Kissell! Tutorial: How to make compote

I love compote (kissell in estonian), it's quite a common dessert back there. Trouble is, it costs an arm and a leg to buy some here, so I make my own. It's not very hard anyway. (By the way, the word compote is a bit confusing to me, since "kompott" means kind of preservative, whole berries or fruit or slices of fruit preserved in their own juice/syrup, as opposed to jam, where all is mushed up.)

But back to our task: how to make some.

What you will need:
* A medium-sized saucepan or pot (Mine holds about 2+ litres)
* 2 glasses (about 500ml) of transparent not very overpowering juice, like apple or cranberry as opposed to for example orange
* Fresh fruit and/or berries and/or
* Dried fruit and/or berries and/or
* Tinned fruit and/or berries
* Some water
* Some sugar, app 2 tbsp (one tablespoon - tbsp = app 3 teaspoons -tsp)
* Spices, if you wish: 2 tsp of cinnamon and 1/2 tsp of ground cloves
* 2-3 tbsp of thickening agent, like cornflour, starch or ground arrowroot
* Some milk, whipped cream, toast, biscuits or creamy roly-poly for serving

How to make it:
* Add your juice to the pan


* Add chopped up fresh fruit (cut apples or pears in quarters, remove core, don't bother with the peeling, then cut in quarters again - to get about bite size pieces), berries, washed dried fruit/berries - about half a handful each. No need to soak. Don't forget raisins or sultanas, they're essential! :) I also love tinned plums in my compote, but I couldn't find any this week. In one sentence, add whatever you like and whatever you have. :) I had apples, dried apricots and prunes and some raisins. So, in they all went.


*Also, add your spices and sugar. Top up with water until it's 3-5 cm from the edge.




* Bring to boil (on the scale of 6 points like my hob has, I use 4) then simmer gently (on 1,5-2) under the lid until all the ingredients are soft and plump. That should take about an hour.
* Put 2-3 tbsp of corn flour/starch/ground arrowroot into a cup, add a bit cold water and mix until everything is dissolved, keep adding water until your mix looks like milk.




* Pour your mix into the pot while stirring, so that it blends well, then keep stirring slowly until you notice your compote thickening. It doesn't take long, just a few minutes.


* Take your pan off the hotplate, stir some more and let it cool down.
* Serve cold with milk, whipped cream, pieces of toast, plain soft vanilla biscuits or creamy roly-poly. Whatever you fancy, really!


Serves about 4

When I think about variations, I guess more spices would be nice around Christmas. Orange zest maybe? And eat it with gingerbread? I've never made compote with orange juice, but maybe it will be allright. Any brave experimenters? :)

kerli,
sincerely

Tutorials: Recipe of Beetroot Soup (Borsch)

250 g minced meat - beef or pork. You can use just chopped meat as well, I am sure
1 stock cube of your choice
1,5 l of water
1 biggish carrot
1 onion
2-3 potatoes
200 g beetroot
150 g cabbage
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp vinegar
a bit of oil
1 teasp of salt
1 tbsp of sugar
herbs and spices of your choice, definitely add pepper or paprika - something strong. dill and garlic won't hurt either. :)

A good dollop of soured cream/creme fraiche/greek style natural yoghurt

*Heat the oil in the bottom of a saucepan or pot big enough to fit all the soup in. Brown the meat until juices run clean, and if you like well done meat, even more, until it starts slightly burn and goes dark brown on one side.
*While the meat is cooking, cut the carrot into thin slices or small cubes. It's because carrots and swedes take muck longer to cook than potatoes and cabbage. When the meat is cooked to your liking, add the carrot and also chop or cut onion to add in. (I usually just kind of half-slice the onion in my hand above the pot. It's quick. :) Cover with lid and cook until onions are slightly transparent.
*While that is happening, peel and chop your potatoes and slice cabbage. also, you could start chopping your beetroots into smallish cubes. Add water, potatoes, cabbage and stock cube to your pot and steam the beetroot on a different pan (preferably on a wide frying pan, yes) with tomato puree and vinegar. Add few scoopfuls of soup from your pot.
*When everything is nice and done, add the beetroot to your soup. Cook for another 5-10 minutes, adding salt, sugar and all your herbs and spices.

Let it stand as long as you can. Serve with soured cream/creme fraiche/greek style natural yoghurt. Believe me, it makes all the difference.


So there you are. Quite a bit of chopping, but it's nice in the end, really. :) If you live somewhere where there is russian/polish shop, then you can go and look for some real borsch as well. It's usually in 1l glass jar, you have to add water yourself, and it looks and reads kind of like this:

Look for the text. It is pronounced BOR (then the fourth symbol reads) CHTCH (though you don't really say it like this, it's just a quicker "sssh" sound; and fifth is just making it sound more palatalized http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatalization, so we add J)
BORCHTCHJ
:D

P.S. You can make it completely without meat, it still tastes nice. ;)

Kerli,
sincerely