Mormor's Krotakaker

This week I have been hangin withma granny! It has been lovely, because I have had absolutely no commitments; places to be, peopleto see, things to do. We picked blueberries, strawberries, watched the Norwegian version of "Ready Steady Cook", and ate home cooked meals. My grandmother has lived in the small town of 2000 people named Husnes on the Western coast of Norway for 45 years. The population exists thanks to an aluminium factory, which looks quite ugly in contrast to the beauty of the mountains and the fjords which surround it. My grandfather was a machine mechanic got a job in at the Aluminium factory before it even opened, they moved in to this sweet white house in March 1965.

Living in Perth my whole life, I haven’t experienced how it is to live in a small town. It hasbeen quite fun to hang around and soak up the small town vibe with my mother and my grandmother. Everywhere we go my Mum knows someone. At the shopping centre my Mum pointed out her old teachers, classmates, ect. At the cemetery she knew almost all the people, as we walked through the graves of people who has recently past away she would say “oh blah has died, I wonder how they died”. I had the opportunity to learn how to make my grandmother's famous recipe for krotekaker. It translates to "scroll cake", but in my opinion it is neither a scroll nor a cake. I think of it as a sort of cold crepe? strange concept. Anyways it is a traditional flatbread form the Hardanger region of Norway. It is soaked in water to make it into a soft pancake like thing, then you butter it, sprinkle sugar on it, roll it up and eat it. In the olden days, making krotekaker was an opportunity for the women in the village to gather, work together and share the gossip. Two people would roll the cakes and one person would cook them on a grill. Apparently my Grandmother was the delegated cook, as she wasn't good enough to roll the krotekaker into symmetrical discs. So here is her famous recipe, you need a crepe grill or some other large form of flat grill to make them. They are one of the culinary highlights I look forward to each time I visit Norway.

Krotakaker 

(makes 50, more than enough to last you the winter and share with the neighbours)

• 1L butter milk
• 1 kg fine rye flour
• 400g plain flour
• 200g sugar
• 200g butter
• 2tsp bicarb soda
• 1 tsp horn salt

• Rub butter into flour, then mix in all other ingredients until you get a nice smooth dough consistency.
• Refrigerate for half an hour.
• Roll dough into 60gram balls. Make sure you use a lot of flour to prevent them from sticking.
• Use a rolling pin to create "pancakes" 40cm in diameter. They should be as thin as possible.
• Carefully lay them on the pan, no oil or butter is needed as excess flour prevents them from sticking.
• Cook for 15 seconds on each side on medium heat.

The krotakaker should dry into crisp flat bread. To serve they need to be run under water and then left under a wet cloth for about 10 minutes. They are then cut into quarters and served with breakfast, rolled up, with butter and sugar inside.