroot base

The sourness of Christmas barszcz comes from beetroot zakwas, the same base sold as beetroot kvass: sliced raw beetroot fermented in cooled boiled water for four to five days. A rye starter is used for a different Polish soup, so when buying a ready base, check that it is made from beetroot.

If you would rather not ferment beetroot at home, Bio Planet's organic beetroot kvass 300 ml can serve as the base: it is made from red beetroot (58%), water, garlic and Klodawa salt. It is pasteurised and belongs in the fridge once opened.

The kvass is combined with a broth made from dried mushrooms and vegetables. Uszka filled with dried porcini go into each bowl just before serving.

Dried Polish mushrooms for uszka and pierogi

Dried Polish mushrooms, such as porcini and bay boletes, flavour uszka, the pierogi filling and mushroom soup. Among the dried mushrooms in the shop you will find organic porcini and sliced organic bay boletes from Runoland, each in a 20 g pack.

How do you soak dried Polish mushrooms?

Dried mushrooms need soaking from a few hours to overnight.

In the kitchen, the steps go in this order:

1. Soaking: cover the mushrooms with water and leave them until they soften.
2. Rinsing: lift them out and wash off any sand still clinging to them.
3. Straining: pour the liquid through a fine sieve and leave the sediment behind.
4. Cooking: simmer the mushrooms, then add the strained liquid to barszcz, the filling or the soup.

The strained soaking water carries too much flavour to pour away.

Mushroom and sauerkraut filling for pierogi

The Christmas Eve filling for pierogi combines sauerkraut, dried mushrooms and fried onion.

Each of the three needs something different:

• Sauerkraut: drained, chopped and cooked until soft, it gives the filling its sour taste.
• Dried mushrooms: soaked, simmered and finely chopped, they add a deep, savoury note.
• Onion: fried until golden, it takes the edge off the sour cabbage.

Only once all three are prepared this way does the filling go into the dough.

Poppy seeds in Polish Christmas baking

Ground poppy seeds fill makowiec and also go into kutia. Bio Planet's organic blue poppy seeds, in a 200 g pack, are part of our healthy seeds range.

Makowiec: Polish poppy seed cake

Makowiec is a yeasted dough rolled around a layer of poppy seed filling, so each slice shows a spiral. A ready organic poppy seed filling 850 g from Croc-Crac (BIOVERI) contains water, poppy seeds (23%), sugar, raisins with orange and lemon peel (12%), honey and oat flakes. Once opened, it goes in the fridge and should be used within 48 hours.

Kutia with poppy seeds, honey and nuts

Kutia is a sweet Christmas Eve dish built on cooked wheat and ground poppy seeds, and its tradition is strongest in eastern Poland. Honey and nuts also go into it.

Kompot z suszu: the dried fruit drink of Polish Christmas Eve

Kompot z suszu is a drink made by simmering dried fruit in water, typically plums, apples, pears, raisins and apricots. Once the fruit has softened, the drink is left to cool and served in glasses with the meal.

The dried fruit section includes organic stoned dried plums from Bio Planet, as well as apricots, figs, sultanas and dried apple chips. Plums with apples or pears make the base of the drink, and apricots or sultanas can go in too.

Polish Christmas Eve dinner in the UK: what matters most

A Polish Christmas Eve dinner in the UK starts with the ingredients that take some finding: beetroot kvass or beetroot to ferment, dried mushrooms, poppy seeds and dried fruit. Bought early, they leave time for fermenting and soaking, so Christmas Eve itself is kept for cooking. A guest who knows what goes into barszcz and makowiec can taste both without guessing.

Frequently asked questions about Polish Christmas Eve food

Why are there 12 Polish Christmas Eve dishes?

The number twelve is linked to the apostles or the months of the year, although older custom favoured an odd number of dishes.

Can you eat meat on Wigilia?

Meat stays off the Wigilia table, although the supper is not fully vegan: fish is served, and some recipes use butter or cream.

What is the Polish Christmas Eve wafer called?

It is called oplatek, and it is often pressed with a pattern such as a nativity scene. As it is shared, people exchange wishes and ask one another for forgiveness.

How far ahead can you make uszka?

Uszka can be made well ahead if you freeze them raw on a tray, bag them once firm and cook them straight from frozen.

What is kutia made of?

Kutia is usually made from cooked wheat, poppy seeds, honey and nuts, and in some variants barley or rice takes the place of wheat.