The Karelian pie, also known as karjalanpiirakka, is one of the most popular foods in the country, and, as the name suggests, it originated in the Karelian region. It's a rye flour cake with a rice filling that can be sweet or savoury. Karjalanpiirakka can sometimes be found with different fillings, such as potato or carrot, but rice is the most common. This pie is typically eaten for breakfast with a little butter and a boiled egg.

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup white short grain rice
• 1¼ cup water
• 2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup rye flour (ruisjauho)
• ½ cup spelt flour
• 5¼ oz unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 hard-boiled eggs

Instruction:

1. The stuffing is prepared like rice pudding by cooking round rice in a mixture of water and milk. After a long cooking, the ingredients amalgamate and form a kind of dough, which may be easily handled when cooling. It is imperative that utensils are cold during assembly so as not to soften or moisten the dough.
2. The pastry is made from a mixture of water, rye and spelt flours. These flours, more rustic than wheat, give a particular lightly roasted flavor to karjalanpiirakka.
3. The pastry should be soft enough to be divided into sausage shapes and rolled out finely. It is imperative to roll out a circle of 7 to 8 inches (18 to 20 cm), as set out in the TSG.
4. The filling is placed in the center of each circle, and the edges are folded and pinched to give the tart its characteristic shape. The filling remains visible in the center of the small “canoes”.
5. Baking in a very hot oven for about ten minutes, the pastry should be lightly colored. Once out of the oven, the tarts are immediately immersed in cold milk for a few seconds. They are then left to rest and topped with munavoi.
6. This topping is made by simply combining crushed hard-boiled eggs and butter into a type of spread.
   

Leipäjuusto is a classic Finnish fresh cheese made from freshly calved cow's milk. Goat and reindeer milk is also popular, giving the leipäjuusto a varied color. The moniker "bread cheese" comes from the fact that the method of preparation is remarkably similar to conventional bread baking. This meal is traditionally eaten with blackberry jam and coffee for the morning, but it can also be found in many recipes for fresh salads.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound brick of bread cheese
• Honey & walnuts
• Jelly
• Fresh fruit

Instruction:

1. Bread cheese is scored into long sticks. As a rule, I prepare one-half stick per person. As such, this package contains 12 small servings. The image above shows one full stick – or two small servings.
2. Cut your cheese into sticks and then into small cubes. The cheese is salty, so the smaller bites tend to work best.
   Saute in a pan on medium heat until soft, or about 3-4 minutes, tossing around the pan regularly.
3. Serve garnished with honey and walnuts (or your personal favorite), a dollop of jelly or jam or serve on a toothpick with fruit, like blueberries, to serve as appetizers.

In Finnish families, salmon soup is served all year. This classic dish, particularly the creamy variety, is a staple of Finnish cuisine. It's a straightforward recipe in which the high quality of the ingredients speaks for itself. A nice salmon soup requires only fine fish, potatoes, carrots, and a bunch of fresh dill. You're all set if you serve the soup with a slice of fresh rye bread. This is the epitome of Finnish comfort cuisine!

Ingredients:

• 500 g/1,1 lb salmon, skinned and cut into large chunks
• 10 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 3 carrots, sliced
• 1 onion, thinly sliced1 leek, thinly sliced
• 1 l water
• Salt & Butter
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 dl cream (0,8 US cup)
• Plenty of fresh dills, finely chopped

Instruction:

1. Melt a chunk of butter in a small kettle and sauté the thinly sliced leek and onion. They need to become a bit translucent but by no means brown!
2. Take the soup kettle and boil the water. Add potato and carrot chunks, sautéed leek, onion and spices. Boil for 10-15 minutes.
3. Add the salmon on top of the boiling vegetables. Sprinkle salt on top. Gently boil the fish ready.
4. Preheat cream in the small kettle and add it to the soup. Check flavor and add salt if needed. Last, add dill.

Poronkäristys, or sautéed reindeer meat, is Finland's national dish. The dish originated from Arctic Lapland, where the Saame, a semi-nomadic indigenous people, have been herding reindeer for centuries. Thin slices of reindeer meat are typically sautéed in butter, with or without onions, before being slowly cooked in beer or stock until tender and luscious. Creamy mashed potatoes and lingonberry jam are the most typical and traditional accompaniments for the dish, but they can also be served with pasta or rice.

Ingredients:

• 500g reindeer meat or poronkäristys
• 50g butter
• salt & pepper
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 carrot julienne sliced
• 3 dl water
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 onion
• cabbage

Instruction:

1. Place the reindeer meat to room temperature at least half an hour before cooking.
2. Wash and peel the onion and garlic
3. Sliced the garlic and the onion as desired
4. Peel the carrots after washing and julienne sliced
5. Wash and slice the cabbage
6. In a cooking pan, place the butter until melted
   
7. Add the garlic and the onion until color brown
8. Saute the reindeer, a small portion at a time
9. When the meat is already brown and the liquid in the pan is almost dry, add the soy sauce.
10. Add the water, let it boil
11. Combine the carrots and the cabbage.
12. Add salt and black pepper based on your desired taste
13. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes.
14. If you decide to cook it through into the pan, you can let it simmer for another half an hour or continue by transferring it to a casserole pan and place in the preheated oven into 175 C and keep it there 30 min to 1.5 hours depending on how soft you want the meat.
15. I keep it for 45 minutes in the oven and mixed few times.
16. When cooking, add some parsley and serve with lingonberry jam and mashed potato.
    

Lihapullat - Finnish meatballs are traditionally cooked using beef, with the inclusion of ground pig on occasion. The meat is typically seasoned with allspice and layered with soaked bread, eggs, and onions. Despite the fact that they come in a variety of shapes and sizes across the country, Finnish meatballs are typically spherical and small in size, with a light, airy texture. They are traditionally served as a main course with a creamy brown sauce, but they can also be enjoyed as a light cocktail snack.

Ingredients:

For the meatballs:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup cream (or plain yogurt)
• 1 onion, minced
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ground black pepper

For the gravy:

• 1/4 cup red wine, pan juices
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons cream or yogurt
  

Instruction:

1. Mix breadcrumbs with cream or yogurt and let stand for a while. Mince the onion. Add onion, breadcrumbs, egg and seasonings to the meat. Mix until smooth.
2. Wet hands and shape the mixture into balls. Saute meatballs in hot oil until browned slightly. Remove the meatballs from the pan.
3. To make the gravy, pour off most of the cooking oil and degrease the pan with the red wine, cooking at high heat until wine is reduced by half. Add flour and stir until thickened and smooth. Add cream or yogurt and stir until smooth. Return meatballs to pan and gravy.
   
   Optional: Add a little grated horseradish (or wasabi powder) to the meat mixture before cooking.
   

Finns are renowned to be coffee addicts, consuming more than any other country! Afternoon coffee breaks, if you want a sweet snack, it will be true time for the cinnamon buns to arrive. Cinnamon buns are rolled and filled with butter, sugar, and a generous amount of ground cinnamon. The dough is produced with a milk base and contains fresh yeast and cardamom. The Finnish word, korvapuusti, translates as "a slap on the ear." The bun's ear-like form may have inspired this unusual name.

Ingredients:

For the Pastries:

• 1 cup lukewarm milk
• 2 ounces (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted, at room temperature
• 1 (0.25-ounce) packet dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon freshly ground cardamom
• 2 large eggs, beaten, divided
• 4 to 5 cups all-purpose flour
• Pearl sugar, or rock sugar, for garnish

For the Filling:

• 2 ounces (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
• 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 heaping tablespoons ground cinnamon

Instruction:

1. Gather the ingredients.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine milk, 4 tablespoons melted butter, yeast, and sugar. Allow it to sit for 10 minutes until yeast begins to bubble.
3. Stir in salt, cardamom, and 1 beaten egg.
4. Then gradually stir in 4 to 5 cups flour until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl. If using a stand mixer, switch to a dough hook; knead at level 3 or 4 for 7 minutes. If kneading by hand, work the dough until it is smooth, shiny, and has lost most of its stickiness.
5. Place in a greased bowl, cover with a towel or cling wrap, and allow to rise 1 hour or until doubled.
6. Punch down dough.
7. Then divide into two equal halves.
8. Roll each half into an 8x14 rectangle.
9. Brush each half with melted butter.
10. Then sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.
11. Starting from the long side, tightly roll each half into a long "snake".
12. With a sharp knife, make diagonal cuts every 2 inches to make 7 triangular rolls (14 total).
13. Place each roll, point up, on lightly greased cookie sheets.
14. Then use a finger or a spoon to press down each tip to form ear-shaped rolls.
15. Cover with clean towels and allow to rise another hour, until doubled.
16. Preheat oven to 400 F. Brush each roll with beaten egg.
17. Sprinkle with pearl sugar and bake on center rack for 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

Gravlax is salt-cured salmon with salt, sugar, and dill that may be made at home. Gravlax requires only a few components, as well as little preparation and time. Most cooked fish meals taste best when served right away. Prior to the invention of refrigeration, it was normal practice to dry, salt, and/or ferment fish and fish eggs. The salt in gravlax breaks down and tenderizes the protein in the salmon's muscle fibers, while the weight compacts the flesh.

Ingredients:

• 300 g Sugar
• 300 g Salt
• 1 orange zest
• Dwelling herbs
• Black pepper
• 1 cup beet-root
• 1 cucumber
• 1 orange
• 2 quail eggs
• Lemon Juice

Instruction:

1. Mix the sugar and salt together. This mixture is basic for how to cure a fish.
2. Then you add orange zest to give a flavour. Add some herbs. In this case some dwelling.
3. As the last thing, add the beet-root. Beetroot gives the colour.
4. Mix all of them together, properly. Take all the ingredients mixed and cover the salmon in it. Is very important to cover the fish everywhere.
5. Then you cover the bowl where you mixed the fish with the ingredients. To speed up the process, put something on the top.
6. Leave it in the fridge for 24 to 48 hours, depending on size and how much cured you like your fish.
7. After taking the fish from the fridge, clean it under the water. Is very important to clean very well the fish of salt or sugar, otherwise, the salmon can be very salty. Cut it in thin slices.
8. Take the cucumber, peel and cut it into small dice. When you do that, take the middle of the cucumber out, because is too watery and has no taste.
9. Take an orange, cut skin out, and cut the orange in a few segments. For this you will need a sharp knife, otherwise, you will destroy the orange. Use the rest of the orange for the sauce.
10. Put water into a boil and when the water is boiled, add quail eggs. Cook them for 1 minute to 45 seconds. In the same time, reduce orange juice glaze.
11. Take the eggs out and put them into cold water and cool it down.
12. After the orange juice is reduced, season it with salt, lemon juice and finish it with a little bit of olive oil.

Blueberry pie is one of the most Finnish treats. When cooked with fresh blueberries, this delectable delicacy is at its best. During the summer, the Finnish forests turn blue, and these berries may be found practically anywhere. Although blueberry pie is the most popular, Finns often utilize other berries in their desserts and other foods, such as lingonberries. Blueberry pie is best served hot from the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients:
For the pie crust:

• ½ cup butter melted
• ⅔ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  
  

For the filling:

• 1 ½ cup of blueberries
• 1 cup sour cream (One 8 ounce tub)
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tsp of lemon zest
  

Instruction:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. To make the pie crust, whisk together the melted butter and ⅔ cup of sugar in a medium bowl. Then add the egg and mix until combined. Add the flour, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
3. Spray a 9-inch pie pan with cooking spray. Spread the pie batter over the bottom of the pan. Using a spatula, gently push up the batter to the edges to form a slight edge along with the pan. Sprinkle one cup of the blueberries into the pie pan.
4. For the filling, combine the sour cream, sugar, egg, vanilla extract, and lemon zest. Pour the filling over the blueberries so it covers them evenly. Add the remaining ½ cup of blueberries on top of the batter.
5. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until the pie crust is light brown. Let cool for 15-20 minutes. It’s ok if the filling in the center jiggles a tiny bit, it will set once the pie is cooled. Serve it warm, or stick it in your refrigerator.