Or, Karelian pies. These tasty little carbo fiends are a traditional Finnish treat. My mum showed me how to make them a while ago and since then Mr Reread has acquired a taste for them and we make them on weekends. So here is a little 'how to' if you feel like getting all Scandi in the cold winter months. They'll keep for 5 days in the fridge - just pop them in the toaster to heat them up and sprinkle with some salt.
What you'll need;
Crust - 1.5 cups white flour, 1.5 cups rye flour (I get mine from Coles in the health food section), 1 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 cup water.
Filling - 1 cup short or medium grain rice, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons butter and 6 cups milk (can be full or half fat). Extra milk and butter for basting.
Step one - Crust - Add all the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl and mix well, once it's blended knead on a breadboard for two minutes. Wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate.
Step two - Rice mix - In a large microwave proof bowl (I use a big Pyrex one) add the milk to the rice with the two table spoons of butter and then the salt. Give it a good stir and zap for 10 minutes on 80%. After the 20 minutes, stir and put back into microwave for 25 minutes on 50% or 30%. Once done stir and repeat - it should need about an hour all up - it needs to be creamy but not mushy.
Step three - Assembly! - Roll out the dough into circles about 10-12cm in diameter. Add a large spoonful of the rice to the centre of the dough and flatten out so it's about 1cm high. To fold in the edges you can pretty much do as you like, the traditional pies look like little boats with pinched edges. Mum showed me a different way that I find easier and looks more like a teardrop shape.
Step four - Cooking - Pop them into the oven (about 200 degrees celsius) and cook for 10 minutes. Take them out and baste with a butter and milk mixture. If you want the crust nice and golden you can baste twice.
Mixing up the flour for the crust
Kick-arse Pyrex bowl to cook the rice (cheats way)
Ball up the dough and roll out into circles
Template for the circles, another handy Pyrex bowl!
Rice ready to roll ...
Furious fingers folding Finnish pies ...
That's enough alliteration for now,
Finnished (ha ha)
Sprinkle with salt and get ready for Eurovision! Kaikki menee ihan hyvin.
