LATVIAN RECIPES

Pelči special boarding primary school-development centre

 RYE-

 SKLANDARAUŠI - CAKES WITH CAR- ROTS

 CUMIN CHEESE

PIES

 GREY PEAS

 JELLED MEAT

 CHEESE DANISHES

Latvian typically consists of agricultural products, with meat featuring in most main dishes. Fish is commonly consumed due to 's location on the east coast of the .

Latvian cuisine has been influenced by neighboring countries in the Baltic region. Common ingredients in Latvian recipes are found locally, such as pota- toes, , barley, , , eggs and . Latvian is generally quite fatty, and uses few .

Contemporary usually eat three meals a day. is normally light and usually consists of sandwiches or an with a drink oteen . is eaten from noon to 3 p.m. and tends to be the main meal of the day; as such it can include a variety of and sometimes also soup as an entrée and a dessert. Supper is the last meal of the day with some choosing to eat another large meal. Consumption of ready-made or frozen meals is now common.

Common foods and dishes

Potatoes and meat are generally considered of Latvians. Soups are commonly made with and broth or milk. beet soup and nettle soup are also consumed by Latvians.

A traditional Latvian cheese that is in the picture to the right is cheese; this is traditionally served during the celebration of Jāņi or midsummer. The- re is also a Latvian version of the smorgasbord. Latvia has an original version of pies which in Latvia are made from a simple of flour milk and oil and then filled with savory fillings such as bacon cabbage and cottage cheese and then baked. is oteen considered as a traditional Latvian drink however it is quite popular in neighboring countries as well and it is hard to establish its origin. Popular alcoholic beverages are vodka and balzam.

Sauerkraut is a food preparation that was inherited from Germans in the Latvian region.Pickled mushrooms are another Latvian specialty.

Some traditional dishes:

 boiled potatoes with quark

 oat and pea kissels

 grey peas with salted pork fat (fatback)

 siļķu pudiņš (casserole made from herring and boiled potatoes)

 sklandrausis (sklandu rausis)

 asins pankūkas (pancakes made from blood)

 maizes zupa (sweet bread soup)

 cold soups

 blood sausage

Meals in ANCIENT TIMES were considered to be an important component of the day . At this time the whole family got together at the big family table , quietly discussed the work to be done and the job done , ate a meal without haste , slowly savoring the taste of food , although food was often rela- tively modest. On the table there was always honored , symbolizing prosperity . Until the 20th century the beginning of Latvian nutritional foundation consisted of homemade coarse rye bre- ad. When the guests arrived, the table was made better- baked meat , bread with butter, that people did not eat on a daily basis .

Preparation: 90 min. RYE-BREAD

Ingredients

 3 l coarse rye flour

 1-1.5 l wheat flour

 2 liters water

 2 handfuls of cumin

 ½ gr.yeast and 0.8 l sugar

 1 handful of salt

2 l of coarse rye flour 2 l of water -approx. 50 degrees warm 2 handfuls of cumin + yeast - all thoroughly mixed poured onto a layer of flour and place in a warm place overnight. In the morning - take ½ packet of yeast , or a little less , ½ tsp. sugar ½ to less than one l ( for better taste ) sugar; a handful of salt + 2 liters of flour ( 1 l of rye flour and wheat flour 1-1.5 l , preferably coarse wheat flour ) . When the dough clove (by finger pulling the edges do not go together ), then 1- 1.5 hours of fermentation in a warm place . Next, make the dough forms and 2- 2.5 hours standing in a mold, then put into the . The first 10 minutes - 220 degrees , then 190 degrees below . Bake 1,5- 2 hours. Take out from the oven, spread the mixture with water and cover with a towel .

SKLANDARAUŠI—CAKES WITH CARROTS

Ingredients

Dough: Mix the ingredients together.  Rye flour - 0.5 kg Create the desired shape of „sklandarauši” .  4 table spoons of water

Filling: Grate carrots and mix with all the  1 cup stuffing : Carrots - 800 grams

other ingredients  butter - 2 tablespoons Fill pieces on dough bases  sour cream - 3 tablespoons Bake in the usual 200 degrees 20 or maybe a little more minutes ( depends on how thick they are delivered cakes ! Enjoy your meal !

Cumin cheese Preparation: 1. Pour milk into a pot of water and heat to boiling . Stirring con- Ingredients stantly, add the cottage cheese . When the mixture begins to go down in lumps , pour in lightly beaten eggs and cumin . The recipe is quite simple—we will need 2. The mass is then removed in a colander , which poured dampened 1 kg of cottage cheese 5 liters of high cheesecloth and rolling the fabric from one corner to another, drai- ning the whey . Put back into the pot , stirring, add salt and heat until fat milk 0.5 liters of water 3 eggs 100 a smooth paste of washing tubers. Put it in gauze , establishing round grams of butter a handful of cumin and shape , gauze corners over cheese and engrave middle . a spoon of salt . 3 load cheese between two boards or large plates and hold under load until it has cooled down and numb ed. When cheese is ready - put the butter on slices of cheese !

Barley porridge

Preparation Ingredients for four portions tidy : Rinse the starch grits field.Peel and finely diced 1 cup of barley potatoes cut into two half a liter of water on 2. The one big and sweet top of the potatoes and boil ten minutes. Then add leached grits. Ateer an hour 3. The two potatoes 4 ½ liter of heated milk Add a pint of the heated milk mix thorou- ghly .Cut the meat and onion into small pieces. 5. freshly dried fatty chunks of meat Put the meat and onions in a frying pan and salt and fresh black pepper bake until the fat " melts " . Add salt and fresh pepper.

INGREDIENTS

 500 ml milk

 1 kg of flour (you can take a little bit more)

 50 g fresh yeast

BACON PIES  1 egg

 2 sp. salt

 150 g butter

PREPARATION  50 ml of oil

) Dissolve yeast in warm milk stir well with a brush.  3/4 cup sugar (if you need sweet sugar

2) by adding the eggs stir add salt and sugar. then add about 1/2 cup more )

3) stir and leave add flour. ) Mangle the dough make circles and fill them generously . 4) flour slowly stir in the milk mixture. 2) Before we put the filling each circle is flattened create a 5) leave until the butter melts. form and put on oven pan with the seam on the bottom. It can be a bit warm but not hot fix.

6) Butter add the oil and stir if necessary add more flour add carefully. 3)Daub the pies with beaten egg and bake in around 190 de- 7) The dough should be slightly sticky very ellastic gentle. grees around 15-20 minutes.

8) put on a towel on the bowl.

9) The oven is heated to 40 degrees. There put the dough dish being processed for an 4) Put ready patties in a bowl and cover with a towel thus hour. allowing them to cool.

The dough will increase 2-3 times.

While fermenting dough prepare the filling: 4) Patties is a very gentle sote just lovely. Stored for several days just as sote as a freshly baked. 10) 2 large onions finely cut put the oil in a frying pan broil .

11) around 200g of dried bacon and smoked pork 600 g cut into small pieces. Add onions and stew for 5-7 minutes .

If in the rest of the world gray peas have gone underground and nobody l remembers them any more the Latvians say it is not so. We cannot imagi- ned without Christmas gray peas no matter what kind of the food will be on holiday table one of them will certainly be - gray peas each eat them with hands of if we believe Latvian beliefs that eat all the peas in order to avoid tears to be poured next year. It can be said that the peas are our - even if they eat only once a year at Christmas.

Latvians for centuries have eaten peas. Even before our era peas along with barley and beans have been one of the main dishes and they main- tained their importance until the era beginning in the 19th century. Nowadays the tourist guidebooks peas are offered as special Latvian food which is worth to taste what other countries is not possible to obtain. Ingredients However even without all the festivities and traditions of the world influ- ences and everyday haste to remember that peas are rich in vitamins - B  grey peas C E proteins and a variety of important minerals for the human body.  smoked ham Pulses body is very necessary because it contains a lot of fiber carbo- hydrates and unsaturated fatty acids.  onions  milk During the previous night soake the peas in salty water, boil the peas until  Oil they are soft.  flour  salt. The : in a frying pan pour a little bit of oil, fry the chopped onions, when it's all fried, add a couple of spoons of flour and continue to bake , then add milk and add salt to the sauce .Mix everything, pour the sauce on peas and then-enjoy your meal!

Jellied meat is a must on the smorgasbord table.

It's absolutely delicious!

4 - 6 fresh pork hocks

1 pound veal or dark chicken meat

455 gm 1 bay leaf Jellied meat

5 peppercorns

1 celery stalk

1 onion

1 carrot

½ envelope gelatin

Wash and dry pork hocks thoroughly. In a large kettle or Dutch oven cover all meat with cold water and bring to boil. Skim off the froth. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer slowly for about 2 hours or until the meat is tender and falls from the bones (If you are using chicken it will be ready much sooner than the pork).

Strain stock reserving carrot and separate meat from bones. Place meat on a large platter and allow to cool completely. Meanwhile return stock and pork bones to saucepan and continue simmering until stock is reduced by half.

Set out a few small dishes to use as moulds and rinse out with very cold water. Slice the cooked carrots and sprinkle on the bottom if desired for some colour. Dice the completely cooled meats into ½ inch (1.5 - 2 cm) pieces including pork skin but remove any excess fat. Meat should fill bowls only about two-thirds full.

Remove stock from heat and strain to remove bones etc. If you want the aspic to be very very firm dissolve the ½ envelope of gelatin into the stock but normally it will gel well without ad- ding gelatin. Cover the meat with the stock until the dishes are full. Store in the refrigerator overnight. Cover dishes with foil or plastic if refrigerating longer than 8 - 12 hours.

To serve: using a knife carefully loosen the aspic from the mould. Invert onto a serving platter

Dough Ingredients

1 cup milk 250 ml 2½ cups flour 625 ml Cheese Danishes 1 pkg. dry yeast 15 ml

5 tablespoons butter 75 ml

5 tablespoons sugar 75 ml

½ teaspoon salt 2 ml

Filling ingredients

2 pounds cottage cheese 900 gm

1/3 cup raisins 75 ml

10 tablespoons sugar 150 ml

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 5 ml PREPARATION 1 package Dr. Oetker's or Jello vanil- la pudding powder Scald milk pour into large mixing bowl and let cool until lukewarm. Add one tablespoon of the sugar and the yeast; let this stand for 10 minutes. Add enough flour to make a sote dough. Let this rise for 20 minutes. Meanwhile in juice of half a lemon another bowl cream the butter. To this add the sugar and salt and beat well. Ateer 20 minutes have passed add this mixture to the dough and then add the remaining flour. Let rise one hour.

Beat the cottage cheese with a fork or whisk. Add sugar vanilla sugar pudding powder lemon juice egg yolks and raisins. Beat well. In a separate bowl whip the egg whites until firm; fold these into the cottage cheese mixture.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Roll out the dough and place onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Spread filling over top. (Alternately: make individual pastries with a dollop of filling in the middle.) Bake for 30 - 50 minutes. Place on top oven rack and let cool for 20 - 30 minutes. Cut into large squares.

Potato Salad ("Rasols")

There are as many variants of this as there are Latvians! This salad is always much better on the second or even third day. If you are able it is always better to make it a day ahead of time and let it "marinate" in the fridge in its salad dressing at least overnight.

Ingredients

 6 potatoes

 6 eggs

 6 pickles

 6 pickled beets, or equivalent in sliced pickled beets (optional)

 1 apple (optional)

 3 large dollops mayonaise (Hellman's, if possible) Boil potatoes until fairly sote (but not until they are falling apart). Hard boil eggs. Remove skins from potatoes and shells from eggs. Dice into fairly large chunks  1 - 2 large dollops sour cream (about ½ inch (1 - 1.5 cm) in diameter). Dice optional ingredients into smaller pieces.  1 - 3 teaspoons mustard Put all diced ingredients into a very large bowl.

 1 - 3 teaspoons vinegar Make salad dressing. Start with smaller amounts and keep adding sour cream vine-  ¼ - ½ teaspoon salt gar mustard etc. until it tastes good to you. The salad dressing should taste so- mewhat salty and tart.  ¼ teaspoon pepper Add salad dressing to diced ingredients. Stir well. Cover. Refrigerate at least over-  1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce night.