Rhubarb Sima ‒ Raparperisima

It may be a bit too late for this recipe but at least it's now here for the next May Day. Besides, I imagine this would taste great in the summer when rhubarbs actually grow here. And I've heard that garden angelica also makes a good mead.

Different varieties of mead are probably known everywhere in the world. A part of Finnish May Day celebration is nowadays a sweet but zesty mead called sima (usually very mild in alcohol for the reasons I've ranted about before). In the 18th century it was only enjoyed by wealthy people but when the ingredients grew more wildly available it became an appropriate symbol for May Day that has a strong working class echo in Finland. Sima is usually sweetened with muscovado (fariinisokeri) and bittered with lemon but since I don't find lemon an especially typical Finnish fruit I thought I'd try a recipe I found from Härkäpapua sarvista (Irina Somersalo & al., Multikustannus 2007). I scaled down the amounts and it still seemed to work so here you go!

- 1 rhubarb stalk
- 1.5 l water
- 1.5 dl muscovado (or a combination of normal sugar and dark syrup)
- ginger
- a yeast crumble

Chop the rhubarb in small pieces. Put it in a jug together with muscovado and ginger. Boil the water and pour it on them. Stir. When the water has cooled down a bit add the yeast. (Do yourself a favour and don't exaggerate with the yeast. More yeast won't bring more alcohol, more sugar does.) Let the jug stand in a warm place for the next day.

Filter the sima and bottle it. Add a teaspoon of sugar to every bottle to get sparkling sima. Loosen up the tops a bit every day so the bottles won't break. The sima should be ready in about 3-5 days. A common trick is to put some raisins in the bottle so when they float, you know the sima is ready.

Nutritional values / 1.5 litres (counted from the ingredients):
energy 510 kcal
fat 0 g
protein 1 g
carbohydrates 124 g
fiber 2 g

Mämmi Patties ‒ Mämmipihvit

Most mämmi recipes are for desserts. Which is why I wanted to try a salty recipe I found from here, a bit veganized. I was very suspicious about them but at the end they did taste rather good. And even better cold in the next day. The mämmi however just somehow vanished so if you want to get the mämmi taste in them I recommend you try to increase the amount of it.

- 2 cooked potatoes
- 1.5 dl mämmi
- 2 dl soy yoghurt
- 2 dl wheat flour
- 100 g melting soy cheese
- 1 onion
- chive
- parsley
- black pepper
- salt
- rape oil for frying

Mash the potatoes. Grind the cheese. Chop the herbs and the onion. Sauté the onion. Mix everything together. Mold the paste into patties that you fry golden from both sides. (Got myself ten patties.) Put them in a 200°C oven for ten minutes. (Next time I think I'll keep them there a bit longer though.)

Nutritional values / 1 pattie:
energy 194.3 kcal
fat 7 g
protein 5 g
carbohydrates 17.9 g
fiber 2.1 g

Mämmi Drink ‒ Mämmijuoma

I hope you understood to hoard lots of mämmi when it was at its cheapest right after Easter cause I'm planning to post my experiments on ways to use it. If you didn't, here's a recipe.

This is a slightly tuned version of Mämmijuoma in a cook book called Härkäpapua Sarvista (Irina Somersalo & al., Multikustannus 2007). This is anything but light but it does work as a great recovery drink after sports because of the high amoount of carbohydrates.

- 2 dl mämmi
- 5 dl cold oat milk
- 2 dl frozen bilberries (or fresh bilberries plus additional ice crush)
- 2 tbsp Vana Tallinn (An Estonian liqueur with a distinctive taste. If you can't find any, try cloudberry liqueur or coffee liqueur instead.)

Blend everything smooth. Decorate with bilberries. Enjoy with sunshine.

Nutritional values / 1 serving: (Without the Vana Tallinn)
energy 531 kcal
fat 7 g
protein 11 g
carbohydrates 104 g
fiber 20 g

Blins ‒ Linnit

Remeber when I frowned upon vegan caviar? Well of course I had to try it. I've never eaten roe so can't say if it reminded that or not but I did love the taste and the structure. And so did my seaweed hating spouse so I guess we'll be buying these again. Wonder if something like this could be made home?

The natural thing to eat with caviar is of course blins. Finns usually think them as a Russian dish but in Russia the word may mean any kind of pancakes. In Finland the name always means small, round and above all, sour pancakes made from buckwheat. They're the salty option for sweeter pancakes that are usually eaten as a dessert.

I've tried many recipes for blins but before this all of them have involved eggs. Now that I left eggs out I couln't tell the difference. I used this recipe with couple of minor changes.

- 3 dl oat milk
- 2 dl soy yoghurt
- 15 g yeast
- 3 dl buckwheat flour
- 1 dl spelt flour
- 1 tsp dark syrup
- 1 tsp salt
- 50 g margarine
- 1 dl beer, for example Lammin käki or Flying Dog Snake Dog IPA
- rape oil for frying (about 2 tbsp)

Dissolve the yeast in lukewarm milk. Mix in the yoghurt, the flours and the syrup. Cover the bowl with a towel and leave in a warm place for couple of hours.

Melt the margarine and whisk it in as well as the salt and the beer. Fry small pancakes with plenty of oil.

Besides red Caviart we enjoyd these with fried shiitake mushrooms, minced onion, pickle slices and whipped soy cream. Yummy!

Nutritional values / 1000 g:
energy 2259 kcal
fat 73 g
protein 50 g
carbohydrates 244 g
fiber 19 g

Apple Goodness ‒ Omenahyve

My parents came for an Easter visit and since it's a couple of hours drive we decided we should prepare them a lunch. Of course they had eaten on their way here. Which was great since that way it didn't matter so much that I managed to bake a raw seitan roast. I kept it in the oven for 1.5 hours but apparently the frozen cranberries I stuffed it with barely managed to melt during that time. So we just ate potatoes and brown sauce with fried mushrooms and veggies.

Since I had exhausted all our baking powder and white flours the night before when trying to make a swiss roll (It came out a raw mush as well. Maybe there's just something wrong with our oven, not my cooking skills.) I made apple crumble for dessert. Luckily it came out perfect. Even my parents liked it though they usually make fun of everything I do. (Blame the oven!) Next time I think I'll try to add some rhubarb to bring more bitterness instead of the lemon juice.

- 5 large, bitter apples (or 10 small)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- nutmeg
- cardamom
- 1 dl sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla sugar
- 2.5 dl rolled oats
- 100 g margarine (for example Keiju 70%)
- 1 dl talkkuna

Cut the apples in slices. Sprinkle them with the lemon juice, the cinnamon and dashes of nutmeg and cardamom. Lay them on an oiled casserole. Sprinkle the sugar on top. Rub the margarine together with the oats, the kama and the vanilla sugar by your fingertips. Cover the apples with the crumble. Put the goodness in a 225°C oven for 30 minutes or until the crumble on top looks golden brown.

Serve with ice cream or vanilla sauce.

Nutritional values / 1060 g:
energy 1756 kcal
fat 69 g
protein 21 g
carbohydrates 248 g
fiber 27 g

Beer Ice Cream ‒ Olutjäätelö

Before recently discovering this site I never imagined making my own ice cream. Turned out it's actually really easy. Ice cream consists of milk (or cream or yoghurt), sugar, possibly some gelatinous substance (like agar or potato flour) and of course aroma ingredients. You only need a special ice cream maker if you want to speed things up. Now I can no longer understand why anyone would want to buy ice cream for the freezer.

At the moment I've got a long list of ice cream tastes I want to try. I promise I'll tell you more about them after I've tried them out but meanwhile read what Agnes has to say. Also check this blog. (The guy has just started the English version but he's kept the same thing in Swedish much longer.) Or buy this or this recipe book. And if you really run out of ideas see the list of the world's most horrible ice cream tastes. Interestingly, nearly all of them are Japanese. There's also a "Finland ice cream" on that list but unfortunately they won't tell what's in it besides xylitol.

The first thing I decided to try was naturally beer ice cream. The idea originates from the Guinness factory so of course there's Guinness in it (Apparently Guinness extra stout is complitely vegan whereas Guinness Draught uses a fish swimbladder product called isinglass.) but after trying that one I'd go for some stronger tasting yet still thick and smooth beer cause my Guinness ice cream tasted more like oat than beer (although yummy it was anyway). Unfortunately my nearest brewery Plevna isn't allowed to sell out their products so instead I'd go with the Norwegian Nøgne Ø or Danish Nørrebro. (This being said without a clue of their possible animal additives. Usually quality beer makers tend to avoid empty extras that don't add to the experience.)

These amounts may seem a bit weird since I've converted them from American cups. Don't think it matters if you round them a bit though. It's funny how nearly every English-speaking country seems have a unit system of their own. In most recipes I just use 2.5 dl instead of one cup though it can be more or less.

4.8 dl oat cream
2.4 dl oat milk
3.5 dl creamy stout (for example Guinness Extra Stout)
1.8 dl sugar

Whisk the ingredients together. Put the bowl in the freezer. Remember to stir occasionally (for example every two hours) to break the icy glitter it would otherwise form. At the end of the freezing you'll need a blender to do this.

Generally speaking, if you put the cream in the freezer when making breakfast you can raise your scoop by the dinner time.

Nutritional values / 1223 g:
energy 1411 kcal
fat 50 g
protein 7 g
carbohydrates 210 g
fiber 7 g

Pea Omelet ‒ Hernemunakas

This is a quick and cheap but tasty dinner for weekdays. You can make it more foody by adding beans, mushrooms or veggies like tomato, bell pepper, beanstalks and onion. Just saute them a little before pouring the paste over them. It's also possible to roll stuffings into the omelet. That way you can substitute a snack sandwich or even prepare a dish for a bit fancier dinner party.

- 3 dl pea flour (or chickpea flour aka gram flour aka garbanzo flour aka besan flour)
- 3 dl water (sparkling water if you want a fluffier kind of structure)
- 1 chili
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp mustard powder
- 0.5 dl soy sauce
- 0.5 tsp turmeric
- 0.5 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tbsp rape oil for frying

Chop the chili and whisk everything well together. Pour half of the paste into a hot oily frying pan. When the edges start to look golden turn the omelet over and also fry the other side for a moment. Then add oil and make another omelet in the same manner. (You can also spread the paste into a casserole and cook the omelet in a 250°C oven until it's turned golden.)

Nutritional values / 1 omelet (counted with chickpea flour):
energy 491 kcal
fat 21 g
protein 22 g
carbohydrates 53 g
fiber 10 g