Friday 6 April 2012

Easter food 1: Karjalanpiirakka

Karjalanpiirakkas (Karelian pastries) are Finnish pastry kind of things that we like to eat. They're traditionally made with buckwheat flour although nowadays people tend to use rye or even wheat. They are eaten with a kind of egg butter on top, which really tops them off. The pastries are really easy to make although it takes a while, and I think they're delicious. A friend of mine just asked me for the recipe because she thought she might make them for easter. I don't think they're a typical easter food, but I do think they suit the occasion, considering especially that they involve eggs. So here's what you need if you want to try them out:




For the filling (rice porridge):

1 litre milk (raw & organic, or nut or seed milk if you avoid dairy)
2 dl water
2 dl organic porridge rice or risotto rice
1,5 tsp quality salt

For the dough:

ca 4 dl organic buckwheat flour (you can also use rye)
2 dl water
1,5 tsp quality salt
1 tbsp quality oil



plus some butter to put on top






before going into the oven






1. Make the rice porridge by putting the water to boil and then adding the rice. Let it simmer until the rice has soaked up the water. Then, begin adding the milk, little by little, while the rice soaks it. This will take almost an hour. Add the salt. Let the porridge cool down when it's done.

2. Make the dough by mixing all the ingredients together. Form into a ball and put in the fridge for a while.

3. Divide the dough into as many parts as you want (depending on which size pastries you want to make) and start rolling each piece into thin circular shapes with a rolling pin. For this you will need more flour to keep the dough from sticking to the table or the rolling pin.

4. Start adding scoops of cold porridge on the flat pastries and "wrinkle" the sides of the pastry up with your fingers. Put a knob of butter on each.

5. The oven should be on 250 °C. Put the pastries on a baking sheet and bake for ca 15 minutes, or until the rice filling is a little coloured.







as a side dish at dinner






And for the egg butter to use as a spread on top:

Boil ca 4 eggs. Brake them with a fork in a bowl, adding butter (ca 100g), salt and a lot of chopped fresh parsley or chives.







Hope you like them! More easterish recipes will follow soon (as soon as I prepare something), and next time they will be sweet.




<3 Emma

No comments:

Post a Comment