Kampsut (Traditional Blood Cakes)

The other day I tried making "kampsut" or "kampsuja" (traditional blood cakes in Lapland) that my MIL usually made. I wanted to make them using reindeer blood, but alas, when I went to the store, the only thing available was cow blood, but that's OK 'coz the recipe that I followed used cow blood instead of reindeer blood anyway.

Here's the Finnish recipe as well as the photos: Kampsut.

You can use Google Translator to translate the page, though I'm not sure how accurate it is he he...To me making this reminds me of making "baso" or "Indonesian meatballs".

Here are the ingredients:

5 dl reindeer or cow blow (1 dl = 100 ml)
1-3 dl water (I used only 1 dl water)
0.5 tsp salt
0.5 tsp baking soda
9-12 dl rye flour

I think I used close to 12 dl rye flour instead of 9 dl. And the cow blood I bought from the supermarket was conveniently packaged in a 5 dl bottle, so all I had to do was let it melt (it was in the frozen section of the supermarket).

Anyway, you just need to combine all the ingredients and let it be for a night if possible. I actually only let it be for a few hours 'coz I didn't have time, but I put it in the fridge. After a few hours, I took it out and then made them into big balls and then I boiled a lot of water in a HUGE pan (the bigger the better, esp. if the balls you make are big). Make sure to add enough salt in the pan so that the blood cakes will have some taste, though. If you don't want the blood cakes to stick to one another, it's said that you'd better add a new ball after the first one has risen to the surface. And make sure to put the balls in the pan after the water has been boiling. The recipe says that it takes approximately 45 minutes before each ball is cooked (though of course it depends on how big you make them).

To enjoy these blood cakes, it's better to eat them with "voisula". Just slice up lots of onions and cook them with butter until they're soft, then add more butter (as much as you want) and a little bit of milk. And remember to add some cranberry jam if you can find some!

Hubby loves eating them this way: heat up some of the "voisula" in a pan, then slice off some of the blood cakes for one serving and slice off the baked potatoes and just mix them all up. That way you get the onions and butter mixed up with everything and it's just delicious! :-D

The good thing about making these cakes is that I can save half of them in the freezer, so I don't have to start all over again next time he he he...Bon appetit! :-D


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