Patriot Week Dishes: Herring Under a Fur Coat, Pearl Barley Stew and Cranberry Semolina Dessert

Three traditional dishes have been suggested for the Latvian national holiday table in a recipe feature by the Latvian news site Diena: herring under a fur coat, pearl barley stew with mushrooms, and a cranberry semolina dessert known as debesmanna.

Herring under a fur coat

The layered salad uses 350 g of salted herring fillet, potatoes, carrots, beetroot, eggs and an onion. The sauce is made from mayonnaise, sour cream and horseradish. The vegetables are boiled in their skins, cooled and coarsely grated, the eggs are boiled hard and chopped, and the herring is diced. The salad is assembled in layers with the sauce between them. It is kept in the fridge for at least 3–4 hours, ideally overnight, and decorated with grated egg and herbs before serving.

Pearl barley stew with mushrooms

The author describes pearl barley as a long-favoured product that turns tender and creamy when slowly simmered in broth. The dish calls for 250 g of pearl barley, 250 g of button or wild mushrooms, an onion, a carrot, garlic, 800 ml of hot broth, 100 ml of cream and 50 g of hard cheese. The barley is rinsed, ideally soaked in water for 2–3 hours, then fried with the vegetables and mushrooms. Hot broth is added in portions over about 30–40 minutes with regular stirring. Cream, butter, cheese, salt and pepper go in at the end.

Debesmanna

Debesmanna, also called uzputenis, is a traditional Latvian dessert made from berry juice, semolina and sugar. It requires 300 g of cranberries, 1.2 litres of water, 180–200 g of sugar and 150 g of semolina. The cranberries are crushed and the juice squeezed out, while the pulp is boiled in water for about 10 minutes and strained. Sugar and semolina are added to the liquid and cooked for 5–7 minutes. The cooled mixture is combined with the cranberry juice and whisked for 8–12 minutes. The dessert is placed in glasses, chilled and served with cold milk or vanilla sauce.