Perhaps the origin of this recipe is Jewish cuisine that has a virtually identical dish called cheese latke. The idea of itself is as ancient as the Roman Empire, and cheese cakes have been popular in Eastern Europe for quite some time. In their most basic form, sirniki are pan fried patties made of fresh cheese (farmer’s cheese, cottage cheese, ricotta, homemade milk curds, etc.) with added flour and eggs to keep them from falling apart and for extra flavor. There are several variants of this recipe. First, sirniki can be made sweet by adding sugar and turning them into pan fried cheesecake. Second, half of the cheese can be replaced with mashed potatoes or carrots. Finally, if fine matzo meal is used instead of flour, sirniki turn into Passover cheese latke. Here is a sweet version: