Kariela pasties are a traditional Finnish delicacy consisting of rice porridge baked in a rye crust. There are multiple variations for the filling, but I prefer the basic rice porridge filling. I leave the porridge relatively under seasoned, because I enjoy eating the pasties with a saltier topping, like salami or the traditional egg butter spread.

Making kariela pasties is relatively simple, if a little time consuming. The hardest part is folding the edges onto the filling . It’s hard to describe the technique, so I’ve added some pictures showing the different stages. The end result should be a round edged wavy pattern. These are baked in a pretty high temperature, so you have to keep an eye on them to avoid burning. Once you take them out of the oven the shell will be rally hard, but it will soften after dunking it in the butter and milk mixture.

The dough discs before and after rolling

• 2dl water
• 7.5dl whole milk
• 2dl short grain rice
• 2.5dl rye flour
• 1dl all-purpose flour + extra for rolling
• 1.5dl water
• 1tbsp oil
• 1tsp salt
• 50g butter
• 2dl whole milk

1. Bring 2dl of water to a boil. Add in the rice and 7.5dl of milk and keep it on a low simmer stirring occasionally to keep the milk from burning. Keep simmering until the rice is cooked and most of the milk has been absorbed. Take off the heat and allow to cool.
2. Mix 1.5dl water, oil and flour together in a bowl. If the dough is still sticky, add all-purpose flour until the dough forms a firm bowl.
3. Once the porridge has cooled down mix in an egg and 1-2 tsp salt.
4. Divide the dough into 4 parts and form them into sausage-like rolls. Further divide the rolls into 5 pieces, so that you end up with 20 discs of dough. Cover the discs with a cloth, so that they don’t dry out.
5. Working in batches, roll out the discs into a thin, slightly oval shaped circle, fill with ~1.5 tablespoons of porridge, leaving some space onto the sides. Starting from the middle, fold the dough onto the rice with your index fingers and continue until you’ve folded all the dough onto of the rice. Lift the finished pasty onto a baking sheet.
6. Bake the pasties in a 275°C oven for 12 minutes, until the edges of the pasty have darkened.
7. Heat up 2dl milk and 50g butter in a small saucepan. While the pasties are still warm, use a slotted spoon to quickly dunk them into the milk-butter mixture. Lift onto a wire rack to cool.
8. Kariela pasties are best served hot, topped with cheese or salami (or the traditional topping, egg-butter). They can be stored in the fridge and eaten either cold or re-heated.