Tag: Estonia

Estonian Milk Soup

piimasupp (2)
Milk Soup

Do Estonians have a comfort food?

I believe that we can call our Milk Soup as comfort food. All our Mothers made a milk soup at night. When the child’s stomach had suddenly become so empty 🙂

Milk soup is very easy to make, it gets ready quickly and as milk is rich of B vitamin, it makes you calm and helps you sleep.

However, this comfort food has sometimes been complicated 🙂
During the Soviet times at school on Mondays we were always served a bowl of milk soup for lunch.  Of course, I hated it:)
In a very popular book called ” Kasuema” by Silvia Rannamaa, which describes the life of a youngster during the 60s, the ” Milk soup Mondays” were compared to Dickens poorhouses 🙂 believe me, despite the fact that this book was very popular it certainly did not help to rise the popularity  of milk soups.
But again, we can call Milk soup a comfort food. On Mondays, you have enough power to start your 🙂 school week.

piimasupp (4)
Tallinna Vürtsikilu (Spiced sprat) Sandwich

And yes, you can not believe this, but traditionally the milk soup is served with some spiced sprat (Tallinna Vürtsikilu) sandwiches 🙂

You can replace pasta with rice, barley, semolina or dumplings. Recipe is the same.
For Dumpling Soup bring milk to boil, reduce heat and add small dumplings. Dumpling recipe you can find here.

piimasupp (1)
Milk Soup

Continue reading “Estonian Milk Soup” →

Estonian Quark and Rhubarb Pie. Pidusai by Terhi

Which and who is the right Mom?
In Estonia Mother’s Day (emadepäev in Estonian) is celebrated on the second Sunday of May.

The Mother of the Year is award given annually by the Estonian Womens Union, already more than 25 years.
This year suddenly rose up question. Does nominee of this award, the Mother of the Year, must be officially married.
Because nowadays, in the 21st of century there are a lot of single mothers, divorced mothers, gay mothers…..

Continue reading “Estonian Quark and Rhubarb Pie. Pidusai by Terhi” →

6 Simple Salad to accompany the main dish

Radish and Egg Salad

I have been to many countries, and one of the biggest differences in eating culture/habits/cuicine is how salad is served.
Salad as a main or separate dish, this is understandable. You can have Caesare Salad for lunch for example.

But, how is salad served, as accompany for the main dish, are differences between countries.

There are three courses in most countries : appetizer;  main dish, which includes protein and salad and then dessert.

However, there are exceptions, as well. I was  amazed to see that in Portugal rice and potato (with some meat/fish) were served on the same plate  .. In addition to that we visited a restaurant with a very  generous cook  in Malta 🙂 french fries, boiled potato, couscous, pasta were on the same plate.  And some bread of course. and a LOT of meat 🙂 Continue reading “6 Simple Salad to accompany the main dish” →

#recipeswap Tea made Estonian Blueberry Cake

IMG_20170423_185244_202Some time ago Tea asked me to do some cooperation 4and switch traditional recipes. So, soon I will present to you some Croatian food, But today, please welcome Tea and Estonian Blueberry Cake.

read more https://spicepicableme.com/2017/04/23/estonian-blueberry-cake/

In a cooperation with Estonian food blogger Ruta (click to: https://estoniancuisine.com/) a new project was born. One in which we give each other traditional recipes form our countries and try to recreate them in our kitchens. I got this beautiful blueberry cake which consists of qaurk, a sort of fresh cheese, and it’s the first time I made anything like this.

The cake is light and refreshing, perfect for springtime.

Source: ESTONIAN BLUEBERRY CAKE

Nettle and Goutweed Soup. Nõgese- ja naadisupp

n6gesesupp (13)
Weed Soup. Nõgesesupp

The World is strange. Estonian woman squishing snails with rainboots heels , but only few hundred kilometers to the south there’s another woman preparing an appetizing dish out of those same snails. Gardeners all over the world are cussing those pesky creatures but the Estonian woman would simply pluck the weeds and….would use the outcome to cook a delicious meal

I am not going to talk about the benefits of nettles, wood sorrel, dandelion leaves and goutweed. You can read this from Wikipedia:) But believe me, they are healthy. The first  source of vitamins in spring.

Goutweed tastes like carrots and celery. Nettles are a  bit sweet. Dandelion tastes like honey,. And wood sorrel is sour.
Nettles need to be kept in the boiling water 1-2 minutes. Goutweed and wood sorrel are eatable when fresh.

NB! Use only young, fresh, new, small weeds, grown in a pure and clean environment.

I added a soundrack a song that was Continue reading “Nettle and Goutweed Soup. Nõgese- ja naadisupp” →

Quark Cake by Janne

dsc01477
Quark Cake by Janne

Impossible to write Estonian food blog without quark.
You can buy quark from shop, but this is very easy to do by yourself.
If you have children, call them to join. To make quark is fun process and lesson about chemistry, cooking, health and fermentation 🙂
Quark recipe you can find here.

Estonian quark is made from skimmed milk and mesophilic starter. This is fat-free and mesophilic means, that quark is fermented on the low temperature. And if quark ready, bake delicious quark- cake.

Quark Cake by Janne

  • Servings: 4-6
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

A fresh, light quark cake for easter

dsc01477
Quark cake by Janne

Ingredients

  • 125 g room temperature butter
  • 1 dl sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 3 dl flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder

    • Filling

  • 250 g quark
  • 250 g sour cream
  • 1 dl sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tablespoon starch

Continue reading “Quark Cake by Janne” →

#recipeswap Rhubarbsalad. Rabarberisalat

rabarberisalat (6)
Rhubarb Salad

In my childhood was the best dessert and treat rhubarb with sugar. Just so simple: we dipped rhubarb stalks in to the sugar.  Sour! Sour.. sour!!! 🙂

Dianna Donnely from https://realfoodmeals.com/2017/03/18/crunchy-cabbage-salad-with-sliced-almonds/ introduced delicious salad. I saw photos and was sure, that there are rhubarb .. But it was celery:)

So, I promised to Dianna that I will test similar recipe with rhubarb. (And replaced other ingredients the local)

Rhubarb is strange vegetable. The plant do not need (too) much care, so in all gardens are small place for rhubarb, which means that in May, June all Estonia has a flood of rhubarb. And we are looking for recipes.. ..what else to do. So, thank you Dianna for inspiration!

In my childhood was the best dessert and treat rhubarb with sugar. Just so simple: we dipped rhubarb stalks in to the sugar.  Sour! Sour.. sour!!! 🙂
From rhubarb leaves we are cooking soup. And with others.. baking lot of cakes. And rhubarb leftovers freezing for winter..
When you are looking for Estonian cake recipes, there are always written “apple or rhubarb”. This is means that the same cake you can bake in spring with rhubarb and in autumn with apples.

Continue reading “#recipeswap Rhubarbsalad. Rabarberisalat” →