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Ruokahullun päiväkirja - kaikenlaista nälkään ja janoon

Hummus, black garlic labneh & roasted tomatoes

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hummuskulho

Hummus yummus!

I really don’t feel like cooking much in the summertime. The summer in Finland is notoriously short and often very cold, so if the sun is shining, I want to be outside. That’s probably why my blog is usually slowing down each summer – I just don’t cook. And if I do, it’s always something super simple and fast, like cold noodle soups, hiyayakko or hummus bowls! (And you bet I use store bough hummus.)

In my opinion, the best summer dishes are made with minimal ingredients, minimal effort, and should be easily packed for a snack al fresco! Hummus, black garlic labneh and roasted tomatoes fit the description to the T. All that’s needed is a little mixing, a little mashing, and a quick pan fry for the tomatoes. A yummy hummus bowl comes together in no time, and it tastes even better outside in the sunshine!

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hummuskulho

musta valkosipuli

Black garlic labneh

The key to this super simple hummus bowl is black garlic labneh. Sounds fancy perhaps, but comes together with 3 store bought ingredients: black garlic, labneh and za’atar! Black garlic is made by aging the garlic slow and low, until it becomes dark, soft, sort of jammy and almost balsamic in flavor. The pungent kick of raw garlic is gone, and what’s left is a sweet and tangy umami bomb! Black garlic is easy to mush with a fork and mix with (you guessed it!) store bought labneh. All that’s left to do after that, is to season the mix with some earthy za’atar.

If you can’t find a store that sells labneh, you can make your own by straining full fat Greek yogurt in the fridge overnight, until thick and creamy. Season to taste with some salt and labneh is done! (For more detailed instructions, Lotte from My Kitchen Stories has a recipe on her website!) You can also make your own black garlic, but that will push your hummus meal off by a month… I recommend just finding a store that sells black garlic and buying A LOT. It stores really well and I never want to be without it!

musta valkosipuli

hummuskulho

Hummus, black garlic labneh & roasted tomatoes

My “quick and easy summer food” category rarely includes anything that’s hot or cooked, but this dish really is elevated with the juicy roasted tomatoes. If you don’t feel like heating up the oven, you can quickly sautée the cherry tomatoes on a frying pan. With my induction stove top it takes just a few minutes on high heat! If you have a chance to grill the tomatoes, even better! Pour yourself a glass of something cold and chill by the grill, enjoying the summer. And while you’re at it, I suggest grilling some new potatoes too! They’re wonderful dipped in the hummus, labneh and all the tomato juices…

If your local stores offer ready made roasted cherry tomatoes, they’re obviously making this dish even easier. I wouldn’t use sun-dried tomatoes though! You need the freshness and juiciness of the fresh tomatoes here ♥

Hummus bowl with black garlic labneh & roasted tomatoes

Hummus with black garlic labneh and roasted tomatoes comes together in a snap! I love to dip this mixture with crispy pan seared new potatoes or some crusty bread.
Course Appetizer, dip, Side Dish, Snack
Diet Vegetarian
Keyword vegetarian
Servings 2 people
Author Juulia
Prep Time 5 mins
Cook Time 10 mins
Total Time 15 mins
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Ingredients
 

  • 300 g cherry tomatoes
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 300 g hummus
  • 1-2 tbsp za'atar
  • flakey sea salt & freshly cracked black pepper (to taste)
  • 300-400 g grilled/roasted/fried new potatoes or crusty bread

Black garlic labneh:

  • 150 g labneh
  • 6-8 cloves black garlic
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tbsp za'atar
Notes:
This dip is excellent cold also the next day, as the flavors develop and meld together. That's why I often make a double batch!
Served with crispy pan seared new potatoes or a few slices of crusty bread this makes for a nice light lunch! But, I admit to also just eating this fridge cold with a spoon...

Instructions

  • Fry/roast/grill the cherry tomatoes with a bit of olive oil until they are bursting and slightly charred here and there. It takes about 5 minutes on stove top (high heat) or 10 minutes grilled or in the oven (top shelf with the broiler setting on).
  • If you're serving the hummus bowl with crispy new potatoes, cook them up the same way: a splash of oil + high heat. I use leftover boiled potatoes for this, so they don't need to be cooked, just crisped up a bit.
  • Make the black garlic labneh by mushing the garlic cloves with a fork and a tablespoon of olive oil. Mix this in with the labneh and season with za'atar!
  • All that's left to do now is to plate the hummusbowls: spoon the hummus on the plates or bowls, and top off with the labneh. Divide the tomatoes along with their juices on the plates. Finish the dishes with some za'atar, flakey sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper!
  • You can garnish the dishes with some edible flowers and/or fresh herbs for extra flair. Serve the hummus bowls with the cripsy potatoes or some crusty bread!

Ps. Roasting and serving the cherry tomatoes on the vine looks cool but is very unpractical to eat. I recommend picking the tomatoes off the vine before cooking … unless you also need cool pictures of your food 😀

hummuskulho

Traditional Finnish lanttusupikkaat, as my grandma made them!

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lanttusupikkaat

Lanttusupikkaat

Lanttusupikkaat are traditional Finnish savory pastries that I grew up eating and deeply loving. Lanttu means swede / rutabaga and supikas (supikas: singular, supikkaat: plural) means both a traditional leather shoe and this filled rye pastry! Lanttusupikkaat (also referred to as “syrjikäs/syrjikkäät”) are made with minimal ingredients, but they definitely have maximum of flavor! It’s just rye dough, filled with swede and pork belly. As the supikkaat slowly bake, the swede softens and the fatty pork literally melts inside the rye casing… One bite of this and I’m in heaven!

Different families likely have their own traditional methods of making lanttusupikkaat. Some prefer to cook the swede slices in advance, or even puree them. In my opinion there’s only one correct way: grandma’s way! She would slice the raw swede paper thin, then season it with salt and sugar. The moisture would draw out and soften the slices, which were then layered on top of each other and topped off with pork belly! It’s almost like a savory pork-rye-swede millefeuille 😀 This blog post explains in detail how my grandma made lanttusupikkaat. I’m currently the only one in our family who still makes these, but maybe you’ll become a part of our culinary tradition? It’s a tedious project, but totally worth the effort!

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lanttusupikkaat

lanttusupikkaat

Mamma ♥

My mother’s mother was named Kaarina, but we lovingly called her Mamma.She was, and still is, a super important person in my life. I’ve been interested in cooking since I was little, and Mamma influenced my taste as much as my mom did. In my childhood home things like mung bean sprouts, halwa and fried eggplant seasoned with Herbamare were on the menu, and mom taught us to roll “cigarettes” out of fresh new cabbage. I grew up munching on raw veggies whilst watching TV! At grandma’s it was different: we’d eat Karealian dishes like lanttusupikkaat and “ahvenpotti”! (Ahvenpotti is a perch pot pie of sorts. Super delicious recipe that deserves its own blog post!) and Mamma would teach my her recipes to the T. These are two kinds of food memories, and both are extremely dear to me!

Mamma was from the West of Finland, Ostrobothnia, and Ukki (my grandpa) from East, Vyborg (now part of Russia). It makes sense that Mamma’s cooking was a mix of Ostrobothnian and Karelian dishes – things she and Ukki grew up with. But she was also curious to try new recipes from magazines and TV, and whatever she made, we were happy to eat! For instance: the first time I’ve eaten kale was not at a hip and trendy healthy restaurant, but at Mamma’s table back in the 90’s 😀

Family tradition

I was always eager to participate in all food related chores, be it gutting the fish or stirring the pot under Mamma’s supervision. I inherited Mamma’s old cookbooks and handwritten recipe notes, and they are safely stored for reference! Lanttusupikkaat is however a dish I learned 100% by doing. As I already said, I’m the only one in our family who still makes them. But that’s exactly why I’ve wanted to share the recipe with all of you – I want to keep this recipe alive! I originally posted the recipe in Finnish in 2014, as I was making lanttusupikkaat for Mamma’s 88th birthday, and I’ve been thinking of translating the recipe in English ever since. Somehow it took me this long to finally get it done. I really hope this blog post finds even just a few people out there, curious of traditional Finnish recipes!

lanttusupikkaatLanttusupikkaat on their way to the oven…

lanttusupikkaat…lanttusupikkaat all done!

lanttusupikkaat…

In my opinion, Mamma’s method is The Only Way to make these tasty pastries. But, as I already mentioned, it really is a labor of love. The process is slow and tedious, especially if you’re making them on your own… Which is probably why I only take on the task every two years or so. I used to make them for my grandparents as they grew old and weren’t up to cooking anymore. Now Mamma and Ukki are both already gone, so I’ve been randomly treating my mother and sisters with lanttusupikkaat instead ♥

…as my mamma made them

The last time I made these was a surprise for mom’s 70th birthday! As I was shaping the supikkaat with Mamma’s old knife and pulikka (rolling pin) I remembered vividly her voice. She’d tell me to round off all the sharp edges, to cut the swede thinner! To make the edges of the dough thinner than the middle. And she would carefully taste the salt and sugar ratio that the paper thin slices of swede were seasoned with… Everything had to be just so.

Traditionally lanttusupikkaat are filled with swede and porkbelly, but I’ve often made also a vegetarian/vegan version. You can simply leave out the pork, but in my opinion it’s best to substitute it with a slice of (vegan) butter! Fat gives the filling flavor and richness, don’t skimp on it!  The recipe I’ve written here is long and detailed, because I want to explain Mamma’s process as true to life as possible. After all, lanttusupikkaat are more than just food to me. The recipe is a living memory of Mamma, Ukki and a cherished time that has long past. I want to do it justice ♥

My grandmother's lanttusupikkaat

Traditional Finnish swede pastrys, lanttusupikkaat, are my favorite childhood food memory! This recipe explains in detail exactly how my grandmother made these. This recipe makes about 16-24 supikas.
Cuisine Finnish, Karelian
Author Juulia
Prep Time 1 hr
Cook Time 1 hr 45 mins
Resting time: 3 hrs
Total Time 5 hrs 45 mins
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Equipment

  • Rolling Pin
  • mandolin

Ingredients
 

Filling:

  • 400 g swede/rutabaga (choose small and round swedes)
  • 150-200 g pork belly
  • 2-3 tsp salt
  • 1-2 tbsp sugar

Dough:

  • 5 dl rye flour
  • 1 dl wheat flour
  • 3 dl cold water (approximately)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 0,5 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 dl rye flour (to help with the rolling)

Basting:

  • 1 dl swede juice + melted butter
Notes:
If you're a vegetarian or vegan, I'd recommed substituting the pork belly with vegan butter, and a thin slice of smoked tofu if you want some protein in your pastry!
Lanttusupikkaat are best enjoyed whilst fresh and still slightly warm, but they also freeze well! If you're going to do this whole labor of love, might as well make a lot and enjoy the fruits of your labor for a longer time!

Instructions

Preparations:

  • Peel the swede and cut it in half. Cut paper thin half moons out of each piece, you should see the blade through the slices! A mandolin will make this part of the job a lot easier.
  • The slices of swede need to be very thin, but they also should not have any sharp corners. The sharp edges may break the dough later on, resulting in dry lanttusupikas! I usually have a pair of scissors at hand, so I can reshape any dangerously sharp pieces.
  • As the slices are ready, layer them in a bowl, sprinkling some salt and sugar between the layers. Once you've sliced the whole swede, cover the bowl and put the swedes in the fridge to soften and release their juices. Whilst this happens, you'll have time to make the dough!
  • Mix the rye and wheat flour, salt and baking powder. Mix the oil with 2 dl of cold water, adding this to the flour mixture. Keep adding more water until the dough comes together to a smooth ball. It should not be sticky but not too dry either! Wrap the dough ball to cling film and let rest in the fridge for 30 minutes or so.
  • After about an hour of swede resting time, it's time to start baking! Collect all the liquid that came out of the swede slices into a separate bowl. Cut the pork belly to strips of about 10 cm long and 5mm thick. You'll need as many pieces as there will be lanttusupikkaat.
  • Organize your work space so, that you have the swede, the dough, the pork and the swede liquid at hand.

Shaping and baking:

  • Divide the dough in two, and roll the pieces to logs of about Ø3 cm. Cut the logs in two, and again in two, and again in 2-3 pieces, so you'll end up with 16-24 pieces, depending if you want your supikkaat bigger or smaller. Roll each piece to a small ball, and cover with cling film so that the dough will not dry out.
  • Then you're ready to start shaping your lanttusupikkaat! Take a ball of dough and roll it out to an oval of about 2-3 mm thickness. Sprinkle the dough with some rye flour to prevent sticking! The oval should be thicker in the middle and thinner on the edges, since the edges will be folded over each other. (Mine are usually about 12 cm wide and 18 cm long.)
  • Fill up one half of the oval, leaving about 2 cm empty space in the edges. You'll need about 1 cm layer swede slices, topped off with a piece of pork belly. My grandmother always added first a few perfect half moon swede slices, then lots of odd bits and broken pieces, and finally a layer of perfect half moons again, making sure that there are no sharp edges peaking through anywhere.
  • Once you've filled the supikas, brush a little swede liquid to the empty edge. Fold the other side of the oval over the filling and gently press it down to the wet surface to seal the supikas. Try not to have much air left inside the pastry. Fold the sealed edge over itself to double seal the pastries. You can add a little water to "glue" the dough to itself. (Check out the process pics from below!)
  • Leave the filled up lanttusupikas covered, while you repeat the rolling and filling, until you run out of dough and/or swede.
  • Bake the lanttusupikkaat in 200°C oven (upper level) for about 15 minutes, to harden the pastry. Then lower the heat to 160°C and keep baking for about 1,5 hours (middle level). Take the tray out every half an hour and baste the lanttusupikkaat with a mixture of the remaining swede liquid and melted butter.
  • After the baking time is over, the swede is fully soft and the lanttusupikkaat are almost done! You still need to do one step though. My grandmother always said this step was super important: you should wrap up the hot lanttusupikkaat in parchment paper and blankets and leave them to cool off slowly. This way the moist filling sort of steams the now hard pastry shell and the supikas becomes softer to eat!
  • My grandmother sometimes even tugged the lanttusupikkaat "to bed" over night (they went to sleep under the sofa cushions 😀 ) and we just had to wait. I usually wrap the supikkaat in parchment and some kitchen towels, and leave them on the table top for a few hours. I have no patience for a longer rest...

Last piece of advice is: eat the lanttusupikkaat while they are still a little warm, and eat them in good company! If you went through all this trouble, might as well share the results with your loved ones! That’s what my dear Mamma did too.

lanttusupikasFold the dough over the filing and seal out most of the air. Press gently, avoid tearing and holes! If something breaks, use a tiny piece of dough and water to fix the hole.

traditional finnish foodFold the sealed edge over itself to create a second seal! A bit of water will glue the dough to itself.

Asparagus and green almond risotto (vegan)

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green almond risottoVegan green almond & asparagus risotto with almond & Amontillado cream

Green almonds & asparagus risotto

Few weeks ago I made an exciting discovery at my local international grocery store: green almonds!!! I’ve never seen these seasonal delicacies IRL, so I instantly grabbed a box and took it home. At home there was a bunch of green asparagus waiting to be used, an open bag of peeled almonds + annoyingly almost empty bottle of Amontillado. One thing led to the other… and soon I had one of the best vegan risottos I’ve ever prepared on my plate!

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almond risotto green almonds

Green almonds

Green almond = young almond. And as you may already know, almond is no nut, but a stone fruit! Almonds are the seeds of the almond fruits. When they are young, their skins are soft, succulent and fuzzy. At this stage, the almond itself is but a translucent little nugget. When the almond is this young, you can eat the whole thing!

The flavor of green almond is fresh, sour, lemony and slightly grassy. There is a distant echo of almond flavor, which will later become more pronounced… but honestly if I didn’t know I’m eating almond, I’d have no idea. The flavor is more reminiscent of rhubarb and common wood sorrel to me! Both are dear flavors of my childhood, so needles to say I fell in love with green almonds at first bite. In Middle Eastern countries fresh green almonds are often dipped in salt and eaten as a snack, and that’s how I like to munch on them too. You can dip them in sugar too, if you have more of a sweet tooth than I have. Green almonds can however be added to all kinds of dishes! Salads, soups, stews, pestos, dips… you name it! You can also pickle them, marinade them or even make green almond liqueur!

green almonds

Season and storage

The season of green almonds is short, and lasts from April to early June. As time passes, that fuzzy green shell hardens and dries up as the almond inside matures. If and when you get your hands on these funny and tasty little things, don’t hesitate to buy them! You’ll likely have to wait a whole year if you don’t – at least if you live in a country such as Finland. Just remember to check the stage of the almonds before cooking: if the shell is tough and bitter it’s best to peel the almonds before using them.

I read that green almonds don’t really store well, so I was prepared to say goodbye to a part of the big box I’d bought. I did my best still, and stored my stash washed, dried and loosely wrapped in ever so slightly damp kitchen towel. This bundle was placed in a plastic container with its lid left open in one corner. Stored like this in the fridge, the green almonds kept well over 2 weeks! And in that time I managed to eat the whole big box.

vegan asparagus risotto

green almond risotto

My recipe today is a vegan risotto made with green almonds and asparagus. The green almonds add in a good dose of fresh sourness, which is balanced by a creamy white almond and Amontillado puree. The idea for this recipe is very loosely based on white gazpacho aka ajo blanco!

I totally understand that green almond is an ingredient that isn’t readily available everywhere. You’re likely also not reading this blog during the short season of green almonds! So, I’ve come up with a few ideas on how to substitute green almonds in this risotto. I’d chop some wild or cultivated sorrel to the risotto at the very last minute to get a tart flavor. To achieve a similar texture as well as flavor, I’d try adding in some finely cubed green apple, rhubarb or even green tomato!

Green almond and asparagus risotto

This vegan asparagus risotto gets its fresh flavor from green almonds and its creaminess from white almonds soaked and pureed with sherry!
Course first course, Lunch, Main Course
Cuisine Fusion
Diet Vegan, Vegetarian
Keyword risotto
Servings 2 people
Author Juulia
Prep Time 1 hr
Cook Time 30 mins
Total Time 1 hr 30 mins
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Equipment

  • Immersion blender

Ingredients
 

  • 250 g green asparagus
  • 1½ dl risotto rice
  • 6 dl vegetable stock (You may need a bit more or less)
  • 1 dl fresh green almonds (Test that they are still fully edible and haven't gone too hard or bitter!)
  • 3-4 cloves garlic
  • 1 big spring onion
  • 75 g vegan butter
  • 1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
  • 1 tsp sugar (if using dry sherry)

Almond cream:

  • 1 dl peeled white almonds
  • ½ dl dry or medium dry sherry
  • ½ dl water
Notes:
  • Risotto is best served immediately after it's done and on a warmed up plates!
  • The amount of liquid needed depends on the rice you use (among other things). If you run out of stock before the risotto is done, heat up some water in the stockpot (with the asparagus ends and all) and use that.
  • I usually use Amontillado in this recipe. If you're using dry sherry, add in a little sugar to the risotto to balance the tartness of the green almonds!
  • If and when green almonds are not available, you can have a similar tartness in the mix with a handful of sorrel or some quickly blanched finely minced rhubarb. Also finely cubed tart green almond could work, or green tomato!
  • Green almonds start to discolor and brown soon after being sliced. To serve your risotto with freshly coloured green almond, slice them at the very last minute!

Instructions

Preparation:

  • Mix half a deciliter of sherry with water and add the almonds. Allow to soak for at least half an hour (or overnight in fridge). Puree the almonds with their soaking liquid until creamy and smooth.
  • Wash and snap off the hard parts of the green asparagus, chop up the stalks in bite sized pieces (c. 2-3 cm). Thinly slice the green onions, separating the white and green parts. Peel and thinly slice the garlic, wash the green almonds and remove the hard ends. Slice the almonds.
  • Heat the veggie stock and add in the hard ends of asparagus. Allow to bubble for about 5 minutes, then lower the heat a lot just to keep the stock warm under a lid. If you want to serve the risotto later with some asparagus tips, quickly blanch them in the stock and remove before fully cooked!
  • Set the oven to warm up to about 50 °C and put the plates you're serving the risotto from inside to warm up.

Making the risotto:

  • Heat up the vegan butter in a heavy bottomed pot or deep frying pan. Add in the black pepper and allow to "bloom" for a minute or so to release some peppery aroma into the butter. Add in the garlic and sautee until it's softened and translucent, just about to start browning.
  • Add in the risotto rice (+ sugar if using dry sherry). Stir the rice in the pan until each grain is coated with the butter and starts to get translucent in the edges. I like to keep stirring until some of the garlic is getting a bit caramelized, then add in the white parts of the spring onions.
  • Start adding in the asparagus infused veggie stock, about half a deciliter at a time. Stir the rice until the liquid is almost fully absorbed, then add in the next half a deciliter of stock.
  • Keep adding and absorbing the stock until the rice is getting near to being al dente but is still a bit too much under cooked. Add in the asparagus and green almonds at this point!
  • Keep adding more stock until the rice has a tiny bit of bite but is no longer under cooked. Add in the almond cream and the green part of the scallion (reserve a little of both for serving). Check the seasoning, add a pinch of salt or some more black pepper as necessary. A tiny pinch of sugar might also be needed to balance out the tartness of the green almonds!

Serving:

  • Spoon the risotto on the warmed plates. Garnish with finely sliced green onion greens, a spoonful of the almond and sherry cream, some freshly sliced green almonds and asparagus tips.
  • Serve the green almond and asparagus risotto immediately!

Read more about green almonds from Spruce Eats! Have you used green almonds? How? I’d love to hear your tips!

almond risotto

“Dan dan slaw” aka cabbage salad in the style of dan dan noodles

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kaalisalaatti

Dan dan noodles

A few years ago I became a dan dan noodle addict. We were eating dan dan noodles a few times a week at some point, all year round! I’ve made several recipes based on this iconic Sichuan noodle dish. One with ingredients available in an average super market, another with ingredients I was hunting down for months 😀 I love dan dan noodles soupy and more dry, vegan and with meat, with traditional ingredients and with more of a fusion twist. There is just something so special about the overall flavor combination! Toasty nutty numbingly spicy sauce, bouncy noodles and that spicy savory crumb… Heavenly.

And would you believe it – this combo is equally delicious with shredded cabbage playing the part of noodles!

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dan dan kaali

“Dan Dan slaw”

After a few years of intensive noodle slurping, I had to have a bit of a pause. It ended when after a few months of a “dry” season, I suddenly had a huge urge to eat that delicious sauce again… but, I had zero noodles around. Instead, I had a head of young cabbage! I whipped up a batch of the sauce & fried some plant based mince for the topping and used thinly shredded cabbage instead of the noodles. OMG. The most addictive cabbage salad was born!

When the shredded new cabbage is rubbed with the delicious sauce, it softens quickly and becomes almost silky. I kid you not, prepared like this I can literally eat almost a head of cabbage in one go… Add some spicy fried protein and peanuts on top, and “dan dan slaw” is a tasty meal in itself! No carbs needed. (Don’t get me wrong, I do love my noodles too!)

kiinalainen kaalisalaatti

Cabbage slaw in the style of dan dan noodles

I often make a double batch of the sauce and the spicy mixture, this way a batch of delicious dan dan slaw is ready in 5 minutes. Just mix the cabbage with the sauce and heat the protein mixture. Chop up some scallion greens on top, or if it’s foraging season, run to the nearest forest (that’s 5 meters from the door for me) and pick some garlic mustard on top!

If you are as big of a dan dan noodle fan as I am, you likely already have your own recipe for this tasty Sichuan dish. But if not, below you’ll find how I most often make this dish. I like to make my sauce rather nutty with plenty of either peanut butter or Chinese sesame paste or both. But I can imagine in Sichuan the sauce would have a lot more chili oil! And if you’re craving for noodles instead of a head of cabbage, just serve the sauce & topping with noodles and some greens instead!

"Dan dan slaw" aka cabbage salad in the style of dan dan noodles

How to make a head of cabbage disappear? Shred it and mix it with a numbingly spice and nutty sauce inspired by the iconic Sichuan dan dan noodles. Throw in some radishes, cucumber or carrot if you feel like it, and serve it with a savory protein mixture, some scallion greens and some peanuts!
Course Salad, Side Dish
Cuisine Fusion
Diet Vegan, Vegetarian
Keyword foraging, salad, vegan, vegetarian
Servings 4 people
Author Juulia
Prep Time 15 mins
Total Time 15 mins
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Ingredients
 

  • 1 head young cabbage (about 600 g)
  • 1-2 spring onions
  • 1 bunch radishes (optional)
  • 1-2 carrots (optional)
  • 1 small cucumber (optional)

Dressing:

  • 4 tbsp (Chinese) sesame paste (or tahini, or peanut butter, or a mix of the two)
  • 2 tbsp Chinese light soy sauce
  • 1-2 tsp red and/or green Sichuan peppercorns (toasted on a dry pan until fragrant then finely ground )
  • 1-2 tbsp Chinese black vinegar (or rice wine vinegar)
  • ½ tsp toasted sesame oil
  • 1 clove garlic (grated)
  • 1½-2 tbsp agave syrup (or maple syrup, or brown sugar...)
  • 1-3 tbsp Sichuan style chili oil

Spicy crumb:

  • 250 g plant based protein "mince" (or a grated block of tempeh)
  • 1-2 tbsp Sichuan style chili oil (or Lao Gan Ma chili crisp)
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
  • 1 tsp red and/or green Sichuan peppercorns (toasted on a dry pan until fragrant then finely ground )
  • 1 tsp Chinese five spice
  • 1½-2 tbsp Chinese light soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp sweetener of choice (agave syrup, maple syrup, sugar...)
  • ¼ tsp toasted sesame oil

To serve:

  • dry roasted peanuts (to taste)
  • scallion greens (to taste)
  • mint / coriander / garlic mustard / thai basil (to taste)
Notes:
If you happen to have some preserved Sichuan mustard greens (suì mǐ yá cài) I recommend adding a few tablespoons into the protein mixture! The flavor is so unique and adds a layer of smokey funky umami to the topping.
I highly recommend always dry toasting and grinding Sichuan peppercorns as you need them. Pick out stems first! The pre ground store bought stuff just has not got the same punch!
I usually use red Sichuan peppercorns for dan dan noodles, but sometimes I mix things up by adding in some green ones as well. They're equally numbing but their flavor is somewhat more herbaceous compared to the red ones!

Instructions

Sauce:

  • Mix all the ingredients of the sauce together. Loosen up with a bit of water as needed! Adjust the level of heat with the chili oil, the acidity with the black vinegar, the salinity with soy sauce and the sweetness with the syrup. Don't worry if the sauce tastes intense at this point, it's supposed to. It's going to season a whole head of cabbage after all!
  • Shred the cabbage and finely mince the scallions. Put some of the greens to the side for serving. Slice the radishes, chop up the cucumber and shred the carrots if using. Mix the salad ingredients with the sauce, rubbing the cabbage with the sauce with your hands until it softens a little.

Spicy topping:

  • Mince the garlic and grate a piece of the ginger. Heat up some chili oil in a frying pan and brown well the protein you're using. Add the garlic and ginger to the pan once you've gotten a good color on the protein mixture. Season the mixture with toasted and ground Sichuan peppercorns, five spice, soy sauce and the sweetener of choice.
  • Once the liquid is absorbed into the mixture, add in the toasted sesame oil and check the flavor. Add more chili oil / soy sauce / sweetener as needed. The mixture is meant to be a condiment, so it can be rather strong in flavor!

Serving:

  • Serve the dan dan slaw in bowls, topping the slaw off with a few spoonfuls of the spicy topping. Add a handful of roasted peanuts and scallion greens on top, as well as some fresh herbs of foraged greens!

 

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Finnish sourdough mead (sima)

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Sima – finnish sourdough mead

It’s almost May Day aka Vappu in Finnish – that means it’s time to make some sima! Sima is a traditional Finnish mead, a refreshing very low alcohol drink made with honey, sugar, yeast, lemons and water. You add a few raisins to each bottle, and once they float, the mead is ready to drink!

I’ve stopped using commercial yeast years ago and prefer to make my sima the way I make my bread too: with a sourdough starter! Sourdough mead is more fresh in flavor in my opinion, and the mead gets ready super fast.

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hapanjuuri sima

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Sourdough mead – traditional and experimental

Traditional Finnish mead is made with lemons, (brown) sugar, honey, yeast and raisins, but we’ve been experimenting with all kinds of other citrus fruits, as well as with different warm spices. Whilst experimenting, we’ve discovered a few things! The seeds of the chili are best removed for instance (LOL) and anything can get too overpowering if left in the mixture for too long. That’s why strong spices are best added in big pieces – they’ll be easy to remove once the flavor is how you like it!

Spices we’ve experimented with include lavender, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and fresh chili. Of the previous year’s batches, grapefruit & cardamom mead was a real winner, whilst the chili & lime turned out a bit too spicy. This year’s combo is of ginger, lemon and green cardamom! Juuso wanted to add in some fresh tamarind too, and I said no. I’m already in regret, so maybe next time?

I like my mead relatively “sour” so I add more lemon than traditional Finnish recipes usually call for. Mead is always sweet, but I prefer to add a lot of lemon to balance off the sweetness. Mead can be made with white sugar too, but Juuso and I are fans of a mixture of brown sugar and honey! If you’re a vegan, you should obviously leave out the honey 🙂

Finnish sourdough mead (sima)

Traditional Finnish mead is a very low alcohol beverage, made with honey, sugar, yeast (sourdough starter in this case) lemons and water. You add a few raisins to each bottle, and once they float, the mead is ready to drink! Sima is traditionally served during the May Day celebrations.
Course Drinks
Cuisine Finnish
Author Juulia
Prep Time 30 mins
3 d
Total Time 3 d 30 mins
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Equipment

  • 4 sterilized 1 liter bottles with flip top or twist caps

Ingredients
 

  • 300 g brown sugar (or half white sugar, half brown sugar)
  • 3 tbsp organic honey (c. 100g)
  • 3 liters water
  • 3-5 big organic lemons (juice and peels)
  • ½ tsp active sourdough starter
  • raisins

Optional:

  • lime, orange, grapefruit...
  • cardamom, chili, ginger, cinnamon...
Notes:
We often use flip top bottles and if you do too, I highly recommend releasing the gasses from the bottles a few times after closing the bottles and moving them to cold storage. There is a bit of a danger of the bottles exploding otherwise!
If you like, you can replace some of the lemons with other citrus fruits.
We often experiment with spices too - a bit of fresh chili (careful though, it gets very spicy very fast!), a few cardamom pods, a stick of cinnamon or a few slices of fresh ginger are all wonderful additions to the traditional mead!

Instructions

  • Wash the lemons well and peel their yellow fragrant part off to a big pot that will fit at least 3,5 liters of water. Heat half of the water to boiling point, dissolve the sugar and honey to the water. Pour the mixture over the lemon peels and add the rest of the water.
  • Once the liquid has cooled off to body temperature, add in the juice of the lemons. Taste and add more lemon juice if you like a more sour mead. Don't worry if the mead tastes very sweet at this point, it will change as the mead ferments.
  • Mix in the active sourdough starter. (Make sure the liquid isn't too hot, around 27°C is a safe temp for the starter!)
    Cover the pot and leave at room temperature to ferment. It should take +/- 24 hours for the starter to start fermenting the mead, you should see tiny bubbles form at the top of the liquid.

Bottling:

  • Once the bubbling has started, sieve off the lemons and spices and fill the sterilized bottles with the mead. Leave some empty space at the top! Add a few raisins to each bottle. Put the lid on the bottles, but don't close it all the way. Allow the bottles to ferment in room temperature for about a day and move them to fridge after that, at which point you can close the lids all the way.
  • I recommend allowing the mead's flavors to develop a few days before drinking, and to open the lids a bit a few times to prevent too much gasses building up inside the bottles!
  • The mead is ready to drink once the raisins float to the top and it's best consumed within 4-5 days.

 

Ps. Three liters of sourdough mead is the perfect amount for our two person household! Why? Because mead gets over fermented if you leave it in the fridge for too long. Also, too much of any good thing will turn it into a bad thing… If you’re making mead for a bigger party, I recommend doubling or tripling the recipe. Well, after trying it out first to see if you like it, of course!

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You can read more about Finnish Sima and Vappu in Wikipedia (oh, Wikipedia, what would we do without you?)