Friday, March 29, 2013

Kiselis

This is a thickened fruit juice, served as a sauce with other desserts, used as a drink, and served with whipped cream. The thickness determines its purpose.

Taken from an old Latvian cookbook "Majturiba". 



Ingredients:

1 liter of water

200-250 g. of berries - fresh, frozen or dried (red currant are popular here, but you can use just about any combination. This is even made with dry fruit here- apricots, raisins, apples, prunes, etc. If using dried use only 100g. )

125 g. sugar

60-65 g. potato starch for thick, 40-45 g. for thin.

Method:

  1. Clean berries if they are fresh. 
  2. Place berries in pot, add water and bring to boil. 
  3. Add sugar and stir to dissolve. 
  4. Dissolve potato starch in a bit of cold water and add to boiling juice, stirring constantly. 
  5. Bring to boil, remove from heat as soon as comes to boil. 
  6. Cool. 
  7. Serve with desserts or use as a drink. 
NOTE: Recipe says to sprinkle the sugar on after you pour it into your desired serving container so as to avoid it having a film over the top. I have not had that problem and always dissolve the sugar in the juice. Other Latvians can feel free to comment and I can adjust this recipe. 

2 comments:

  1. I remember my Latvian mother making this with rubarb. It was delicious. Just found your blog while searching for a recipe for kiselis, very nice. What is potato starch? Is that like corn starch? I live in the US and sometimes things are called different names...

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  2. It is sold as potato starch because that is what it is. Behaves similarly to corn starch (which is often actually made from wheat, depending on the brand you choose). You could probably substitute one with the other, however, I am not experienced in the making of this. Only remember it very well from childhood with mother making a delicious version. Must try it out.

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