This is a wonderful combination. Apple gives acid, celery bitterness and parsnip is sweet. All ingredients complement each other. And look at this light colour!
Change products combination and shares depending on your taste. If you like more sweet, add more parsnip and if you like more acid, use more apples.
Continue reading “Apple, Celery and Parsnip Soup. Õuna selleri ja pastinaagisupp”
More than 400 spices of mushroom grow in Estonia and almost 100 of them are edible. And proximate 25 of them are a very good edible mushroom.
I know and foraging for food more than 10 spices.
This is Creamy Mushroom Puree Soup with Juniper Berries. Gin is boosting the taste of the Juniper berries and complements the sweetness of cream and mushroom. Juniper berries impart a sharp, clear flavour.
NB! For cooking use only the mature, dark berries
This time I used salted mushroom.
Salted mushroom:
How to remove additional salt are a lot of tips.
My South Estonian relatives told me that they boiling salted mushroom in milk. And after that no saltness and mushroom look and taste like a fresh.
The second option is to boil mushroom just in the water.
And the simplest one. Put mushroom to soak the night before.
Fresh chanterelle: The mushrooms are cleaned without water, with only a clean, dry towel and paring knife. Heat the chanterelle in a skillet without fat/butter until water has evaporated.
Frozen mushroom: melt, fry slightly.
Juniper berries (cones) are refreshing and power-giving Nordic treats.
The type of juniper most widely spread in Estonia is the common juniper (Juniperus communis). You can see it growing the most in the Western and Northern parts of Estonia. Juniper symbolizes rebirth, protection and humbleness. „There is no reason to wonder, why the juniper has become one of the symbols of our windy homeland and for all Estonian nation, showing the undying power of life, no matter what comes ahead. (Ants Viires, 2000)“
Picking juniper berries means success that can be achieved with hard work. People widely believe that if you eat one juniper berry in a day, they stay young forever. If children have three juniper berries in a day, they are more likely to stay healthy.
This and many other sayings created a belief that juniper can cure 9 different diseases, 99 diseases in some cases.
Since juniper berry carries a cross formation on it, it was believed that juniper can help against witchcraft, revenants and anything evil.
It is also believed that juniper cleans and strengthens one’s body energetically. For humans, it has the best effect by breathing in, but it can also affect objects around that person. Juniper branches burnt in the house may clean up bad aura.
Juniper berries contain essential oils, sugars, resins, colourants, fatty acids, organic acids, carbohydrates and trace elements (Manganese, Iron, Copper and Aluminum). Juniper berries have anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial effects during colds. Berries also stimulate urine and saphenia and promote digestion.
Continue reading “Creamy Mushroom Puree Soup with Juniper Berries. Seene ja kadakamarjapüreesupp”
Recently I saw TV cooking show, where participants were very amazed about beetroot soup.
Beet root is delicious, healthy and very suitable for soups. You can cook hot soup Borš- look at for recipe. But during summer time at least I need something cold, refreshing and easy.
Continue reading “Cold Summer Beetroot Soup. Külm peedi püreesupp”
Seto Suulliim means in direct translation suul= salt and liim= broth. Savoury soup, salty broth, soup. So I used for translation this meaning.
I was born in Põlva. Põlva is the small town in Southeastern Estonia, in Setomaa. This region has become famous for her onions and cucumbers. Seto onions have a flat shape and a very strong flavour.
Until onions are not ready to spring onions are used for cold soup. Play and combine with ingredients, to get suitable flavours. This is Estonian, Seto version.
Setos (Seto: setokõsõq, setoq, Estonian: setud) are an indigenous ethnic and linguistic minority in south-eastern Estonia and north-western Russia. Setos are mostly Seto-speaking Orthodox Christians of Estonian nationality. The Seto language (like Finnish and Estonian) belongs to the Finnic group of the Uralic languages. The Setos seek greater recognition, rather than having their language considered a dialect of Estonian. Along with Orthodox Christianity, vernacular traditional folk religion is widely practised and supported by Setos.
Did you know there are dialects in different regions of Estonia? For example, the Setos in southern Estonia have their own dialect and their own kingdom, with about 12,000 speakers. Võru also has its own dialect with about 75,000 speakers. Both dialects are on the UNESCO list of threatened dialects.
read more about Setos
Continue reading “Traditional Seto Cold Summer Savoury broth. Seto Suulliim.”
Sour and sweet weed soup with onions and balanced with rye bread.
The recipe is basing on classical onion soup recipe.
Nettles are very important and has been used in Estonian folk medicine centuries.
Folk wisdom teaches that nettle contains vitamins C and K, B vitamins, as well as minerals like calcium, magnesium and iron, to name a few
The nettle takes away fatigue, abdominal pain and water swelling, reduces and stops bleeding, reduces the appearance of diabetes mellitus
And did you know: nettles contain vitamin C 2.5 times more than the lemon (660 mg%).
But of course, you can use any weed to replace nettles. Goutweed taste like carrots and celery. Nettles are a little bit sweet. And wood sorrel is sour.
Nettles keep 1-2 minutes in the boiling water. Goutweed and wood sorrel are edible fresh.
NB! Use only young, fresh, new, small weed, growing in the pure environment.
This is dish from my childhood.
In June or July, when all vegetables start to mature. Carrots are almost always seeded too closely together. And it is important to thin carrots, they will not grow to maturity unless they have space to do so.
So, you have tiny carrots , first small potatoes are sweet peas and maybe even first cabbage.. aand this is mean Summer New Vegetables Milk Soup. Easy to do and very delicious.
Of course, you can cook it all year long, but then,. it is not This Soup.
Continue reading “Summer New Vegetables Milk Soup. Värske köögiviljasupp”
Lüübnitsa is the small village in Setomaa. South eastern Estonia, near the Pihkva lake. Lüübnitsa has become very famous for her onion and fish fair. If you visit Estonia during summer time, you are welcome 🙂
Setos (Seto: setokõsõq, setoq, Estonian: setud) are an indigenous ethnic and linguistic minority in south-eastern Estonia and north-western Russia. Setos are mostly Seto-speaking Orthodox Christians of Estonian nationality. The Seto language (like Finnish and Estonian) belongs to the Finnic group of the Uralic languages. The Setos seek greater recognition, rather than having their language considered a dialect of Estonian. Along with Orthodox Christianity, vernacular traditional folk religion is widely practiced and supported by Setos.
read more about Setos
Did you know there are dialects in different regions of Estonia? For example, the Setos in southern Estonia have their own dialect and their own kingdom, with about 12,000 speakers. Võru also has its own dialect with about 75,000 speakers. Both dialects are on the UNESCO list of threatened dialects.
Check and google for Seto Kuningriigi Päevad and Lüübnitsa Fish and Onion fair in August
Continue reading “Lüübnitsa Cold Summer Soup. Lüübnitsa külm suvesupp”
In the old times spring meant two good news. At least the grass arises and the cows began to give milk.
So, ancient Estonian spring dishes contain a lot of milk, dairy products and greens.
Goutweed tastes like carrots and celery. Nettles are a bit sweet. Dandelion tastes like honey, but could be little bit bitter. To decrease the bitterness, leave leaves in to the cold salty water to set. 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.
Like I wrote last year, the most important custom on Shrove Tuesday (Vastlapäev) is sledding.
You can understand why this activity is important by just looking at the ingredients of the Shrove Tuesday’s pea-soup: beans, sauerkraut, barley…
Foods that give you lots of energy to burn.
You can cook this soup the traditional way: swell beans and barley overnight. Prepare beautiful and delicious broth, and cook up to 2 hours.
But I recommend the easier and faster ”everyday version”:
All ingredients can be prepared, canned or frozen…If you want, you can add some smoked meat, ham or broth just to give it a bit stronger taste.
This January, I would like to introduce you to a foreign dish that throughout the years has become more and more popular in Estonia to the point where me and my fellow estonians consider it being part of our national cuisine.
Rassolnik is light vegetable soup. As name says “rassolnik “-“rassol” means in Russian cucumber brine. So, this soup contains and has specific salted cucumbers taste.
If you follow my blog, You know, that I prefer dishes that do not take much time to prepare. Yes, you can cook proper broth. But in weekdays I have not time for this.
I make this soup using meat leftovers and/or season this soup with stock fond.
