In Finnish cuisine, rosolli is a salad eaten mostly as a cold side dish, in particular as part of the traditional Finnish Christmas meal.
Overview
Rosolli is made of cooked, diced root vegetables, especially
beetroot,
carrot and
potato, often combined with one or more of
pickled cucumber (of either the vinegar or brine type), raw
onion and
apple. Variations may also include additional ingredients such as
pickled herring or boiled egg, in which case the salad is more likely served as a starter (appetizer) rather than a side dish to a main course.
Rosolli is often served with a dressing made of whipped cream or a soured cream product available in Finland called kermaviili (being a type of viili made with sour cream), laced with vinegar or the pickling liquid of beetroot, which also colours the cream pink.
Similar dishes are found throughout northern Europe, from the Low Countries across Scandinavia to Russia. Especially the Russian vinegret is very similar to the Finnish rosolli.
Etymology
According to some sources, the word
rosolli comes from the Russian word
rassol, meaning brine, although it is not known how this came to refer to the dish in question.
In western Finland, alternative terms such as
punainen salaatti (literally "red salad", rendered dialectically) or
sinsalla (probably from the Swedish word
sillsallad, for "
herring salad") are traditionally used.
See also
External links
