The great vegetable dish.

The great vegetable dish. This time I used salted mushroom .

As Estonia has an abundance of forest, we like to pick berries and mushrooms.

and for winter Mushrooms are marinated, or salted or fermented. Or dried

Salted mushroom:
How to remove additional salt are a lot of tips.
My South Estonian relatives told me that they boiling salted mushroom in milk. And after that mushroom look and taste like a fresh.
Second option is  to boil mushroom just in the water.
And the simplest one.  Put mushroom to soak the night before.

Fresh chanterelle: The mushrooms are cleaned without water, with only a clean, dry towel and paring knife. Heat the chanterelle in a skillet without fat/butter until water has evaporated.

Frozen mushroom : melt, fry slightly.

Turnip and Mushroom Fritters. Kaalika- seenekotletid

• Servings: 10-12 pcs
• Time: 30 mins
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

A light vegetable dinner .

Ingredients

• 300 g turnip
• 150 g salted or fried mushroom, prepared and sliced
• 3 potatoes
• 2 tablespoon flour (or more)
• 1 egg
• pepper, nutmeg
• oil for frying

Directions

1. Prepare mushroom. Let them swell and chop in to slices
2. Cut vegetables in to small cubes and boil until soft. Mash vegetables and let cool.
3. Mix together mushroom and vegetables and egg. Add flour. And season.
4. Form the dough into fritters and fry on both sides with some oil until golden brown.

Mõisküla #visitestonia #Eesti100 #estonia100 #mõisküla

Mõisaküla is a town in southern Estonia, part of Mulgi Parish of Viljandi County, just next to the border of Latvia. It is considered to be the smallest town in Estonia. The town has 32 streets, with the total length of 15,5 km.

Mulgi- Mulgimaa is area in South-Estonia, with own culture, traditions, food and dialect.

Mõisaküla was born because of railway. Trains do not travel here today… This is just one last and least wagon…

This area and culture is perfect example about the globalisation already in 19th of century. During the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865 was lack of cotton and price was very high.
So, was demand for alternatives. South Estonia, Mulgimaa has perfect conditions for cultivation of linen. Bondage was in Estonia abolished 1816, but still farmers were very poor and land was owned by landlords. But because of America and demand for linen, farmers gets enough money to buy from landlords land and farms. And this area become rich and successful. This made others little bit jealous and they started to call people and this area Mulgimaa
In Latvia means word- Mulk- ” silly” and in Estonia it means “hole”- in meaning that the all richness went in to the one hole…:)

My maternal family is from Mõisaküla area and there lives my aunt and cousin.
Near to the Mõisküla is Vanamõisa. My grandmother and grandfather died long time ago  but their house is still here.

Estonia is the Paradise of Introverts Estonians saying : A good neighbour is one where you can just barely see the smoke of their chimney from your window.’
In South- Estonia  you can feel, how is to be the last soul in the Earth You can drive through the Estonian countryside and not see another living soul for miles.

Close to Mõisaküla

• Start your tour from Valga. Valka and the Estonian town Valga are twins, separated by the Estonian/Latvian border
• Have lunch in Tõrva and admire beautiful lakes,
• The ruins of Helme Order Castle and the Helme caves, which are an unrivaled sight in Estonia
• Taagepera Castle. Baron Hugo von Stryk built this great Art Nouveau style castle more than one hundred years ago.
  
• Tering Landscape Reserve. To get an overview of the Reserve and enjoy the marsh nature, a 4.5 km long round plank road has been built, to go through it you need approximately 2 hours. There is a lot of information on the track about the flora, fauna and birds, and there are also resting benches along the track.
• now you very close to Latvian border. Visit Latvia And alcohol in Latvia is much cheaper than in Estonia   And Latvian ice cream is amazing!
• Before you arrive in Pärnu, visit Lottemaa.

In Estonia

• Practically all Estonians speak or at least understand English. Generation +40 speak and understand Russian. Because of the similarity of languages Estonians are able to understand Finnish. Children learn German, French and some Swedish or Chinese at school
• almost everywhere you can pay with a card. ATM -s are in bigger places and petrol stations.
• and yes, this is not fairy tale. almost everywhere in Estonia is Wifi

In South Estonia and Mulgimaa:

• check for my blog tag ” Mulgi”. Mulgi cuisine is famous and you should eat Mulgi kapsas, Mulgi puder, Mulgi korbid.
• swim in a forest lake after smoke sauna
• Berries and mushrooms can be picked from July until the first snow falls. And yes, this is very ok, eat wild berries picked from the forest.

Best Souvenirs to buy from Estonia

• Kalev chocolate, liqueur Old Tallinn/Vana Tallinn, Balbiino ice cream and Tallinna spiced sprats (Tallinna vürtsikilu)
• Handicrafts made of linen, wool, wood, juniper or limestone. Haapsalu scarf.
  (NB! In Tallinn Viru Street you can find a lot of amber and Matrjoschka. Amber is from Lithuania and Matrjoschka from Russia. Both countries are beautiful and with rich culture and interesting history. I suggest to visit Lithuania and Russia :))
• for children, everything about and with Lotte.

Estonian Food you Must to Try

• visit Estonian supermarkets and buy some Estonian dairy products: kohuke, kodujuust (cottage cheese), hapukoor (sour cream). Buy Kama and rye bread, handicraft beer
• In restaurants ask for quark cake, soups with dumplings, meat balls or cabbage. Semolina cream, quark cream or bread cream. Local lake fish. Drink kefir, kvass or local beer. Värska mineral water. And Estonian tap water and forest spring water are clean, pure and drinkable.

Culture:

• check and google timetable for Viljandi Folk, Pärnu Weekend, Jazzkaar, PÖFF or Laulupidu.
• buy movie about Estonian history: ” Nimed marmortahvlil”, ” Tants aurukatla ümber”, ” “Tuulepealne maa”. Or ” Malev”, this is comedy and pseudo history, but very good summary about Estonians.
• Music: Pärt ja Tüür. Tõnis Mägi, The Sun; Metsatöll and TradAttack. And read my blog posts. I gave a lot of links for good Estonian music.

Ian writing about the most beautiful part of the Tallinn via Tallinn’s Culture Kilometre and the Kalamaja District

Ian writing about the most beautiful part of the Tallinn

via Tallinn’s Culture Kilometre and the Kalamaja District

Chicken Wings Marinated in Cranberry and Honey Sauce

delicious sweet and sour marinade from honey and cranberries softening tender poultry.

Horseradish gives a taste and flavour. Wonderful warming dish for autumn dinner.

Chicken Wings Marinated in Cranberry and Honey Sauce

• Servings: 3-4
• Time: 2hr 30mins
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

A light sour and sweet chicken wings.

Ingredients

• 9-10 chicken wings ( ca 600 g)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup cranberries
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon horseradish (grated)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• pepper

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, toss together smashed cranberries, honey, mashed garlic, horseradish, salt and pepper. Taste. Marinade must be little bit ” too much”
2. Pull wings out of joint, Rub chicken with marinade until all sides are covered and leave to set at least for 20 minutes
3. Preheat the oven to 200 C, line baking tray with baking paper.
4. Bake at 200 C, for 30 minutes.

An international and famous dessert with a small Estonian twist and ingredients

An international and famous dessert with a small Estonian twist and ingredients

I have not words to express how tasty, watermouthing and great dessert it is. Small apple pieces and cowberries give juiciness and moisture and wonderful sour and sweet flavour. Barley groats give a structure and make this dessert more interesting,

And again real Estonian flavour: barley groats, apples and cowberries. You just have to try this.

Barley Groats and Apple Creme Brulee. Kruubi brüleekreem õuntega

• Servings: 4-6
• Time: 2hr 30mins
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

An international and famous dessert with a small Estonian twist and ingredients

Ingredients

• 400 g heavy (35%) cream
• 1 dl boiled barley groats
• 1 apple and cowberries
• 4 egg yolks
• sugar, salt, cinnamon

Directions

1. Put barley to soak the night before. The following day put into cold water and let it boil, removing foam. Simmer at a low heat for about 20-30 minutes, until soft.
2. Pour cream into a saucepan and stir over low heat until it almost comes to boil. Remove the cream from heat immediately. Add barley, berries and chopped and peeled apple. Let cool
3. Beat egg yolks,  sugar  in a mixing bowl until thick and creamy.
4. Stir cream and the egg yolk mixture; beat until combined. NB! Cream can not be very hot. Pour cream mixture into the top pan of a double boiler. Stir over simmering water until mixture lightly coats the back of a spoon, about 3 minutes. Season with cinnamon and sugar. Remove mixture from heat immediately and pour into a shallow heat-proof dish.
5. Bake in preheated oven at 150 C for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.
6. Preheat oven to broil.  Sift sugar mixture evenly over custard. Place dish under broiler until sugar melts, about 2 minutes. Watch carefully so as not to burn. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Refrigerate until custard is set again.