Blue Eyes cooks quite a bit and he takes over the kitchen on certain occasions. One thing that Finns like is using the oven to make their meals. Oven food is easy, not messy and usually is a one-pot dish that can be eaten for at least two days. Saves the time in preparation as well as cleaning up.
I’m not particularly good with using the oven to cook, except for baking. It’s partly because I didn’t grow up in a household that used oven. It’s more a stir-fry and steaming kitchen that I grew up in. Quite a typical Chinese home I believe.
A popular and common Finnish oven dish is makaronilaatikko, which literally means macaroni in a box. In reality, it’s macaroni baked in a pan. The macaroni is usually mixed with spiced minced meat, and it’s baked in cream, eggs and cheese. In Blue Eyes’ case, since he doesn’t eat cheese, he uses bread crumbs as topping instead.
Finnish style of baked macaroni, except Blue Eyes’ version doesn’t have cheese.
Blue Eyes is from Joensuu, in the eastern part of Finland. It’s close to Karjala, and this is where the dish karjalan paisti originated from. It’s basically a beef stew cooked in a pot. Lots of herbs were used and the stewing took two hours in the oven. Blue Eyes prepared this dish on one cold winter day and by the time it was ready, I was dead hungry. The meat was super tender and the sauces were delicious.
Finnish version of the beef stew with herbs, cooked in perfection for 2 hours.
Being in this part of the world, salmon and tuna are popular as they’re aplenty, whether from the sea or lake or river. I’ve never been a fan of salmon as I find the fish a bit too “fat” for my taste. But like the saying goes, when in Rome, be like the Romans. So I’ve bought salmon and cooked it pretty much like how my mom prepared fish back home – frying it on the pan.
One day, Blue Eyes decided to show me a different way of cooking salmon – baking salmon in a smoked bag aka lohisavustuspussissa. Quite a mouthful to say in Finnish but it literally means salmon in a smoked bag. Here, one can find almost anything pre-prepared. Mothers are busy people, can’t afford to spend too much time in the kitchen so there are almost everything available to reduce the cooking time. Smoked bag is one of them. Can easily get one from the supermarket.
Now the salmon should be cut to resemble a butterfly before it’s seasoned with salt and black pepper, and other additional herbs desired. I only know how to cut fish fillet into slices, not a butterfly so Blue Eyes did the honour of showing how. After that, he dished the salmon into the smoked bag, put it on the warm grill and flip it every 15 minutes and half hour later, it’s done! The smoked salmon can be eaten with rice, or potatoes, or salad. Quite a pretty dish!
Salmon in the shape of butterfly, smoked in a bag over a grill.
Now Easter has come and gone rather quickly but it’s a huge celebration here in Finland. Aside from the religious meaning, it’s also sort of a milestone that spring has arrived and that it’s time to start the spring cleaning, pack the winter clothes away and bring out the shorts and dresses. Easter meals are usually associated with Christian symbols ie. lamb and eggs.
Blue Eyes chose to make a lamb meal (since he doesn’t eat eggs!) and it’s a stew cooked in a pot with the oven – did I mention that Finns like their oven food? *wink
Blue Eyes put in so many different types of fresh herbs that I lost count but the ones I remember are mint, parsley, thyme and basil. The pot needed to be in the oven for four hours so that the lamb would be nice and tender when it’s cooked. It’s a freaking long time to wait for dinner but it’s worth it when the smell filled the kitchen as we dived into the awesome meal. Had it with a glass of red wine and it’s a nice closure to Easter (until next year!).
Easter meal was lamb that has been stewed for four hours – that’s called dedication!
This is perhaps quite a delayed winter post, since we’re now in the middle of spring, and have a lot more opportunities to be out and enjoy the warm, sunny weather. Nevertheless, I’ve been wanting to write on my baking adventures here so today is the day to do it
When I first arrived end November, I had a hard time adjusting to the lack of sunshine and the long darkness for most part of the day. And being cold outside, I wasn’t too keen to go out daily. So I ended up spending a lot of time in the kitchen, cooking and baking.
When it comes to baking, I’m the first to confess that it’s not a natural talent. I learned the basics of baking from my mom, who used to bake lovely butter cakes for me and my sister when we were growing up. I don’t remember when baking stopped at home but mom hasn’t baked for a long time now, and I didn’t pursue it til’ four years ago when I moved from journalism to corp communications. I had more time in the evenings after work and I ended up using the time to bake. It’s also motivated by the fact that two of my close friends, Jules and Lynn baked too, and when we sat down to enjoy the goodies on the table, it always gave me a warm feeling to know that I was enjoying their their loving baking.
So anyway, I have one or two fool-proof baking recipes that I always return to. They are my banana muffins and chocolate brownies. But given the amount of time I had in winter, I decided to be adventurous and try more diverse baking recipes.
One of my fool-proof recipes – choc banana muffin
I was also craving for some Malaysian snacks that were previously easily accessible but now almost impossible to find it here. So the only way to fulfill my cravings is to make them myself. And seriously, it ain’t as easy as they looked. I gained new respect for the aunties/uncles selling goreng pisang and all sorts of kuih-muih by the street back home! How they managed to bake such great goodies takes amazing skills!
Dec
As Christmas was fast approaching, I was inspired to bake some Christmas cookies. I found an easy shortcake recipe from Taste Australia and decided to give it a try. The first batch came out rather brown and tasted overburned, but fortunately the following two trays were just nicely baked. It’s my first time to bake own cookies for Christmas and it’s thoroughly satisfying to have them during the season. Baking won’t be fun if it’s not shared, so one jar of cookies was saved for the Christmas party with my Malaysian friends in Tampere while another jar was for our visit to Blue Eyes’ sister’s place on Christmas Eve.
Getting ready for Christmas!
Jan 2013
Come January, winter days became slightly easier as the days started to be longer. Instead of seeing the sun only at 10am, it started to shine at 9-ish and it lifted my mood quite a bit. So I baked a bit more, often beating the batter on the dining table next to the window so I could enjoy the sun. One of the things that Finns like a lot is cinnamon and its version of cinnamon roll, aka korvapuusti, is a popular snack.
Coincidentally, I too love cinnamon rolls and I urged Blue Eyes to teach me how to bake them. He found a recipe online and we started a Saturday afternoon baking. It wasn’t as difficult as I imagined it to be although the time spent was more than I expected – 30 mins waiting for the dough to rise. The results were 24 freshly baked cinnamon rolls and oh, the kitchen smelled heaven! One of my most memorable baking experiences here!
Finnish version of cinnamon rolls
I love to bake when there is an occasion cos’ it means others could enjoy some goodies too. Blue Eyes had a doctor’s appointment in Tampere and I took the opportunity to bake some zesty lemon cupcakes and bring over for some friends. The nice thing about lemon is it gives a rather different taste than sweetness. And the recipe I used which incorporated sour cream gave a lightness to the cupcakes. Also, the yellow is just such a happy colour!
A happy dessert!
The following week, we had a visitor coming over and it’s just perfect timing as I’ve been wanting to try out the apple strawberry crumble cake recipe on Taste Australia. I love crumble. There’s something about butter melted with some oats over a nice cake. It’s sinful but oh, so satisfying! I consoled myself that it’s an apple strawberry cake, so technically it’s a healthy dessert
Served with a scoop of ice-cream, it was so yummy!
Feb 2013
This was perhaps my most difficult month in Finland so far. Partly because I was terribly homesick. While friends and family back home got busy preparing for Chinese New Year, I was stuck in winter white place without no notion of the festivity. I missed my pei pa duck, siew yoke and lou sang! So to ease the homesickness, I decided to bake some peanut cookies. It’s not my favourite CNY cookies but its recipe seemed to be the simplest. Boy, was I wrong! It took a lot of time as the toasted peanuts need to be grind and since I don’t have a grinder, I had to grind it by hand. I was dead tired after grinding some 100g of peanuts. But the cookies turned out buttery and yummy, and I was glad I managed to bake them from scratch. And yes, I felt less homesick too
Who would have thought freshly baked peanut cookies could taste so good?
March 2013
It’s Easter month and it’s a big celebration here in Finland. I did some baking in the couple of days leading up to Easter, and they were all my favourite desserts. For the first time, I made the first Malaysian snack ie. sesame balls with red bean filling. It was a strange thing to crave for, but I guess it’s also partly because the recipe on kuali was so simple. I used the pan instead of the wok, which was a mistake cos’ the balls came out a bit squared. But it tasted good and brought back some good ol’ memories of growing up in Kuala Lumpur.
Some were a bit burned but I still finished like 4 balls in just minutes.
Some of my Malaysian friends from Tampere were coming to visit one day and I decided to attempt Jamie Oliver’s bread and butter pudding. I love bread and butter pudding. One of my favourite dessert. Especially when the custard is buttery and sweet. As I had dark bread, I decided to pair it with chocolate. The colours might be weird if I were to do the usual bread and butter with a brown bread. Besides, if I failed, at least it’s chocolate, and no failed attempt could make choco bad.
Turned out yummy and moist, like how I like bread & butter pudding
And finally for Easter, I decided to make my second foolproof recipe ie. chocolate brownies. I must thank Lynn for showing me how to bake brownies. She bakes the most awesome chewy brownies! I haven’t gotten to her level yet, but I think mine is quite decent too. For this particular version, I included some crushed almonds into the batter to split the choc taste a bit (I didn’t want to buy walnuts cos’ they were expensive!) and top it with icing sugar after it’s out of the oven. The best way to eat brownies? With a scoop of vanilla ice-cream of course!
Quite a perfect dessert for Easter
April 2013
Vivien, who is currently based in Switzerland, came for a visit. It was so much fun to have a familiar face and someone to share with, and the girls’ time was awesome! It so happens that Vivien enjoys baking too and she shared a marble cake recipe with me, which we tried it out together one Sunday afternoon. I always thought marble cake is a tough one to try but Vivien made it really simple. And I love the baking smell of the oven!
Great turn out for a first attempt!
May 2013
Spring finally arrived. Though it’s supposedly the last month of spring, to me, it only started to feel like spring in May. The days are warmer (in the teens!) while fresh green grass are growing from the ground. Trees too started to sprout branches and I finally got to wear shorts out!
I was somehow inspired to bake my own bread after visiting my Taiwanese friend in Tampere. She shared that it’s not a difficult skill to tackle. I also remember that Jules always bakes organic bread for her kids and it felt somehow healthier to have our own bread. There’s half a pack of bread flour lying in the cabinet anyway. I tried a simple multi-grain bread recipe found on the BBC Food website and I started work. Unfortunately I left the bread a bit too long in the oven and it came out hard Was still able to cut them into slices to try the texture. Not exactly the best tasting bread I’ve ever had but it’s an achievement that I did it. Not sure if I would try it again though.
My first time baking bread!
And finally yesterday, I made my second Malaysian snack ie. onde-onde. Back home, this is usually a pandan-flavoured ball stuffed with gula melaka. But since I couldn’t get pandan and gula melaka in Hameenlinna’s Asian shop, I decided to skip the former and substituted the latter with muscovado sugar. I halved the ingredient portions as I’ve learned that Blue Eyes doesn’t eat a lot of desserts and I always ended up finishing them. Very bad for the waistline, and overall for health of course. I must say, my mat salleh onde-onde (my friend Vivienne called it that cos’ it’s white instead of the usual green, hehe…) tasted very close to home. I can say it won’t be my last time making this
The plate was empty within minutes 🙂
Watch this space as one of these days I plan to blog about my cooking adventures here
Was still able to cut them into slices to try the texture. Not exactly the best tasting bread I’ve ever had but it’s an achievement that I did it. Not sure if I would try it again though.
