Sveler from the West coast of Norway

[NorwayUnn]

Svele (sing. svele, plu. sveler) is the favourite snack on ferries in the county of Møre and Romsdal, where I live. If you have ancestors from this part of Norway and want to 'go ethnic', sveler is an excellent choice. So what is svele ? An American once called it "The Mother of All Pancakes", and while certainly not part of Norwegian tradition, maple syrup and sveler mix very well. In Norway sveler are served with a spread of sugar and good butter.


4 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp sodium bicarbonate (E500)
1 tsp salt of hartshorn (E503)

1/4 tsp salt
3 1/4 cups flour
1 litre kefir (if you can not find kefir milk in the store, I guess you may use butter milk, but kefir is in the original recipe)



Place sugar and eggs in a bowl and whisk vigorously until foamy.
Pour 'two fingers' of kefir in two glasses. Dissolve rising agents, each in one glass, and leave to rise while preparing the rest of the batter .
Add kefir and flour, a little a time, to the egg/sugar mix. Finally add the two glasses of kefir/rising agent and mix until smooth.
Leave the batter to settle for a minute or five before cooking. Makes about 30 sveler.

 

[soblessed53]

Hi Unni what is,salt of hartshorn (E503),?

 

[soblessed53]

and what do the numbers stand for after the soda bicarbonate[we call it simply baking soda here],and after the salt of hatshorn? I think "the mother of all pancakes" is an apt desctiption,judging by the photo,LOL!

 

[NorwayUnn]

Lol lol, I don't know the American who called the svele The Mother of all Pancakes .. hehe, but the sveler are so very tasty and light and kind of a bit spongy.

I found something on the internet to explain what hartshorn is:

quote:

"Hartshorn was formerly used to leaven small and flat baked items, like cookies, and it is often mentioned in old Scandinavian and German baking recipes. Also used for medicinal purposes, hartshorn was made from oil of hartshorn, obtained from deer antlers by dry distillation. Nowadays hartshorn is produced commercially, consisting mainly of ammonium carbonates (E503). Hartshorn is also known as hartshorn salt, ammonium bicarbonate and baker's ammonia."

unquote

Hope that will help you understand what hartshorn is. We call it hjortesalt in Norwegian, just for the record, lol.

There is also a certain way to hold the svele when you eat it, called ''the svele grip'', but I won't explain it here, lol. I guess it tastes great no matter how you hold it.

p.s. the "E..." is just that it is an artificial additive that is accepted by the European standard. Guess it doesn't matter in the USA, lol.

 

[NorwayUnn]

It is very strict in Norway of what is allowed and not of artificial food additives, especially food colors. All these additives has an E and a Number, according to the European standard.

here is a link for you, sis http://www.foodlaw.rdg.ac.uk/additive.htm

 

[soblessed53]

Wow,you know I thought hart[a type of deer,horn,antler]but thought no-way,LOL! I have never heard of baker's amonia,or ammonium bicarbonate. So I doubt if this could even be obtained in the U.S.,but that is so interesting.It is really interesting how additives to food products in Europe are listed by numbers,here they are listed by names that hardly anyone can pronounce or have no clue to what they are anyway,LOL! Having such fun sharing cultures with you, and the link would be handy to anyone considering an extended or permanent stay in Europe. Thank You,Sis

 

[kleptobismol]

maybe its baking soda?

 

[NorwayUnn]

It is definitely not ordinary baking soda. It has a distinct smell of ammonia when the baked goods are still hot. Svele is supposed to be eaten cold with real good butter and sugar.