Eating Around the World (From Home....And Gluten Free...): Latvia

Welcome to Latvia! We made it! My Nifty Niece was learning about this country in school, so we decided to try out their food. Her reviews are farther down on this blog – and definitely worth reading! According to Google, Latvia has 1.92 million people. The capital is Riga, and their national food is…

Latvia Map and Satellite Image

Karbonade!

What is Karbonade, you ask? I had no idea (seems to be a pattern…) but from the pictures, it looked pretty tasty. We also chose a side dish and dessert to make too. When you’re homeschooling, cooking can be more involved, right?!

Here’s what we did:

Karbonāde (Pork Cutlets With Cream Sauce)

¹⁄₄ C Avocado Oil, plus more as needed

1 C Gluten Free Flour (I used Americas Test Kitchen Blend)

5 Eggs

10 Pork Chops, pounded to 1/4″ thick

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 tbsp. Butter

1 Onion, minced

1 C Heavy Cream

1 tbsp. Fresh Lemon Juice

2 tbsp. Parsley, chopped

1. Pound pork chops to ¼ inch thick.

2. Heat oil in a 12″ skillet over medium-high heat. Place flour in a medium bowl, and whisk together eggs and ¹⁄₄ cup water in another medium bowl; set both aside.

3. Season pork with salt and pepper, then dredge 3 cutlets in flour.

§ Dip in egg mixture until evenly coated, then place in skillet

4. Cook, turning once, until golden brown and cooked through, about 5 minutes.

5. Transfer to serving platter and repeat with remaining cutlets, adding more oil to the pan as needed.

§ I did keep mine warm in the oven until we were ready to eat

6. In a separate skillet, add butter, then onion; cook, stirring often, until soft, about 2 minutes.

7. Season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring often.

8. Add cream and cook, stirring, until slightly reduced, about 2 minutes.

9. Stir in lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper.

To serve, pour sauce over cutlets, and sprinkle with parsley.

(Source: https://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Karbonade-Pork-Cutlets-With-Chanterelle-Cream-Sauce/)

Kartupeli ar Dillēm (Boiled Potatoes With Dill

Salt, to taste

2 lb. small Yukon Gold or new potatoes, unpeeled

¹⁄₃ C Sour Cream

6 tbsp. Fresh Dill, minced

4 tbsp. Butter

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Bring an 8-qt. saucepan of salted water to a boil.

2. Add potatoes and cook until tender, about 15 minutes.

3. Drain potatoes and return to pot with sour cream, dill, butter, salt, and pepper.

4. Cover pan with lid and shake until potatoes are well coated.

5. Transfer to large serving bowl, and season with additional salt and pepper.

(Source: https://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Kartupeli-ar-Dillem-Boiled-Potatoes-With-Dill/)

Latvian Meteņu maizītes

1 1/3 C warm water, plus 1 tsp water

2 tsp Lemon Juice

2 eggs, plus 1 yolk

3 1/3 C Gluten Free Flour (I used America’s Test Kitchen Blend)

½ C Nonfat Dry Milk powder

2 tbsp Powdered Psyllium Husk

4 tbsp Sugar

1 Packet Rapid-Rise Yeast

2 tsp baking powder

6 tbsp Butter, cut into 6 pieces

Sliced Almonds

Whipped Cream

Powdered Sugar

Spray 2 9-inch cake pans with oil
Whisk 1 1/3 C warm water, lemon juice, and 1 egg plus yolk together in a bowl
In a stand mixer with paddle, mix flour, milk powder, psyllium, sugar, yeast, baking powder, and 1 ½ tsp salt on low until combined
Slowly add water mixture and let dough come together
Add butter and increase speed to medium and beat until sticky and uniform
Working with about 1/3 of the dough at a time, shape into rounds using wet hands, and arrange in a flower shape (1 center, 6 around) in pan
Cover loosely with plastic wrap until doubled, about 1 hour
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Lightly beat egg and 1 tsp of water
Brush rolls with egg wash
Top rolls with a few sliced almonds
Bake for 35-40 minutes until tops are golden brown
Once rolls are cool, slice off the top of the roll
Scoop out the insides of the rols
Fill the hollow roll with whipped cream, and place top back on
Dust with powdered sugar and serve

(Source: http://femmeaufoyer2011.blogspot.com/2012/02/meteni.html and “The How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook” by America’s Test Kitchen)

This was an adventure. Well, the desserts were. I attempted to make the rolls on the site above, and just substitute gluten free flour. They did not rise AT ALL, and I had to come up with something else. So I baked the dinner rolls from the cookbook referenced, and added some extra sugar to make the rolls a bit sweeter. It worked, but I’m sure these would be delicious using the original recipe!

I’ll let the Nifty Niece tell you about the other courses:

Latvian food is fun to make!!!!!

My favorite thing to cook was the pork because I had lots of fun pounding it down and coating

it and putting it in the pan. Make sure that you carefully put the pork in the pan and don’t just

drop them in - slowly lay it down in the pan. For me I didn’t really like the sauce but I know that

other people would.

I learned something really really really really really really really really really really

reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally

important, DON’T UN-SCREW THE LID TO THE SALT WHEN SEASONING THE

PORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love salt so much, but it was WAY too salty!

I recommend that you make the pork because you can put lots of different sauces on it to make

it really yummy!!!

The potatoes were not my thing, but I know that other people would like them if they enjoy a

creamy dill flavor.

The dessert wasn’t sweet enough to be considered a dessert for me. Adding something sweet

(like fruit or honey) would probably make it taste a little better.

For me, cooking was a little challenging because there was more than one thing to be doing at

once, but I still had fun!

So the rating. We are all going to rate the dishes on a scale of 1-10.

Taste of Karbonāde (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 5