Karelian Salty Pastries

 

Karelian cakes are a specialty of the homonymous region, currently divided between Russia and Finland, although in origin it is a historical territory of the Scandinavian country (I know that some do not consider Finland part of Scandinavia, but of the Baltic region, but from a geopolitical point of view is much closer to Sweden or Norway than to Lithuania, for example). Today Finland has a very small part of Karelia within its borders, although practically all Karelian Finns live there since they left the eastern part when Russia occupied the area in 1945.

Karelian cakes are very popular not only in the area, but throughout Finland. It is a kind of rye bread stuffed with rice porridge and sometimes covered with egg butter, which is a very typical specialty of the area.

By the way, they are not sweet cakes, if not salty. So they are used as a starter, for a salty snack or breakfast, but not as a dessert.

INGREDIENTS :

For the filling :

• 1 liter (4.2 cups) whole milk
• 1 cup of rice (200 ml), the usual short grain in Spain
• 1 cup of bottled or filtered water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Optional: 2 tablespoons of butter, about 30-40 grams

For the mass :

• 2 cup (400 ml) rye flour *
• 1 cup (200 ml) of bottled or filtered water
• Half a cup (100 ml) of wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon salt

* You will find rye flour in most supermarkets and diet and / or organic food stores.

Egg butter (optional):

• 50 grams (3.5 tablespoons) of butter with salt
• 2 hard-boiled eggs

First of all we are going to make the rice filling.

We heat the water and when it starts to boil we add the rice, stirring until it absorbs the water. At that time we add the milk, stir well and let it cook until the rice softens (approximately 20 minutes). Salt is added and if you want a little more succulent add 2 tablespoons of butter or margarine.

We remove and let cool. The rice should be completely cold when the rye flour base is filled.

We continue making the dough.

This step is very simple. Simply mix the rye flour with the wheat flour,  sift to avoid lumps, and then add water and salt.  The resulting dough is kneaded with your hands until it is homogeneous.

With the rolling pin, we flatten the dough on the floured marble and cut oval shapes - the size you want, they are usually the size of a dessert plate - counting on the existence of a kind of "wrinkle" in the shape of a gutter that partially encloses the dough. . It seems that doing the wrinkling in question is an art, so do what you can, it is not that difficult if you put the cooked rice and then fold the edges into shape with your fingers.

Once we have filled and "folded" the edges of the bread dough, we proceed to bake them at 250 degrees (480 F)  for about 15 minutes, until the rice is golden (it will be more golden without putting butter, of course). Place the cakes on a rack so that the base does not get too brown, or use parchment paper.

Once freshly removed from the oven, they are usually painted with more butter or with a mixture of equal parts milk and butter. Once painted, they should be covered with baking paper or a kitchen towel.

Another way to present them is to cover them with egg butter.

To do this, boil the eggs for 12 minutes until they are hard, with a splash of vinegar and a tablespoon of salt (they are easier to peel that way).

Peel the eggs and mash them with a fork, mixing with the 50 grams (3.5 tbsp)  of salted butter. They are served hot but they are also good if you eat them at room temperature or even reheated.