Pie with rhubarb and poppy seeds

Let's start making the pie with the preparation of the rhubarb filling. Wash and peel the stalks well (the skin will come off easily in strips). Now you need to dice the rhubarb into cubes of 1-1.5 cm, put it in a saucepan, sprinkle with a tablespoon of sugar, and add water. Simmer the rhubarb over low heat. At first, it will release juice, and then it will become soft and all the liquid will evaporate. This process will take no more than 5 minutes, so don't cook the rhubarb for too long, as it may turn into mush. If the rhubarb is soft and there is a lot of liquid left, then strain it in a sieve to remove the excess water.

For the dough, take out the butter from the refrigerator in advance, so that it can thaw slightly. We need soft butter. Mix the softened butter with sugar and vanilla sugar at low speed using a mixer until creamy.

Add eggs. Take medium-sized ones (the weight of one egg with the shell is 55-60 g). Beat again with a mixer until homogeneous.

Next, add sour cream and lightly beat again.

For this cake, I do not soak the poppy seeds, but simply rinse them with hot water and, using a fine sieve, let the water drain. Add the poppy seeds to the dough and mix.

Add the flour, which should be sifted beforehand with baking powder and salt, after the poppy seeds. At this stage, it is necessary to determine the consistency of the dough. The thing is that sour cream can be liquid, and for some people (like mine, homemade) it can be very thick, plus different sizes of eggs. You may need 10-20 g more flour, the dough should be like for pancakes, thick enough to pour from a spoon.

Add the cooled soft rhubarb and mix gently to evenly distribute all the pieces in the dough.

Prepare a baking form (I used a detachable one with a diameter of 20 cm) by lining it with parchment paper or greasing it with a thin layer of butter and pouring in the poppy seed dough. The pie should be baked in the oven for 35-40 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius. Check for doneness by appearance and by inserting a toothpick, which should come out dry.

Let the pie cool and decorate it either with powdered sugar or create a lattice pattern using melted chocolate (to do this, melt the chocolate in the microwave, transfer it to a sturdy plastic bag, cut off the tip, and decorate the pie).