Strawberry kissel

Kissel (Polish: kisiel) is a fruit juice thickened with potato or corn starch. Its origin is Russian, but as it happens with food it is widely spread in Eastern Europe. Kissel is a simple dessert, that could be made with almost no effort, as it uses fruits it is healthy one, so it is considered to be perfect kids dessert.

There is a family story of my cousin who during his student time, when he was short on money (so very often), he would eat only kissel with grated apples for weeks. Before you conclude that he was good cook as he at least could make kissel I will stop you there, as you can actually buy instant kissel, so he actually didn’t need any kitchen skills. I don’t think he likes kissel anymore…

As usual I will give you more like directions than strict recipe. Kissel can be made with any type of fruits. Depending on liking it can be either very diluted (then it is served as a drink) or a little bit stiffer (more like custard, but not as stiff as jelly!) and served as a dessert with optional some cream or yoghurt on side.

I totally see you adding it as one layer of trifle, but to be fair I’ve never ate or made one so I’m not sure if that’s allowed.

Traditionally kissel is served clear, with no fruits, so if you prefer it this way, just drain fruits before adding in the starch

 

• 300g strawberries
• 4 tsp sugar
• 250ml + 50ml cold water
• 4 tsp potato starch or corn starch

Place the strawberries, sugar and 250ml of the water in a medium size saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and cook for around 10 to 15 minutes.

In a small bowl add in the potato or corn starch and stir in the remaining 50ml water. Stir in until there is no lumps.

Whisk the mixture into the simmering strawberry mixture and bring to a boil.

Simmer for a 5 minutes until the mixture thickens a bit.

If you want to get slightly thicker consistency just dilute more starch with water and add it in.

Pour it into serving dishes and let it cool.

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