Rice Pasties

Rice pasties (also known as Karelian pasties) are a traditional Finnish food. The most common version of this pasty has a rye-wheat crust and a rice porridge filling, but other fillings feature buckwheat, barley and potato. The pasties are rather easy to bake (making the porridge is the hardest and longest part in my opinion). The pasties are not only a Yule dish – we eat them all year through, at feasts, for breakfast, as a snack… But they go down well during Yuletide too.

First, you need some rice porridge. Here is one detailed recipe.

When the rice porridge is ready and has cooled down, you can make the crust. Here are two alternatives: one with rye and wheat, and the other one with buckwheat (if you have the coeliac disease and can’t eat wheat nor rye). Pick either one! I personally like the buckwheat one, it gives the pasty a nice and crispy crust, but not too thick.

1. Preheat the oven to 250 °C.

2. Mix the dough (pick either one of these two alternatives, a or b):

a) For the rye–wheat dough:
2 dl cold water
2 tsp salt
3 dl rye flour
2 dl wheat flour

Mix the salt with the cold water. Little by little, add the rye flour, then the wheat flour and knead into a solid dough.

b) For the buckwheat dough:
2 dl cold water
½ tsp salt
2 tsp psyllium husk
3 dl buckwheat flour

Mix the salt and psyllium husk with the cold water, and let the husk swell in the water for 10 minutes. Little by little, add the buckwheat flour and knead into a solid dough.

3. Add so much flour that the dough doesn’t stick to your fingers. Sprinkle some flour (rye/buckwheat) onto the baking board and roll the dough into a bar. Cut the bar into small pieces (~20 pcs.). Roll the pieces into small balls and flatten these so that you get thin (0.5 cm) circle-shaped crusts.

4. Put some rice porridge into the middle of the crust, and leave some free space on the side edges. Do not add too much porridge. Lift the side edges up and push over the filling, then ”pinch” them down firmly. This way, you will get oval-shaped pasties.

         

5. Bake the pasties in the preheated oven for 15–20 minutes until they are golden brown.

6. Mix some melted butter with some milk (you can use a 50–50 ratio or melted butter only). When the pasties have been baked, brush the pasties with the butter–milk mix (this will soften the crust).

If there is some extra dough, you can just bake it into small flat breads without filling.

You can eat the pasties as they are, but if you like, you can add butter or egg-butter spread.