Monday, March 02, 2009

Rosinakissell aka Raisin Fruit Soup



Here's a (old Estonian?) recipe for a simple dessert that costs next to nothing - and is made pretty much out of nothing (raisins, water, sugar). Yet it tastes good..

I vaguely remember it from kindergarten and elementary school lunch breaks, but it had been a looooong time since my last rosinakissell. Until I stayed at the maternity clinic early last month and had to 'feast' on the food that the hospital budget catering had to offer. The desserts were all nursery food and humble, and raisin fruit soup or kissel was served one night. Although the hospital version wasn't the best example of this dessert soup, it still brought back nostalgic food memories. Back home, one of the first dishes I cooked as a young mother, was this dessert soup/fruit soup/kissell (call what you like it). Pretty delicious, actually.

For best result, use different type of seedless raisins and currants. I used small yellow and large Californian raisins.

Raisin Fruit Soup
(Rosinakissell)
Serves 4



200 g seedless raisins
1.5 litres of water
sugar, to taste
1 cinnamon stick
3 Tbsp potato starch or cornstarch/cornflour

Wash the raisins and soak in a bowl of boiled water overnight (the latter is not absolutely necessary, but it shortens the cooking period).
Place raisins and water into a saucepan and bring into a boil. Season with sugar (careful here, as raisins are naturally sweet), throw in a cinnamon stick.
Simmer on a medium heat until raisins are all plump and softened.
Mix the starch with some cold water and pour into the raisin soup, whisking constantly to avoid clumps. If using potato starch, remove the saucepan from the heat the moment it starts to bubble lightly again. If using corn starch/cornflour, bring into a boil and simmer for couple of minutes.
Pour into dessert bowls and sprinkle some sugar on top.

Serve with whipped cream, curd/farmer's cheese cream or softened vanilla ice cream.

18 comments:

homemoma said...

we used to have dried fruit in it also - apricot mostly and prunes. or was it another kissell?

Anonymous said...

"we used to have dried fruit in it also - apricot mostly and prunes. or was it another kissell?"

Add dried apples, pears, prunes and figs, and cook it thicker. In Estonian it's named 'paks kissell' - probably it will be thick fruit soup in English.

Alanna Kellogg said...

I love all the fruit soups but raisin was always 'the' favorite. Great tip, yours, about mixing raisins.

Mrs. M. said...

My mom sometimes makes a fruit soup that's very similar. It's made with lots of dried fruit--apricots, plums, etc., and served with cooked rice and sour crema.

thepassionatecook said...

you just gotta love the name! rosinakissell... like being kissed by a raisin (which it probably doesn't mean, but it's nice to think it does).
i have never heard of anything like it before, but i was addicted to raisins as a kid, so i would have loved this very much!

Anonymous said...

Hey - would you believe this Rosinakissell's raisin fruit is actually called Kissmiss in Hindi language in India. Besides this of course the concoction looks to be delicious. Have to try it out.

Andrew said...

nice and simple - I'm guessing a mix of semi-dried fruits would work just as well - the only thing missing is a drop of alcohol!

Anonymous said...

Lovely! Like the use of raisins.

Annemarie said...

Guess hospital food everywhere is of the same style. :) Sounds very simple indeed, but I'll trust you if you say it's tasty and comforting.

Irene said...

I just discovered your blog - so happy! Love your recipes and photos (and congratulations on your new baby girl).

Tiina said...

Dried fruit soup with rice porridge is a traditional Finnish Christmas dessert. The soup recipe is like yours, but in addition to raisins we usually put in also prunes, dried apples, and apricots. It's very yummy, as I'm sure your raisin soup is too.:)

Lennuk said...

Heheheee, I have made lately couple of times "paks kompott" and everybody loves it!
I add dried raisins, apricots, prunes, figs.
With vanilla ice cream... I'm going for the second round for sure!

Anonymous said...

Brings back memories of all the kissells my vanaema used to make for dessert:

- rabarbari kissell (served with manna puder, my favourite)
- red currant kissell, served with cream
- kissell made with a package of mixed dried fruit (prunes, apricots, apples, raisins) served with whipped cream
- rosinakissell as per your recipe, usually served with whipped cream

pixen said...

yummmmmy, all those little floating raisins and mmm cinnamon.. all that would made my whole house so delicious... thank you for sharing the recipe!

Pille said...

Homemoma - that would be another kissell altogether!

Anon. - exactly. Though in our family we didn't use figs and called it simply "puuviljakissell" aka fruit kissell.

Alanna - oh, I'm just being fancy and sophisticated here :P

Yulinka - interesting to hear that you eat it with rice and sour cream. I might try that version one day..

Johanna - well, you could still try this? Unless you've gone off raisins as an adult..

Samantha - you can buy small yellow seedless and very sweet raisins here occasionally which are called kishmish - maybe it's the same grape variety?

Andrew - you could certainly use some wine to make a fancy version!!

Soma - thank you!

Annemarie - simple can be very good indeed..

Irene - glad you found your way here, and thank you for your good wishes.

Cinnamonda - we have that other fruit soup here in Estonia as well. It's a wintry dessert, but not necessarily a Christmas one..

Lennuk - ma pole viigimarjadega proovinud. Aga tegelikult pole paksu puuviljakisselli üldse tükk aega teinud. Olekski aeg..

Anon. - I've blogged about cranberry kissell here before, and rhubarb kissell was a staple in our household. Still is, actually :)

Pixen - it would indeed :)

Anonymous said...

Raisins are sweet to taste . The recipe you elaborated is really cool. I am going to try it.

suman
free satellite tv

Anonymous said...

kissell is a very delicious food without seeds.yummmmmmmy.
nyght

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Gill T. said...

I have here my grandmother's recipe, passed on by my mother, for fruit kissell. My mother lived in both Tehran and Odessa in her youth, and I believe this one came from the Ukrainian side of the family.
One pound of fruit (raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants etc.),
One pint of water, 5 ounces of sugar (or less to taste).
Sieve fruit. Measure juice and to each pint allow two ounces of cornflour. Mix the cornflour and a little cold water. Add to fruit. Stir over heat till it boils. Simmer for 10 minutes. Leave to become cold.
We always refrigerated it and blackcurrant kissell is the one I know best, but I am about to use some of our bumper redcurrant crop to make some! Delicious!
Gill T. in Wales.