Thursday 9 December 2010

Rice pudding- Tomtegröt - Risgrynsgröt

In Sweden, the tradition of elves goes far back in time. In the olden days they believed that elves helped out around the house and the barn, stable etc commonly known as a "house elf", hustomte. Making sure the animals were happy, crops grew and cup boards were full. But in return, it was important to look after the house elf, or else he would get up to mischief. And he could be a very grumpy so and so. One way to stay on the good side of him was to give him rice pudding, tomtegröt on Christmas eve. But you had to make sure to put a big dollop of butter in the middle, because that's the way he liked it.
And the Santa that comes on Christmas eve ( the main day of our Christmas celebration) has his roots in that old tradition. Less Disney and "coca-colafied", if you know what I mean.
The YouTube clip is of a story called "The Tomten" and shows how hustomten is looking after all the animals at the homestead.
And if you want to make some tomtegröt for your "hustomte" this Christmas, or treat the people that you love. This is how you make it:

Tomtegröt  6.port

  • 3 dl pudding rice
  • 5 1/2 dl water
  • 1 tablespoon of butter
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 10dl (1 litre) full fat milk
  • Cinnamon stick (can be left out, if preferred)
Boil the rice, water and butter for 10 minutes.
Add the milk, the cinnamon stick and the salt, and simmer for 3/4 of an hour-1 hour. Stir occasionally.
To make a "de luxe" version add a splash of cream when you add the milk.
The tomtegröt is traditionally eaten with a tablespoon of golden syrup or a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar ( only hustomten likes butter on his tomtegröt). Some like it with a splash of milk, but I prefer it without. However, a cup of glögg wouldn't go a miss ;-)
Enjoy! 

Rice Pudding on FoodistaRice Pudding

3 comments:

  1. Haha, vilket sammanträffande! Jag har precis kokat färdigt en kastrull risgrynsgröt, när jag satte mig och läste det här. Nu ska jag göra saffranspannkaka av en del, en efterrätt som vi gärna äter till jul.
    Ha det gott! /Faster Tine

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  2. I haven't heard of house elves since I was a child, a big thing in my great grandmother's house, I have to relay this to my family. I think this is a tradition we should re-visit ourselves.

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  3. What a wonderful post.I came across your site from the foodieblogroll and I'd love to guide Foodista readers to your site. I hope you could add this rice pudding widget at the end of this post so we could add you in our list of food bloggers who blogged about rice pudding,Thanks!

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