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Karelian national cuisine
The harsh beauty of Karelia with its mirrored lakes, centuries-old forests and fabulous northern lights touches to the core of the soul. Karelian cuisine has absorbed the atmosphere of these places and carefully preserved the old culinary traditions.
Pancakes of the northern tempering
Sulchiny is a recipe of Karelian cuisine, known in Russia since time immemorial. In fact, these are hearty pancakes with filling. Dissolve 1 tsp of salt in a glass of water and mix it with 200 g of rye flour. The resulting dough is divided into lumps the size of a chicken egg, roll out the pancakes and bake in the oven for 5 minutes at a temperature of 200 °C. Hot sulchins are greased with oil and stacked in a stack. Bring to a boil 250 ml of milk, pour out ½ cup of rice and cook until tender. At the end, add salt and sugar to taste. We flavor the pancakes with rice porridge and roll them into rolls. Sulchiny for breakfast is a very tasty and unusual dish.
From my mother-in-law, with love
Baking takes a special place in Karelian cuisine. Pies for the son — in-law-one of the most popular recipes. Lightly beat the egg, add 2 tbsp sour cream, 4 tbsp milk, 1 tsp sugar and a pinch of salt. Knead the thick dough and let it rest for half an hour. Then we roll it into a sausage, cut it into pieces and roll out thin skans, i.e. tortillas. Half of each skanets sprinkle with sugar, cover with the other half and pinch the edges. Fry the pies in oil until golden brown. However, you can please your loved ones without any reason. By the way, pies for the son-in-law were called pies, which were treated to a young groom when he came to woo a girl.
A rook carrying the sun
Another variety of traditional pastries of Karelian cuisine is kalitki, or open pies with filling. We suggest choosing mashed potatoes. We knead the dough from kefir, rye and wheat flour — we take 250 g of each ingredient, do not forget to add 1 tsp of salt. Prepare a puree of 5 potatoes, 30 ml of milk, 50 g of butter, ½ tsp of salt and raw egg. Divide the dough into 10 parts and roll out the skans with a diameter of 15-18 cm. Spread on each 2 tbsp. l. mashed potatoes and pinch the edges to get “boats” with filling in the center. Grease them with egg yolk and send them to a preheated 200 °C oven for 20 minutes. Elegant gates will decorate any festive table.
Fish soup in milk waters
Karelian cuisine is impossible to imagine without fish dishes, the main of which is fish soup. In a saucepan with butter, pass the head of the onion. When it becomes golden, pour out 2 potatoes in slices and simmer until softened. Fill the vegetables with 500 ml of warmed milk, and then send 500 g of salmon fillet in pieces. Salt to taste and cook the soup for 10 minutes. Pour in 100 ml of cream, put ½ bunch of chopped dill, 7-8 peas of pepper and bay leaf. Cook the soup for another 5 minutes, then remove from the heat and insist under a closed lid. Before serving, sprinkle the fish soup with fresh dill. It will not take long to persuade the family to try it.
Small fish treats
Fish pies-a recipe for the second dish of Karelian cuisine. Knead the dough from 350 g of flour, 1 tbsp. l. sugar, 1 tsp. salt, 50 ml of vegetable oil, 200 ml of warm water and 2 tsp. dry yeast diluted in 50 ml of water. Divide the dough into 8 parts and roll out the tortillas with a thickness of 1 cm. Put on each 80-90 g of whitefish fillet, sprinkle with green onions and flavor with butter. We form envelopes from the dough, pierce with a fork and lubricate with a beaten egg. Bake them at a temperature of 200 °C until golden brown. As befits delicious hot pies, they will fly apart instantly.
Meat with a northern disposition
The business card of the Karelian cuisine is Petrine meat in pots. Soak 80 g of dried mushrooms in water, cook for 20 minutes, finely chop and fry until golden brown. We dilute 1 tbsp. l. flour in a glass of mushroom broth, pour it into the mushrooms, simmer the sauce for a minute and remove from the stove. Coarsely chop 600 g of veal and passeruem with 2 onions until half cooked. At the bottom of the six pots, put 2 potatoes in cubes, lightly prisalivaya, 1 chopped carrot. Next, we spread the veal with onions. Cover the pots with lids and put them in the oven for 45 minutes at a temperature of 200 °C. This dish will diversify your menu and will surely be loved by the whole family.
Vitamin charge in a jar
Desserts are almost not found in Karelian cuisine. Steamed lingonberries, so beloved in the north, are difficult to attribute to them. But with it you can bake a delicious pie, so the preparation of cranberries will be very useful. In the old days, the berry was steamed in a Russian oven, and a slow cooker will help us. Pour 500 g of washed lingonberries into the bowl, select the manual mode and the temperature is 90 °C. After 30 minutes, reduce it to 70 °C and simmer the berries for half an hour. Then we transfer the slow cooker to the “Preheat” mode and keep the lingonberries for another 30 minutes. Now you can put it in jars, tightly closing the lids. By the way, tea with such berries is a thousand times tastier and healthier.
We hope that your acquaintance with the Karelian national cuisine turned out to be productive and inspired you to try some of the dishes offered. And from experienced cooks, we are waiting for your favorite recipes with a Karelian flavor.