This is the third day after receiving exciting challenges from my Facebook friends from the Finnish Gluten Free Living Facebook group. One of the requests was to make a turnip porridge. I had never heard about it, and I’m a Finn! Later found out that it really was a common food in the old days in Finland. It is still eaten in some parts of the country. What makes this a challenge? In a gluten free diet it is very difficult to substitute rye or barley flour. I have no idea yet how to do it. It bothers me and I have the same challenge with other national foods like ”mämmi” and ”kotikalja”. Mämmi is very strange food for foreigners, and we serve it during Easter holidays. Kotikalja means home-brewed dark beer. Both are made with rye flour and malts.

Ok, let me start with lighting a candle. We got our first snow yesterday in Helsinki, so candles are needed to make the atmosphere right! Next thing is to search the house for the trial ingredients.

Please note! I have now added the recipe translation into Finnish in parentheses.

I find:

• One turnip, about 400 grams (Yksi lanttu, noin 400 g)
• Salt to your tasting (suolaa maun mukaan)
• 1 dl of crushed flax (1 dl pellavarouhetta)
• 0.5 dl of teff flour (0.5 dl Teff jauhoja)
• 1 l of water (1 litra vettä)

And here is how it was done.

1. Using food processor make the crushed flax seeds into flour. Full speed about 3 minutes. If you use whole flax seeds, process them longer. (Käyttäen tehosekoittajaa jauha pellavasiemenrouhe jauhoksi. Noin 3 minuuttia. Jos käytät kokonaisia pellavansiemeniä, niin jauha pidempään)
2. Mix flax four together with teff flour (Sekoita pellavajauho ja Teff jauho keskenään).
3. Peal and cut the turnip into small cubes. (Kuori ja kuutioi lanttu).
4. Boil the turnip cubes in about 1 l of water, until soft. (Keitä lanttukuutioita 1 litrassa vettä kunnes ne ovat pehmenneet).
5. Remove the water from the turnips, but do not throw the water away. (Siivilöi kuutiot ja säilytä keitinvesi).
6. Smash the turnips into a smooth batter. (Soseuta lanttukuutiot).
7. Put the turnip batter and boiling water back into the cooking pot. (Laita keitinvesi ja lantut kattilaan).
8. Slowly bring to boil, adding the flour mix. (Anna hiljalleen kiehua ja lisää jauhot ruokalusikka kerrallaan).
9. Mix constantly, so it will not stick to the cooking pot. (Sekoita koko ajan, jotta puuro ei tartu kattilan pohjaan).
10. Boil for about 10 minutes stirring all the time. (Keitä puuroa noin 10 min.).
11. Remove from stove and let it set for 10 minutes. (Siirrä kattila pois hellalta ja anna seistä noin 10 min.)
12. Serve warm with butter, milk and brown cane sugar. If you are vegan you can serve it with toppings of your liking. (Tarjoa lämpimänä, voin, maidon ja ruokosokerin kera. Jos olet vegaani, niin valitset tietenkin jonkin muun puuron lisukkeen).

Here are pictures of the process. (Tässä kuvakollaasi koko prosessista)

It was surprising to me, and my chef daughter, that this porridge was really tasty. It made us think of Finland. Must be in our genes to like this. I do recommend this!

En olisi ikinä uskonut, eikä tyttärenikään, joka on kokki, että puuro on näin maukasta. Se maistui Suomelle! Täytyy olla geeneissä tämä maku. Suosittelen puuroa ja kiitän Päivi Luomalaa tästä haasteesta.