Hot summer days in Austria. I am more or less melting while working in the garden. Unfortunately, the heat does not melt off the accumulated winter fat 😉 Peonies are blooming so beautifully and kiwi is going crazy too.

I got rhubarb from my friend again, and I wondered what I could do with it? It is far too hot to bake! Then I remembered one of my childhood favorites! Whipped lingonberry porridge: Grandmother used to make it often. I thought I must try how it turns out if I use rhubarb! Well, it turned out great. Light and tasty! Low calories but still filling. To make it a bit better, I made a cold strawberry kissel that crowned the whole thing. Yummy!

Kissel is a soup-like dessert made with potato starch and berries or fruits. Kissel or kisel (Estonian: kissell, Finnish: kiisseli, Livonian: kīsõl, Latgalian: keiseļs, Latvian: ķīselis, Lithuanian: kisielius, Polish: kisiel, Russian: кисель, tr. kiselʼ, Ukrainian: кисiль, Belarusian: кісель) is a simple dish with the consistency of a thick gel. It belongs to the group of cold-solidified desserts, although it can be served warm.

If the kissel is made less gel-like, it can be drunk. This is common in Poland, Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. In Finland it is called mehukeitto.

Here is the recipe for the both:

Whipped Rhubarb porridge

• 1 l water
• 1 tsp cardamom
• 1 tsp vanilla sugar (or more if you like)
• 400g rhubarb cut and skinned (fresh, frozen)
• 1dl sugar (or to taste)
• pinch of salt
• 150 ml semolina, I used Kamut semolina

1. Boil the water, add the rhubarb, and let it simmer as long as they become soft and fall apart (about 15 minutes).
2. Add sugar, salt, and the semolina while mixing. Let the bubble bubble for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally until the mixture seems thick enough. Be careful because this porridge tends to burn and stick to the bottom of the pot easily!
3. Take off from the stove and let the porridge cool down. Whip the cooled-down porridge with a mixer until the volume doubles. This takes about five minutes. The longer you whip, the fluffier the result will be.
4. Scoop the porridge into the serving bowls and place in the fridge.

Meanwhile, prepare the strawberry kissel.

Strawberry kissel

400g strawberries
500ml water
50g sugar
3 tbsp potato starch or corn flour
2-3 tbsp cold water

1. Place the frozen or fresh strawberries, water and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil without stirring.

2. Mix the potato flour and water in a small bowl and add the paste (stirring slowly) into the berry mixture. Let the soup come “to bubble”, and then take off the heat. With your immersion blender, blend the strawberries into a fine puree. Let it cool!

To assemble, scoop strawberry kissel over the whipped rhubarb porridge and place it in the fridge for about one hour. Serve as dessert or as a light meal. If you like, you could also add some whipped cream, vanilla sauce, or even vanilla ice cream.

I hope you will enjoy my recipe!

Note: The strawberry soup and the whipped rhubarb porridge are also great served separately. Strawberry soup is also really good diet food and tastes great with müsli or yogurt. For the whipped porridge and also for the cold soup, you can use whatever fruits you like. In Finland very common for the soup is bilberry and then the whipped porridge is made into milk when served.