I have been extremely remiss in my Cooking of the World. I’ve been too caught up seeing in disbelief as a South African immigrant who bought our current FOTUS (Felon Of The United States) dismantles democracy here as well as across the globe while his subjugants in Congress allow him free rein.

But… we still have to eat, and while our international travel plans are definitely on hold, we can still travel via food and recipes. There are three countries that begin with “F” – Fiji, Finland, and France. I almost went Fiji – France was too easy – but settled on Finland because I found a recipe that was really intriguing. A good enough reason, for me!

The recipe is for Karjalanpiirakka – a Karelian Pie. It’s a rice porridge in a rye crust, baked in a hot oven and topped with egg butter! How could it be bad?!? The recipe called for “Finnish Porridge Rice” or a rice like Arborio. I have Carnaroli and Bomba, so I went with the Bomba.

Karelian Pies (Karjalanpiirakka)

from Rouka On Valmis

Rice filling

  • 230 g starchy rice Finnish ”porridge rice” or arborio for example
  • 1 l milk
  • 2 tsp salt

Rye dough

  • 190 g rye flour
  • 90 g wheat flour
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 210 ml water
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • butter

Egg and butter spread

  • 6 eggs
  • 120 g butter
  • salt

Rice porridge

Add liter of milk into a saucepan and bring to a boil.

Rinse the rice and add to the milk.

Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the porridge is thick and the rice is half cooked (20-30 minutes).

Stir occasionally.

Add salt in the end and let it cool down.

Making the dough

In a bowl add rye and wheat flour, oil, salt and water.

Knead the dough until smooth.

Roll out the dough with the help of rye flour into a plate about 3 mm thick.

Take 7 cm circles from the dough with a mold or inverted drinking glass.

Thin each circle with a stick or collar to a translucent oval (14 x 17 cm).

Protect with a film to prevent drying and only take out a piece when working on that one. If you stack the dough sheets, sprinkle with flour before stacking.

Filling

Preheat oven to 275-300°C (525-570°F). Or, if not possible, as high a temperature as you can.

Apply the filling to the center of the dough in an oval area. Leave 3 cm turning space on the edges.

Turn the long sides of the dough over the filling and start pressing the edges of the dough with your fingers. ”Pinch” the dough all the way until the end to seal the end. Turn around and repeat on the other side. Flatten the dough if the peaks you pinched are too tall to prevent burning.

Sprinkle a little rye flour on the baking sheet to prevent the pies from sticking. Do not use baking paper, it may catch fire.

Bake the pies at 300°C (570°F) for about 12 minutes until they get some color. If at a lower temperature, cook for a longer time.

Apply the melted butter immediately. It’s a matter of taste whether the pies are eaten fresh and crispy or softer after you have waited a while.

Egg and butter

Boil the eggs until hard (7-8 minutes).

Place the eggs immediately in ice-cold water. This makes it easier to peel off the shell.

Peel and chop with a fork. Stir in the salt and soft butter.

 

The main dinner dish was a Pea Soup. While the recipe seemed to call for a whole dried pea, all we have are split peas. They would suffice.

 

 

Finnish Pea Soup – Hernekeitto with Ham

from Arctic Cloudberry

  • 250 g dried peas
  • 4 cups water
  • salt
  • 1 tsp dried marjoram
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 small onion
  • 3/4 – 1 cup of chopped smoked meat
  • 1/2 tbsp dijon mustard

Rinse the peas, cover well with water (about 4 cups) and soak for about 8-10 hours or overnight.

Boil your peas in the soaking water. Keep peeling the foam and skins that float to the top.

Add salt and marjoram. Once the peas are soft (this will take about an hour and a bit) chop the carrot and onion and add to the soup.

Add water also if it looks very thick.

Cook until the carrots are done. Add the mustard and the meat and cook for another 10 minutes.

Check the seasoning and add salt and mustard if needed.

 

The soup was good, the Karjalanpiirakka was meh. The first problem was I put too much of the egg butter on it. All I tasted was butter. On one with no topping, it was still hard to taste the rye. And the rice filling really was bland. There really was no there there.

I’m going to totally blame it on me and my ingredients and putting it together. I am sure that if I were in Finland, I’d have one and love it. Maybe with a frozen shot of Vodka.

Travelling and trying new foods in different countries really is the way to go about it when you can, although at least trying to make something from another country or culture is a step in the right direction.

I learned a bit of history along the way, and I learned that my dough pleating skills have seriously deteriorated.

Score one for learning something. Score another for at least trying.