Finland: vegan lanttulaatikko

This week, we visit Finland and cook a vegan lanttulaatikko. This rutabaga casserole with nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger is a Finnish Christmas classic, continuing the theme set by our recent visit to Venezuela where we made vegan hallacas, a local Christmas favourite. Read on to learn more about Finnish cuisine or jump straight to the recipe.

Finnish cuisine

Finland is one of the Nordic countries and lies in northern Europe, bordering Russia, Sweden, Norway and the Baltic sea. The lands that are today Finland were conquered, colonized and Chrisitanized by Sweden through several crusades during the 12th and 13th centuries. Finland remained an important part of the Swedish realm until it was conquered by Russia in 1809, during the Napoleonic Wars. In 1917, during the Russian revolution at the end of the First World War, Finland gained its independence.

Finland’s geographical location and shared history with Sweden show in the country’s cuisine. The same short growing season and abundant coastline results in the similar ingredients being available in both countries, similar to many other Northern European countries, like Latvia and Denmark which we’ve previously visited. Finnish cuisine often features root vegetables like potatoes, rutabaga, and turnips, sturdy grains like rye and oats as well as a large portion of dairy, fish and land mammals. In Finland, foraging is also common and wild berries, such as lingonberries, blueberries, and cloudberries, along with many types of mushrooms are often used as sides ​[1]​.

Just like in Latvia, bread, and especially different types of rye bread, are an important part of the cuisine ​[2]–[4]​. There are dense and heavy loaves (limppu), thin, round breads (ruisreikäleipä), crunchy hardbreads (näkkileipä) and rye breads stuffed with fish and bacon before baking (kalakukko).

Fish is everywhere: fresh in summer and preserved (pickled, dried, smoked, or salted) in winter ​[2]–[4]​. Meat, such as reindeer, pig and cow, is often on the menu. For instance, meat can be layered with onions and potatoes, drenched in beer and baked in the oven to create merimiespata, a dish somewhere between a stew and a casserole. Sausages are used in many dishes, such as the cream-based stew nakkikastike or broth-based soup siskonmakkarakeitto.

Among the many dishes that you also find in my native Sweden, there are meatballs with lingonberry jam, semolina porridge, salty licorice, boiled new potatoes, and shrove buns filled with whipped cream and almond paste.

Finnish Christmas

The countdown to Christmas has started so in writing this post, I decided to look into Finnish Christmas dishes, continuing on the Christmas theme set by our recent visit to Venezuela where we made vegan hallacas and our visit to Bulgaria where we baked vegan tikvenik. As a bonus, Finland is often portrayed as a winter country and home of Santa Claus ​[5]​.

For Christmas dinner, the people in Finland will usually have a big buffet-style spread of different dishes, called joulupöytä or “Christmas Table” ​[6], [7]​. Here, you will find a plethora of dishes including meat, fish, salads and casseroles ​[6], [8]–[10]​. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the Finnish Christmas dishes remind me of Swedish Christmas, such as ham coated in mustard, salted salmon (gravlax), pickled herring, meatballs, glögi (Nordic mulled wine), gingerbread, and milk-based, sweet rice porridge.

From my Swedish perspective, there are also a few dishes that stand out as new to me (though I wouldn’t be surprised if other families in Sweden enjoy these on their Christmas tables). For dessert, you might find Christmas stars – puff pastry pastries filled with prune jam ​[9]​, or fruit soup made from dried fruits and potato starch ​[10]​. On the savoury part of the table, you could find a Christmas salad made from potatoes, carrots, beets and whipped cream ​​[6]​. And you are very likely to find at least one casserole made from starchy root vegetables.

Lanttulaatikko

Finnish Christmas casseroles (laatikko) are many and varied and often served on the Finnish Christmas table as one of the many dishes ​[6], [8]–[10]​. They are filling and easy to prepare in advance and reheat the day of celebrations. Often there are multiple casseroles so everyone can pick their favourite (or all of them). You are likely to find potato casserole, carrot casserole, cabbage with minced meat casserole and even a liver-rice-and-raisins casserole. For this visit to Finland, I chose to cook a rutabaga casserole, lanttulaatikko.

Lanttulaatikko is one of Finland’s many classic Christmas dishes, with a sure spot on many Finnish Christmas tables. Lanttulaatikko is a simple dish to prepare and focuses on the humble rutabaga (lanttu). Here, the rutabaga is elevated with cream, molasses, and warm spices ​[8], [11]–[16]​. The rutabaga is boiled and mashed and then mixed with cream, molasses, egg and nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, and/or allspice. The casserole is topped with breadcrumbs and butter and baked for a long time before making its way to the Christmas table.

Vegan lanttulaatikko

Lanttulaatikko incorporates cream, butter and eggs in the traditional recipe. To make vegan lanttulaatikko, replacing cream and butter with plant-based alternatives is easy but egg is usually harder. Luckily, the egg included in lanttulaatikko is not an essential ingredient (as it would be in say an omelet or a meringue). By simply omitting the egg (and replacing the dairy), it is easy to make a vegan lanttulaatikko recipe.

Conclusion

It was really interesting reading up on Finnish Christmas and testing one the country’s many Christmas casseroles. There are a lot of similarities with the Swedish Christmas I grew up with. And the handful of to-me-new dishes would fit right in at a Swedish Christmas dinner.

The vegan lanttulaatikko, or rutabaga casserole, that I ended up cooking was a very interesting dish to try. The rutabaga is quite sweet already and the addition of molasses adds to this. The texture, sweetness and warm spices bring Canadian or American Thanksgiving pumpkin pie to mind but served as a warm, savoury casserole instead of a dessert. I did not ook a complete Finnish Christmas feast and instead ate the lanttulaatikko with some lentil patties and mustard (the spicy, sour mustard was a great airing!). Maybe this vegan lanttulaatikko will make it to my Christmas table in a few weeks.

Vegan lanttulaatikko recipe

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Vegan lanttulaatikko

lanttulaatikko is a Finnish turnip casserole that has its own place on the Finnish Christmas table.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Finnish, Nordic, Northern Europe

Keyword Casserole, Christmas, root vegetable

Ingredients

• 800 g Rutabaga
• 100 mL plant-based cream see note
• 2 tbsp molasses
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground, dried ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp black pepper
• salt to taste
• 4 tbsp vegan butter or margarine
• 50 mL bread crumbs

Instructions

• Peel and cut the rutabagas into chunks.
• Boil rutabagas in salted water until tender, 20-30 min.
• Drain the rutabagas, preserving some of the cooking water. Puree or mash the rutabagas. Add some of the cooking water if needed.
• Mix in cream, molasses and spices.
• Transfer rutabaga puree to the oven dish.
• Cover the puree with breadcrumbs. Use a spoon to create a nice pattern.
• Add the butter or margarine on top of the breadcrumbs in little dollops.
• Bake at 175°C for ~45-60 min, until golden in colour.

Notes

Plant-based cream: I usually make my own by blending 1 part cashews with two parts water. With a powerful blender, this works really well. You can try soaking the cashews for a few hours to make the resulting cream smoother.

References