Karjalanpiirakka Recipe | North African Nordic

Karjalanpiirakka

Karelian Pies & Egg Butter

These savory rye pies, originating from the Karelia region, are a staple of Finnish cuisine. With a distinctive oval shape and a simple yet satisfying rice porridge filling, they're surprisingly easy to make.

Karjalanpiirakka is an everyday food enjoyed throughout Finland. You'll find them in bakeries, grocery stores, cafes, and homes across the country. They are eaten as a snack, and for breakfast or lunch.

This recipe makes about a dozen karjalanpiirakka. Serve them with a schmear of egg butter!

Karjalanpiirakka Ingredients

For the rice porridge filling (riisipuuro)

1 cup short grain rice
- Arborio is a fine substitute, but no long grain
1 1/2 cups water
2 cups of 2% milk

For the pastry crust

1 cup of rye flour
1/2 cup plain flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup of cold water
- You may need to add more to get the dough together

For the egg butter (munavoi)

4 boiled eggs
1 stick of softened butter
- it must be salted

Method

Make the riisipuuro by combining rice, milk, water, and salt in a medium pot. Bring to a simmer and reduce the heat to low, cover. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking. It takes about 30 minutes to fully cook. Once it's done, let it cool.

Make the pastry by combining rye flour, plain flour, salt, and water in a medium bowl. Bring the mixture together and combine as much dough as you can before adding more water. Eventually, you'll need to use your hands. Once it's no longer sticky, put it in the fridge to chill.

You have a few choices on how you want to roll these out. You can roll out one big sheet and cut it into ovals. OR you can cut the dough into 12 equal pieces and roll each one out individually.

Before rolling, preheat your oven to 450F

Whichever method you choose, sprinkle your surface with plain flour to prevent sticking and roll 1/4-1/2 cm thick.

Fill your pastry wrappers with about 2 tbs of filling. I usually just use a good heaping spoonful and add more or less based on how well I rolled the wrapper.

To crimp the dough, fold the sides in first and begin pinching on each side from top to bottom. You can leave the crimps pointy, but it's also good to pat them down a bit so they don't burn in the oven.

Make sure your hands are clean each time you crimp. If you touch the rice porridge, wipe your hands off. It can get a little sticky and complicated if you don't.

Pop them in your heated oven for 25-35 minutes depending on your oven. Let the rice porridge get a little brown.

While they are in the oven prepare a bowl of 2 cups warm water and 2 tbs melted butter.

When you take them out out of the oven, give them a dip in the butter water to soften the crust after baking.

Put all the pies on a tray and cover with a dish towel to soften for 30 minutes.

To make the egg butter, just boil your eggs, peel 'em, and combine with the softened butter!
Mash it together and you're good to go.

Notes:

I don't think I'm very good at folding and crimping these at all hahaha! They taste the same though. I believe I'll have to make many more karjalanpiirakka before my skills improve.

I've made this recipe a few different ways but this is the one that works best! I've tried using whole milk but find it too rich. I've tried using an all rye crust but find that too brittle. The 2% milk is just right, and you need some plain flour with the rye to make the crust pliable.

It should also be noted you MUST use salted butter. I think unsalted butter should be illegal and I don't have a use-case for it in any recipe. Butter is also usually salted in Finland anyway.

*FUSION RECIPE: It is not uncommon to see carrots in karjalanpiirakka filling. I have added a bit of omek houria to my riisipuuro in the past for a bit of Tunisian/Finnish fusion.