Carrot Casserole : Porkkanalaatikko

Carrot casserole (Porkkanalaatikko)

Carrot casserole is a traditional Finnish Christmas food. It is made mainly out of carrot purée and rice.

• Ingredients (10 portions):
• ·       1 kg carrot purée
• ·       8 dl milk
• ·       1 ½ dl porridge rice
• ·       1 egg
• ·       ½ dl syrup
• ·       1 tsp. salt
• ·       ¼ tsp. white pepper
• ·       ¼ tsp. nutmeg
• On the surface
• ·       2 tbsp. breadcrumb

Instuctions:

1. Heat the milk in a pot. Add the rice and cook it and stir at the same time for 15 minutes. Let it simmer for 40 minutes.

2. Add the the carrot purée, egg and spices to the porridge.

3. Pour the mixture into a greased dish, which volume is at least 2 litres. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs on the surface.

4. Cook in 200 ⁰C for 50-60 minutes.

Christmas pastries - Joulutortut

Pastry:
7 oz (200g) soft butter or margarine
1 cup (21 /2 dl) flour
1/3 cup (1 dl) cold water
1 teaspoon vinegar

Filling:
sweetened prune puree or plum jam

1. Put all the pastry ingredients into a bowl and mix quickly by hand into a dough. Don't knead too much.
2. Put the dough to a cold place to harden. 3. Roll out on a floured board, folding a few times to make a puft pastry, and finally make a 1/2 cm thick sheet.
4. Cut the sheet into 7 x 7 cm squares. Split the corners of each square.
5. Place a bit of prune puree or plum jam in the middle of each square. Fold over every other spiit end onto the center, to form a windmill-like pastry.
6. Brush with beaten egg and bake at 450° F (250° C) until light brown. To make round pastries, cut into circles, fill, and fold in half. Bake as above

Gingerbread recipe

Baking time: 10 minutes/batch
Oven temperature: 400 °F or 200 °C

1 1/4 cups(300g)margarine
1/4 cups (300 g) sugar
3 eggs
1 cup (250 g) dark syrup
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 tablespoon grated orange rind
about 7 cups (1 kg) white flour
3 teaspoons baking soda

1. Boil the syrup and spices, add the margarine and beat until the mixture is cool.
2. Beat the eggs and sugar.
3. Mix the soda in with part of the flour and then combine with the syrup-margarine mixture. Add the whipped eggsand the rest of the flour. Do not knead the final mixture.
4. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and leave overnight in a cool place.
5. Roll out the dough, cut up into shapes and bake the cookies in the oven until golden brown. 

Finnish Christmas rice porridge

8 servings

3 decilitres of porridge rice

4 decilitres of water

1,8 liters of whole milk

A small amount of salt

One whole almond

Heat water in a pot to a boiling point. Add rice and cook it until rice has absorbed all of the water. Add milk and heat the porridge to the boiling point. Lower the temperature and cover the pot with a lid. Let the porridge simmer for 45 to 60 minutes. Remember to stir the porridge once in a while.

Once the porridge has simmered, add a bit of salt. Add the almond into the pot and stir well.

Rice porridge is often served with sugar and cinnamon.

When eating rice porridge, most people try to find the hidden almond. The lucky one who finds the almond can often make a wish or gets a reward of some sort. The reward can be anything: having to sing a song, receiving a small prize or perhaps being the one to do the dishes. 

   Before the Christmas meal




At morning Kids wake up, and run to see the Christmas tree just in case that the elves had bought some presents. When parents wake up some families are going to Christmas church at 9 or 10am. after that it's time to check that everything is OK for the evening. (food,decoration)...
    After that the hole family usually goes out for a while, because the weather is so beautiful (usually). At outside they are playing many Finnish outdoor games, often dad and sons are going to play ice hockey and mom and girls are just skating around the area. But often if the hole family wants to have fun together, they are going to ski, or they are walking in forest. These outdoor actives go on for 1-2 hours, after that Finns are going back to inside and mom is going to prepare the food. In that time dad helps mom and kids are playing or helping. (depends on a family).

 In the evening (17-18pm) The relatives and close friends arrive. They are going to eat together the Christmas meal.


When everybody has finished their meal, kids are going upstairs to have their own games and adults keep talking. At 18-20) The Santa Claus arrives. Kids sing to him and sometimes give some food or drink and he gives the presents. When Santa leaves kids are playing with their new toys and adults are admiring them.

That's Finnish Christmas!!!

Finnish Christmas

    Christmas in Finland is different from other countries. First of all, we celebrate it on December 24th and it's the most important day the holidays. Some people take a sauna before noon, because it's a part of the traditional Finnish culture. As well some people go to the graveyards to bring candles on the graves of their dead friends and relatives. When it gets dark outside the graveyards are very beautiful with hundreds of candles shining bright.

     At noon there's a special broadcasting on TV: the declaration of Christmas peace. It's broadcasted every year from Turku. After That Christmas is officially started. In the evening families and friends get together to celebrate and have fun. The food is very unique in Finland. We eat Karelian stew and casseroles. Nowhere in the world is the same kind of food.

     After eating it's time to open presents. Often, if there are small children in the family the Santa Claus brings the presents. Instead of hiding in the chimney, he knocks on the door. The elves that belong to Santa Claus watch the kids all through the year to see if the kids have been naughty or nice. Usually to get their presents kids have to sing something or bring food to Santa, because he has come a long way from Lapland.

    On the 25th some people go to Christmas church in the early morning. Christmas in Finland is not a very religious holiday, or very materialistic as in some other countries.

   New years eve is a time to be spent with friends and family. People spend new years day hanging out and relaxing. The highlights of this day are the amazing fireworks at night and the tradition of melting tin. We buy a piece of tin and at home we melt it on a stove with the help of the heat coming from fire. When the tin has melted we quickly put it in a bucket of cold water. When the tin has cooled off we take the piece of tin and put it against light and look what shape it is. The shape found on the tin resembles what fortunes and luck the next year will bring