Are you visiting Estonia and don't know what to eat? Check our complete guide and first hand impressions on the top traditional Estonian food.

With hearty staples, tender meats, and plenty of European influence, Estonian food packs so much warmth and comfort in every bite.

Estonian Meatball Soup: This soup is a perfect option during cold winter months! Enjoy our easy recipes!Visit our website: www.happyfoodstube.com/estonian-meatball-soup-frikadelli-supp

Here's a true Estonian classic - a layered cookie cake. If you've been reading Nami-Nami blog, you may remember that an Estonian cookie cake was also featured at the festive spread we served for Average Betty few weeks ago. It's a popular cake on children's birthday parties and on September 1st (the day all Estonian kids go back to school). I suspect these are the main reasons for its popularity: * There are just a few ingredients. * It's pretty cheap and affordable. * It's yummy :) * There are endless variations - you can use different flavoured cookies, different cream, different decorations. * The cake takes about 10-15 minutes to assemble, and every kid can make it, even small ones. The cookie cake above was made with the help of my 3,5 year old daughter - she did all the cookie-dipping and cookie-placing, I was left with spreading the sour cream between the layers. And she's made this cake before - here's a family portrait taken in January - few days before our son's first birthday and few weeks before our daughter's third birthday: Photo by Hele-Mai Alamaa (Pere & Kodu) as part for the cover story back in February. I make two main versions - one with halva and sour cream filling, the other with plain sour cream filling. That's right - plain, unflavoured sour cream - the cookies are sweet enough and there's absolutely no need to sweeten the cream that goes between the cookies. However, there are lots of people who add thinly sliced bananas between the layer, but I haven't tried that myself. I guess I like the classics remain classic :) As far as the cookies go, you need rectangular unfilled cookies - either plain or chocolate-flavoured or any other flavour you like. The cookies shouldn't be more than 5-6 mm (1/4-inch) thick. In Estonia any flavour produced and distributed by Estonian Kalev or Latvian Selga would work, elsewhere you could try with Bahlsen Leibniz's Butter Biscuits, or LU's Le Petit Beurre biscuit cookies, for instance. Sounds familiar? There's a similar, yet different popular cake in Germany, called Keller Kuchen (Cellar cake) or Kalter Hund (Cold Dog), or radiokaka in Sweden, where butter cookies are layered with chocolate and coconut butter cream. NB! Make this cake at least 4 hours earlier, preferably day before, so the sour cream has time to soften the cookies and make the cake more cakey. You can top the cake with chocolate glaze and decorate it just half an hour before serving. Estonian cookie cake (Kõige parem küpsisetort) Serves 12 to 15 4 packets of square/rectangular cookies (180 g/6 oz each) 100-200 ml milk or coffee for dipping the cookies 750 g thick sour cream (about 20% fat content) Chocolate glaze: 100 g dark chocolate 50 g unsalted butter 4 Tbsp double cream To decorate: crispy pearl sugar fresh berries coconut flakes/shredded coconut Dip 12 to 15 cookies into the milk or coffee and place onto a suitable cake tray (I usually use 3x5 cookies or 15 in total, depending on your cake tray, you may prefer 3x4 pattern, resulting in 12 servings). Now spread about a third of the sour cream evenly on top of the cookies. Continue with 3 more cookie and 2 more sour cream layers, finishing with the cookie layer. Cover the cake with a cling film and place into the fridge to soften. To make the chocolate glaze, break the chocolate into pieces and place into a small saucepan with butter and fresh cream. Slowly heat on a medium heat, stirring regularly, until the glaze is smooth and glossy. Spoon over the cake, spreading it evenly all over the top. (If using shredded coconut or pearl sugar for garnish, do it now, so it sticks into the chocolate glaze). Place back into the fridge to harden. To serve, cut the cake into neat squares (or rectangles, if your cookies weren't square), or smaller slices, if you prefer. Garnish with berries, if you wish (I used the wonderful green variety of blackcurrants, Vertti, that I was talking about in a recent post). Here's exactly the same cake, using chocolate-flavoured cookies and garnished with crispy pearl sugar granules: Similar recipes in English-language foodblogs: Easy 7-layer cake @ Steven and Chris Kellerkuchen / Cellar cake @ Light Recipes Similar recipes in Estonian foodblogs: Küpsisetort kohupiimakreemi ja banaaniga @ Sööme silmadega (Dagris) Šokolaadine küpsisetort @ Kiilike köögis (Anneli) Kohupiimakreemiga küpsisetort @ Siit nurgast ja sealt nurgast (Mari-Liis) Vale-napoleoni kook @ Kokkama Ragnega (Ragne) Šokolaadi-toorjuustukook küpsistega @ Kokkama Ragnega (Ragne) Hapukoorekreemiga küpsisetort @ Tassike.ee (Marju) Küpsisetort @ Magusad fotod (Marit) Kohvimaitseline küpsisetort @ Hea toit, parem elu! (Merit) Küpsisetort @ Head asjad (Neve) Halvaa-küpsisetort @ Maitse asi (Jaanika)

Tõenäoliselt mõlgub postituse pealkirjaks olev lausejupp praegu paljude peas. Ütlematagi on selge, et selle õhtu toit on eestimaine: kas siin kasvatatud või valmistatud. Eestimaa põllud, farmid, ta…

I realised today that I haven't been posting many Estonian recipes lately, which doesn't mean I haven't been eating lots of local food recently. I have. Especially cabbage dishes, as the new season's cabbage has hit the stalls. Today's dish is not strictly seasonal per se - it can be made in the middle of a rainy autumn, dark winter and promising spring. But somehow I always crave this dish in the early to mid-summer, when the cabbage tastes sweetest. Estonian Cabbage and Mince Stew (Hakkliha-kapsahautis) Serves 4 1 large green cabbage (about 2 pounds/1 kg), finely shredded 2 carrots, cut into matchsticks 1 Tbsp vegetable oil about a cup of freshly boiled water salt freshly ground black pepper 400 g (leanish) beef mince 1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced 1 Tbsp vegetable oil fresh parsley (optional) boiled potatoes, to serve Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the carrots and the cabbage, season with salt and sauté for a few minutes, until the cabbage wilts a little. Add the boiling water, cover and simmer on a medium heat for about 10-15 minutes, until cabbage starts to soften. On a frying pan, heat the oil, then add onions and minced beef. Fry, stirring regularly, until the mince is browned all over. Add the whole lot to the softened cabbage. Give it a quick turn and continue simmering for another 10-15 minutes, uncovered, until the cabbage is nicely softened. Sprinkle with finely chopped parsley, if you wish, and serve with boiled potatoes.

Sauerkraut is another must-have ingredient on our Christmas table - a lovely side-dish to all those fatty chunks of roast pork and crac...

This one is lovely served with salty or spicy meat. It’s of course just gorgeous with no meat! It goes great alongside some simple roasted potatoes or spicy roasted cauliflower! Sour cream is…

The Classics “pirukad” by Aivar Ruukel is licensed under CC BY 2.0. 1. Pirukad Pirukad (sing. Pirukas) are filled Estonian dumplings. Large pirukas are traditionally filled with cabbage, meat, and carrots. And small pirukas can contain different fillings. For example, meat, ham, cabbage, rice, mushrooms, and carrots. “Delicious Russian Salad served on the plate” by wuestenigel is licensed under CC BY […]

I am born and bred in South-Estonia. I still live here and I couldn't imagine it any other way. South has a special place in my heart. It just has this uniquely different vibe. My vegan cooking workshops usually take place in Tallinn, which is in north and it's fun, but I love to drive back to our little forest cabin afterwards. Even if it's 3am. I guess there's no place like home. The culture-historical region where I'm from, is called Mulgimaa. We have our own dialect and we also have our own historical foods. Some of them are widely loved, like today's recipe, which is even considered Estonian national food in some cases. My mom has been cooking mashed potatoes with barley since I remember. She learned to make it from my dad, who learned to make it from his grandmother and so on. There are different versions of it, but the base is always the same - potatoes and barley. This dish is often served with pan-fried cubed lard and onions, but since I'm a vegan, I just love it with the onions or "beef" it up with delicious pan-fried eggplant, which has a really nice hearty texture. Some people also like to eat it with sour cream, but I replace it with sunflower sour cream. The main reasons we love this dish so much, it's because it's really filling, delicious, very affordable, doesn't need much labor and it heats up really nice when pan-fried the next day. That way it gets golden brown and crispy...yum! We also love to eat some home-made preserves with. For example tomato and green bean preserve or some spicy pickles. So it's all in all a winter season food. And since the days are getting a bit chillier here, it's the perfect time to share this recipe. Happy cooking and if you have some time, I would love to hear about your favorite foods from your region! Time: a bit over an hour Serves: 4 people Mashed potatoes with barley: 3 ⅓ pounds / 1 ½ kg potatoes ½ cup / 100 g pearl barley 2 onions 2 tsp fine salt (I used pink salt) 2 - 3 bay leaves 6 ⅓ cups / 1,5 liter water For serving: 3 onions 1 medium eggplant salt and pepper to taste sunflower sour cream, if you like Peel the potatoes and cut the bigger ones into half. Put them into a thick-bottomed pot along with thoroughly rinsed barley, chopped onions, salt and bay leaves. Cover everything with water and bring to a boil. Cover the pot with a lid and let it boil on a medium heat for at least an hour. In the meantime, you can prepare the onions, eggplant and also sunflower sour cream, if you like. Pan-fry the onions in plenty of oil, until really golden brown. Season with salt and pepper. Cut the eggplant into small cubes. Heat up a pan, add plenty of oil and half of the eggplant cubes. Sprinkle some salt on them and pan-fry them for a few minutes, until they are translucent and golden brown. Put the cubes on a plate covered with a paper towel, so it absorbs the extra oil. Pan-fry the remaining batch of eggplant cubes exactly the same way. Now check on the potatoes. If they still have too much water left (it shouldn't be too soupy), let it boil without a lid on high heat for about 5 minutes. Now mash everything using an old-school potato masher, definitely not a hand blender. Taste for salt and add more, if needed. Serve with pan-fried onions, pan-fried eggplant and some sunflower sour cream.

Originally posted in February 2012, slightly edited. It's Shrove Tuesday tomorrow, and before feasting on delicious Lenten buns (I've b...

The perfect soft, fluffy cinnamon rolls

Estonia is a child of the last Ice Age. Not only bogs, but the entire Estonian landscape was shaped by glaciers that stretched south from Scandinavia. At the shore of the Baltic coast, many large boulders that are Ice Age remnants can be found to this day.

I am born and bred in South-Estonia. I still live here and I couldn't imagine it any other way. South has a special place in my heart. It just has this uniquely different vibe. My vegan cooking workshops usually take place in Tallinn, which is in north and it's fun, but I love to drive back to our little forest cabin afterwards. Even if it's 3am. I guess there's no place like home. The culture-historical region where I'm from, is called Mulgimaa. We have our own dialect and we also have our own historical foods. Some of them are widely loved, like today's recipe, which is even considered Estonian national food in some cases. My mom has been cooking mashed potatoes with barley since I remember. She learned to make it from my dad, who learned to make it from his grandmother and so on. There are different versions of it, but the base is always the same - potatoes and barley. This dish is often served with pan-fried cubed lard and onions, but since I'm a vegan, I just love it with the onions or "beef" it up with delicious pan-fried eggplant, which has a really nice hearty texture. Some people also like to eat it with sour cream, but I replace it with sunflower sour cream. The main reasons we love this dish so much, it's because it's really filling, delicious, very affordable, doesn't need much labor and it heats up really nice when pan-fried the next day. That way it gets golden brown and crispy...yum! We also love to eat some home-made preserves with. For example tomato and green bean preserve or some spicy pickles. So it's all in all a winter season food. And since the days are getting a bit chillier here, it's the perfect time to share this recipe. Happy cooking and if you have some time, I would love to hear about your favorite foods from your region! Time: a bit over an hour Serves: 4 people Mashed potatoes with barley: 3 ⅓ pounds / 1 ½ kg potatoes ½ cup / 100 g pearl barley 2 onions 2 tsp fine salt (I used pink salt) 2 - 3 bay leaves 6 ⅓ cups / 1,5 liter water For serving: 3 onions 1 medium eggplant salt and pepper to taste sunflower sour cream, if you like Peel the potatoes and cut the bigger ones into half. Put them into a thick-bottomed pot along with thoroughly rinsed barley, chopped onions, salt and bay leaves. Cover everything with water and bring to a boil. Cover the pot with a lid and let it boil on a medium heat for at least an hour. In the meantime, you can prepare the onions, eggplant and also sunflower sour cream, if you like. Pan-fry the onions in plenty of oil, until really golden brown. Season with salt and pepper. Cut the eggplant into small cubes. Heat up a pan, add plenty of oil and half of the eggplant cubes. Sprinkle some salt on them and pan-fry them for a few minutes, until they are translucent and golden brown. Put the cubes on a plate covered with a paper towel, so it absorbs the extra oil. Pan-fry the remaining batch of eggplant cubes exactly the same way. Now check on the potatoes. If they still have too much water left (it shouldn't be too soupy), let it boil without a lid on high heat for about 5 minutes. Now mash everything using an old-school potato masher, definitely not a hand blender. Taste for salt and add more, if needed. Serve with pan-fried onions, pan-fried eggplant and some sunflower sour cream.

With hearty staples, tender meats, and plenty of European influence, Estonian food packs so much warmth and comfort in every bite.

If you're looking for a minced meat sauce recipe, try out this amazing Estonian version with south cream! It is delicious, tangy, and mouthwatering.

Klassikaline Eesti magustoit, mille valmistamisel annab edukalt ära kasutada tahket rukkileiba. Serveeri niisama või rõõsa koore, piima või hapukoorega.

Rhubarb is very popular in Estonian cooking and features in numerous recipes. As this tarty fruit is now in season it's a great time to make this tasty treat. Rabarberikook is very easy to make and has been enjoyed by Estonians for generations. Ingredients Base 2 ½ cups plain flour 1 cup granulated sugar 1 egg 150g unsalted butter ¼ tsp baking powder Filling 600g rhubarb, chopped into small pieces 8 tbsp sugar 1tsp cinnamon Topping 6 eggs 6 tbsp sugar 6 tbsp flour 1tsp vanilla extract Icing sugar for dusting on top. Method Preheat oven to 180 degrees and grease a rectangle cake pan. In a bowl cream the butter and sugar using an electric mixer. Add the egg. In a separate bowl combine the flour and baking powder and then add to the butter mixture. Spread the batter evenly into the greased pan. The mixture can be quite sticky so use the back of a wet spoon to get a nice smooth result. Combine the rhubarb with the sugar and cinnamon. Gentle spoon over the top of the base layer. To prepare the topping, beat the eggs and sugar together until light and airy. Add the flour and vanilla extract then pour over the rhubarb filling. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Allow to cool then sprinkle with icing sugar. Cut into squares and serve with cream.

Here's my entry for the 10th installment of Waiter, there is something in my ... (WTISIM) foodblogging event, a brainchild of three fabulous British foodbloggers Johanna, Jeanne and Andrew. This month's edition is hosted by Andrew, who has asked us to send in our recipes for LAYERED CAKES. I decided to try meekook or a layered honey cake that is available in most cake shops and is a popular birthday table option. It consists of six thin cake layers and six simple sweetened sour cream layers. Our layers were slightly thicker than we expected them to be, but the taste was exactly right. Enjoy! MEEKOOK aka Estonian Honey Cake* (Meetort) Serves 12-16 Honey cake layers: 3 Tbsp honey 200 g (250 ml/1 cup) caster sugar 3 large eggs 2 tsp baking soda/bicarbonate of soda 360 g plain flour (600 ml) Between layers: 1 kg sour cream 85 g (100 ml) caster sugar Whisk eggs until pale and thick. Heat honey and sugar in a large saucepan. When it's about to boil, remove from the heat and add the whisked eggs, stirring until combined. Add baking soda and stir again. Add flour gradually, mixing until combined. Put aside to cool completely! Divide the dough into six equal parts (it's easiest to do it by rolling it into a cylinder and then cutting into six pieces). Take six sheets of baking/parchment paper, dust very slightly with flour. On a slightly floured parchment paper, form each piece of dough into a ball and then roll out into a 24 cm circles. Bake one dough circle at the time for 5 minutes in the middle of a 225 C oven until dark golden. Remove from the oven and let cool on the baking paper. Layer five baked circles with the sour cream on a cake stand, covering also the top cake circle. Crush the sixth cake circle in a food processor and sprinkle on the top layer of sour cream. Place into the fridge for 6 hours or overnight. Here are links to my previous Waiter there is something in my ... entries: September 2007 (SAVOURY PRESERVE): Gooseberry Chutney August 2007 (MEATLESS BBQ): Roasted onions with blue cheese. July 2007 (SAUCES): Munakaste alias my grandma Senta's egg & smoked ham sauce. June 2007 (DUMPLINGS): Vareniki dumplings with curd cheese filling, served with home-made apricot jam & pistachios. May 2007 (STUFFED VEGETABLES): Stuffed tomatoes with two types of salad - cod liver salad & cucumber and wild garlic salad. April 2007 (BREAD): a traditional Estonian quick mushroom bread, Seenekarask. March 2007 (EASTER BASKET): a selection of various Easter delights. February 2007 (PIE): a great Russian puff pastry and fish pie, Salmon Kulebyaka. January 2007 (STEW): my version (in collaboration with Anthony Bourdain:) of the French classic Boeuf Bourguignon.

The Classics “pirukad” by Aivar Ruukel is licensed under CC BY 2.0. 1. Pirukad Pirukad (sing. Pirukas) are filled Estonian dumplings. Large pirukas are traditionally filled with cabbage, meat, and carrots. And small pirukas can contain different fillings. For example, meat, ham, cabbage, rice, mushrooms, and carrots. “Delicious Russian Salad served on the plate” by wuestenigel is licensed under CC BY […]

With hearty staples, tender meats, and plenty of European influence, Estonian food packs so much warmth and comfort in every bite.