Vatruskas!

Yesterday we learned how to make vatruskas, with our lovely ex-neighbour Taina (who used to work in a bakery in Illomantsi). Best of all, we then ate them with munavoi.

Here's the recipe:

For the dough you'll need

1 litre mashed potato
1 egg
1 dl flour
1 teaspoon salt

For the filling:
some cooked rice (1/2 litre water, 1.5 dl rice, 1/2 teaspoon salt)
a little melted butter

First of all you boil the potatoes (which should be a nice floury variety) without peeling. Once cooled, peel (as M's demonstrating here, it should just come off with a blunt knife).

Mash, and add the egg, flour and salt. Mix together, to make a very soft dough.


Then make the dough into a round stick. Cut into 10 pieces, and pat flat, in a rough half-moon shape.


Take your cooked rice, and add a little melted butter. Place a teaspoon of rice on each half-moon.


Fold the dough over, patting gently down. Use an upturned mug to shape into a half-moon (from the offcuts, you should get another 5 vatruskas).


Bake in an oven at 300 degrees (or the hottest it will go) for 10-15 minutes.


Once they're done, brush with a little melted butter. Then top with munavoi (egg butter - yes, there's lots of butter involved here), and scoff...


...very quickly, before the small child eats them all!