Coconut Balls ‒ Kookospallot

Random facts about Finnish coffee culture #8: Routinely offering coffee to guests started to increase popularity in the 19th century, thanks to very influential temperance movement. At the time, coffee was still an expensive import product. Before that guests were shown hospitality with a spirits toast, which on the contrary was cheap since every house distilled their own moonshine. Nowadays this price ratio has turned upside down, but islanders of the west coast (who typically speak Swedish) have kept the toast version all along.

I'm sorry all raw eaters, low-carbs and coeliacs, but this might be the only recipe I have for you this month. Finnish coffeee table is generally almost hostile towards you. (One might say something similar about vegans too, but they might find at least a biscuit they can nibble.) These cute little balls actually originated in Sweden too. As with mocha squares, there's something really 80's in them. Nowadays they're popular among kids learning to bake and of course, hippies.

Here are two versions. The first one is the more 80's version, the alternative more raw friendly. In case you want to minimize the total amount of carbs and not just watch they come from healthy sources, forget the dates altogether or replace with a sweetener of your choice, for example stevia powder.

- 2 dl coconut flakes
- 2 dl rolled oats (or more coconut flakes)
- 75 g margarine (or coconut oil)
- 0.5 dl sugar (or dried and soaked dates)
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp cold coffee (or soaking water from the dates)
- vanilla powder
- additional coconut flakes for decoration

If you're using dates, first soak and puré them. Otherwise you can just rub everything together with your hands. Take little pieces of the mixture and roll them into ball between your hands. Roll in coconut flakes and place on the serving plate.

Nutritional values / 308 g:
energy 1415 kcal
fat 105 g
protein 19 g
carbohydrates 93 g
fiber 23 g

Rutabaga Spaghetti with Peas and Pistachios ‒ Lanttuspagetti herneillä ja pistaaseilla

The spring has been early this year, after practically no winter. I saw catkins already in February, caltsfeet flowers in March and right now finding some leftover snow is a matter of some serious search. Yesterday there were, pushing out of the ground, something green which I am almost certain was ground elder. It's definitely the time to get rid of the last root vegetables, berries in the freezer and dried nettles to make room for the fresh stuff.

This pasta dish was something I came up with one night when I came home late and hungry, from the ingredients I happened to have. This time we tried it with a bit more special twist, using a "pasta" famous among so-called paleo eaters and low carbers. By hand, it required some work, but the idea seems so great I'm seriously considering to buy a new kitchen gadget just to make sure I'll prepare this more often from now on.

- 1 large rutabaga (the bigger you can find the easier this gets)
- 2 tbsp canola oil

- 200 g frozen peas
- 1 dl roasted and salted pistachios, peeled
- 1 orange
- black pepper

Peel the rutabaga. Then take your peeler, a cheese slicer or a dedicated kitchen gadget. Try to carve out as long stripes out of the rutabaga as you can. When the whole of the yellow root is spaghettisized, steam the stripes a few minutes to get them half done. (If you prefer your spaghetti a little al dente, you can skip this step.) Then fry them on a pan with oil just enough to get some delicious browning on the edges.

You can finish the spaghetti with any of your favourite pasta sauce, but for this version, simply peel and cut the orange and then add the pieces into the pot, together with peas and pistachios. Stir. The dinner is ready when the peas have fully melted.

Nutritional values / 1387 g:
energy 987 kcal
fat 59 g
protein 35 g
carbohydrates 76 g
fiber 32 g