Recipe for Famous Finnish Karelian Pies (2024)

FAQs

What is Karelian pie made of? ›

The usual fillings were barley and talkkuna. In the 19th century, first potato, and then buckwheat were introduced as fillings, and later, boiled rice and millet. Today, the most popular version has a thin rye crust with a filling of rice. Mashed potato and rice-and-carrot fillings are also commonly available.

These savory Karelian pies (karjalanpiirakka) were my favorite thing to eat in Finland. Rice porridge surrounded by a rye flour crust, baked until slightly browned. In Finland, these pastries are often eaten at breakfast or lunch.

It's often eaten with egg-butter (munavoi) which is spread over the hot pie before eating. This egg-butter is supposed to be eaten ONLY with karelian pies.

The dish originally spread during the 1600s and 1700s to southern Finland and even into Sweden through Karelian migrants. During and following World War II, approximately 420,000 Karelians evacuated to mainland Finland, bringing their food culture with them.

Food from nature

Variety, abundance, nuance – three key words in the Karelian kitchen, typically based on local products such as fish and game, forest mushrooms and berries. Favorites include a bewildering variety of pies and pasties with names such as sultsina, tsupukka, pyörö, piirakka, kukkonen and vatruska.

Karelian meat stew is the national dish of Finland, which is a mixture of beef, pork, and lamb seasoned with peppercorn and allspice. The dish is slowly cooked in a pot placed inside an oven. The longer the meat is stewed, the better the result will be. The dish is complemented with boiled potatoes or mashed potatoes.

Karelian pasty (karjalanpiirakka) is a traditional Finnish dish made from a thin rye crust with a filling of barley or rice. Butter, often mixed with boiled egg (egg butter or munavoi), is spread over the hot pastries before eating.

The most popular dessert in Finland is "pulla," a sweet bread flavored with cardamom and cinnamon.

Mämmi is traditionally made of water, rye flour, ground malted rye, salt, and dried, ground Seville orange zest. The mixture is then left to sweeten naturally, before being baked in an oven until set, by which time the colour and flavour has developed due to the Maillard reaction.

Best Karelian pies in Helsinki

Hopia is an old-time patisserie in Helsinki, now also in Kumpula. Well-known for delicious sweet and salty pastries that have been baked using traditional recipes. During weekdays also soup lunch. Hopia can also be found in Töölö.

Is Karelian pie hot or cold? ›

Serving suggestions for Karelian Finnish Pie

The most traditional way to eat karjalanpiirakka is by spreading egg butter over a hot pie just before eating.

Serve the Karelian pies warm and topped with the cool egg mixture. Delicious Finnish treats that freeze exceptionally well so be sure to make enough to have at a later date.

In Cornish pasties, the vegetables were sliced, or “chipped.” Finns diced theirs and they added carrots, while Cornish pasties were strictly potato and rutabaga.

A pasty (/ˈpæsti/) is a British baked pastry, a traditional variety of which is particularly associated with Cornwall, South West England, but has spread all over the British Isles, and elsewhere through the Cornish diaspora.

A Karelian pasty, also called a Karelian pie or Karelian pirog, known in Finnish as karjalanpiirakka, is a traditional Finnish cookie, where inside a thin rye layer is rice pudding, pearl barley pudding, or mashed potatoes.

The two English terms have been used interchangeably since they came into use in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, although some writers insist that a shepherd's pie should contain lamb or mutton, and a cottage pie, beef.

The most traditional way to eat karjalanpiirakka is by spreading egg butter over a hot pie just before eating. However, they can also be enjoyed without the egg butter, and go very well with a cup of coffee.

Shepherd's pie comes to us from England, and is traditionally made with lamb or mutton. Here in the states we are more of a beef eating culture than a lamb eating one, and when one is served "shepherd's pie" here, it is most often made with ground beef.

It was described by New South Wales Premier Bob Carr in 2003 as Australia's "national dish". New Zealanders regard the meat pie as a part of New Zealand cuisine, and it forms part of the New Zealand national identity.