There is one thing that always puzzles me: why do Australians eat sandwiches for lunch? To me, a sandwich is either a breakfast item (just simple cheese or ham and butter on rye) or an afternoon snack to tide me over until dinner (polony on white bread with mayo, anyone?). Therefore, lunch and dinner more often than not consist of a cooked meal, usually involving some form of starch, meat, and vegetables. So, let me present to you a quintessential Latvian lunch dish: meatballs (rissoles) serv...| Latvian Eats
Christmas in Latvia cannot be imagined without baking tray upon tray of gingerbread (piparkūkas). It is a national pastime in the days leading up to Christmas – store-bought gingerbread just won’t do. However, most will be happy to use store-bought gingerbread dough and every self-respecting bakery and supermarket will have it for sale. The biggest discussion around this time is what dough to buy as some will give you crunchy and crisp cookies, while others will lead to a softer and puff...| Latvian Eats
Christmas celebrations in Latvia are rich in tradition with a sprinkling of superstition. Although now Christmas has been tamed down to a quiet family celebration, it used to be a three-day celebration coinciding with winter solstice with tables heaving with food and many joyous activities to join.| Latvian Eats
Sauerkraut (skābēti kāposti) – something that has recently become a health food obsession, yet has been so common in Latvian kitchens for centuries. I have fond memories of the sauerkraut my grandparents prepared every September; a huge wooden shredder came out of the attic, and the family spent the day cutting up cabbage, grating carrots, sprinkling on salt, caraway seeds and on occasion cranberries, and squeezing the life (and juice) out of it all. The mixture was then covered with cab...| Latvian Eats
Those who have visited Latvia know that there is more than one way to fill a pīrāgs. Bacon (or speck) and onion is the traditional way, but cabbage, potato, cheese or mushrooms are just a few of the other options.| Latvian Eats
Sauteed sauerkraut (štovēti kāposti) is my “must-have” Christmas dish. Ever since I can remember, my grandma would spend most of the Christmas Eve in the kitchen boiling, frying and sauteing sauerkraut, potatoes and meat, while the kids would go to the markets to pick out the best looking Christmas tree. Christmas Eve would be celebrated with a feast, including compulsory mandarins and whipped cream, as well as presents that could only be received in exchange for a song or a rhyme.| Latvian Eats
Recipe #322 in my 1926 cookbook Vārīšanas un cepšanas māksla is šokolādes ķīselis (chocolate kissel). The recipe goes like this: “boil 1 stops* of water with 1/2 pod of vanilla, add 4 spoons of cocoa, bring to a boil, add sugar. Dissolve 3-4 spoons of potato flour into a 1/2 glass of water, add slowly while stirring. Serve with vanilla sauce”.| Latvian Eats
Despite Latvians being passionate and dedicated mushroom pickers, mushroom soup is not something you will encounter at cafes, bistros and restaurants often. I have only ever eaten this soup in my omamma’s kitchen and while visiting the Latvian school in Adelaide, but I recently did encounter a very similar recipe in an American cookbook where it was presented as Latvian mushroom soup. If you are lucky enough to get your hands on wild forest mushrooms, use them instead of dried porcini. If y...| Latvian Eats
Summer in Latvia brings an abundance of berries, fruit and vegetables. Anyone who has lived in Latvia for a while, especially if they had a kitchen garden or a country property, will know that even a few berry bushes, be it black currants, red currants or gooseberries, will produce more fruit than one can possibly eat. That’s where the national summer pastime of juicing, freezing, blending, simmering, pickling and canning comes into play.| Latvian Eats
Continuing the breakfast and open sandwich theme, this post will contain all open breakfast sandwiches made with white bread. Surprisingly, vast majority – 8 out of 11 – of breakfast sandwiches in Vārīšanas and cepšanas māksla are made with white bread.| Latvian Eats
Open sandwiches. Food that is mostly associated with Danish cuisine, yet is so common in Latvia. So common, that it seems hilarious to find breakfast sandwich recipes in a cookbook. But here they are – Chapter 1 Brokastu ēdieni un sviestmaizītes (Breakfast dishes and sandwiches). I will work my way through them, based on the bread used, be it white bread (baltmaize), rye bread (rupjmaize) or sweat and sour rye bread (saldskābmaize).| Latvian Eats
