Karelian Pies (Finnish Rice Pasties)

We vacationed in Finland recently and one of the things I fell in love with is Karelian pies (karjalanpiirakka in Finnish). They were often served for breakfast (ohh the lovely hotel breakfast) but can be eaten at any time of day. I missed them enough when I got home that I decided to try making my own.

Notes:

• I used Arborio rice because I didn't think I was going to find the traditional type of rice, and with its creamy texture I thought it would work better than Japanese rice.
• I used half and half instead of milk because it was what I had on hand, and omitted the butter in the filling.
• You can make the filling ahead and chill it to make it a little easier to assemble.
  
• I added an extra splash of water into my crust dough because I thought it was a little too dry.
• I only used maybe 3 tbsp each of the melted butter and milk for brushing, didn't do the brushing step halfway through cooking, and they still tasted fine and there was mixture left over.
  
• The recipe author isn't kidding when they say heavily floured board. The dough is fairly sticky. I poured out what I thought would be too much extra flour and ended up using pretty much all of it.
• 4-5 tbsp filling per pie is a better estimate than the 3 tbsp written in the recipe. I got toward the end and realized I was going to have filling left over so I REALLY piled it in those last few.
• 500 F oven seems quite hot but please trust it! It worked just fine for me.
  
• I made egg butter with 2 boiled eggs and about 4 tbsp Irish style butter and it worked nicely.
• If the rice porridge filling is not your thing, these can also be made with mashed potatoes, fish, or meat as the filling.
  

Verdict: These are definitely bigger than the ones at hotel breakfast, and were kind of a lot of work, but they tasted really good! I would gladly make this recipe again if I had a craving for them.

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RECIPE: Karelian Pies (Inspired by Maps)

Finnish Style Salmon Soup

I recently went to Finland for the first time and was told to try this soup. I finally did try it the day before I went back home, fell in love with it, and it was one of the first things I made for myself once I was home again.

Notes:

• I used white onion because the store did not have leeks in stock when I went shopping for ingredients.
• I would add some salt when making the fish stock to get some layers of salt in the dish, rather than adding it all at the end.
  
• I did not use all 20g of the fresh dill (maybe only about 12-15g) and thought that was plenty.
• I served the soup with garlic toast and roasted Brussels sprouts.
  

Verdict: It was really nice! Finnish salmon definitely tastes better than the kind we can get in the midwestern US. I will admit that this is not my favorite way to eat salmon (salmon is expensive where I live and I prefer baking or broiling it to serve as the main part of a meal) but the soup itself was good, and I would make it again if I didn't want to bake or broil my salmon.

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RECIPE: Finnish Salmon Soup (Sue Moran, The View from Great Island)

Japanese Style Corn Rice

I like rice and corn and cooking rice with stuff in it, and the flavors of this dish sounded appealing so I wanted to give this a try.

Verdict: It was good but a significant amount of extra effort for how much I liked the taste. I think it would actually taste really good with Western style barbecue. If I had a lot of fresh corn to use up I might consider making it again.

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RECIPE: Corn Rice (Namiko Chen, Just One Cookbook)

Fresh Tomato Salad

Verdict: It was all right. I think maybe some sweetness would have made it even better, or some cheese. I'm not sure I will go out of my way to make this again but it's a nice way to use up lots of tomatoes that are best eaten fresh.

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RECIPE: Tomato Salad (The Kitchn)

Bean Sprout Stir Fry

I tried this because I had part of a bag of bean sprouts left from making laksa, and I didn't know that they'd be good to eat fresh anymore so I wanted to try cooking them.

Verdict: I liked it quite a bit and my partner REALLY loved it (he is a bean sprout fiend). It was easy and tasty and healthy. I would gladly make it again.

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RECIPE: Bean Sprout Stir Fry (Maggie Zhu, Omnivore's Cookbook)

Laksa Noodle Soup

Notes:

• I used Lee Kum Kee laksa soup base in a foil pouch because it was what I could find at my local store. I like the flavor of a lot of their sauces so I thought I'd like this too. The directions say to mix it with water but I did a mix of coconut milk and chicken broth.
  

Verdict: It was really good! My partner absolutely loved it and so did I, so it sounds like we're definitely having it again.

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RECIPE: Laksa Noodle Soup (Recipe Tin Eats)

Steak Garlic Rice

Verdict: Absolutely wonderful, even without the liquid smoke. This is definitely more of a special occasion, once-in-a-while-as-a-treat dish but it was SO good. I am not making the garlic chips from scratch again if I can help it because those were very fussy.

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RECIPE: Steak Garlic Rice (Just One Cookbook)