Elements » Yugoslavian

Projara (Extremely Moist Yugoslavian Cornbread with Yogurt and Mineral Water)

Sheila — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 20:44:26 +0000

Projara is an extremely moist Yugoslavian cornbread that Kemal grew up eating.

We’ve made it before, but the recipe we used called for both feta cheese and yogurt and wasn’t made with mineral water. It was very good, but it’s not how Kemal’s mother made it. Click here if you want to see the other version of projara that we made.

This morning, I made projara with mineral water and yogurt which is how Kemal’s mother made it, and I have to tell you that it turned out great!!

It’s extremely moist and the really like the tangy flavor that the yogurt gives the bread.

Of the two ways I made projara, Kemal and I both prefer this version because of the rich yogurt flavor. Give it a try sometime and see for yourself. And by the way, the bread really is this yellow.

I think it’s so pretty!!

Projara (Extremely Moist Yugoslavian Cornbread with Yogurt and Mineral Water)

Adapted from: www.wikipedia.org

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups cornmeal
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
2 large eggs, beaten
3/4 cups vegetable oil
2 cups plain yogurt
1 cup mineral water
2 tbsp. salted butter, melted
2 tsp. salt

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Melt 2 tbsp. of salted butter.
Use half of the melted butter to grease a 9 inch x 5 inch loaf pan.
In a medium sized bowl, mix together the cornmeal, the self-rising flour, and the salt.
In a separate medium sized bowl, beat the eggs.
Add the oil, yogurt, 1 tbsp. melted butter, and the mineral water to the eggs.
Whisk the wet ingredients until everything is mixed well.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.
Stir until all the ingredients are incorporated, but don’t over-mix.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake uncovered in the center rack of your oven for about 50 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
Then cover the cornbread with aluminum foil and baked for an additional 20-25 minutes.
You’ll know the bread is done when you insert a toothpick and/or cake tester and it comes out clean.
Let cool a little before slicing.
Refrigerate after it has cooled.

Potato Pita (Krompirusa)

Sheila — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:34:59 +0000

One of my favorite meals (and Kemal’s too) is a popular Yugoslavian meal called Krompirusa (krom-pee-rue-sha). Kemal translates it into English by calling it potato pita. It can be enjoyed for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and can be eaten with or without yogurt.

Potato pita is a very simple dish with few ingredients, and it’s definitely one of my favorite meals. It’s a comfort food…soft, buttery potatoes surrounded by a flaky filo pastry shell. It’s not a heavy meal at all, and my stomach always purrs after eating it. It’s very simple to make, and if you’re potato lovers like we are, you’re going to make this again and again. Are you ready to fall head-over-heals?

Potato Pita (Krompirusa)

Ingredients:

filo dough (one 16 oz. package)
potatoes, 5 large
onions, 3 small
butter (or olive oil)
salt to taste
pepper to taste

Instructions:

Remove the filo dough from the freezer several hours before you’re ready to cook. Leave it on your counter top for about 30 minutes and then put it in the refrigerator to thaw out slowly.
When you’re ready to cook, grease your baking pan with butter.
Wash and peel your potatoes.
Then grate the potatoes on a metal vegetable grater.
Now you want to squeeze all the excess water out of the potatoes by picking up a handful of grated potatoes and squeezing the water out of it. You can do this over the sink if you like, and after squeezing the potatoes put them in large bowl.
Peel your onions and dice them into small pieces, adding the onion to the bowl of shredded potatoes.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Melt some butter in a small sauce pan add some to the potatoes and onions while keeping some of it aside for brushing your pan and the filo. (It’s up to you how much you want to add to the potatoes and onions. We are very generous with the butter because it adds a lot of taste.)
Mix the butter into the potatoes and onions.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Brush your baking pan with some of the butter you melted. I used a 12 inch by 17 inch pan.
Remove the filo dough from the refrigerator, and after you unwrap it, roll it out on your counter top.
Now that you have your filo dough rolled out on the counter, brush the top sheet generously with butter.
Now you’re going grab a handful of the raw potato mixture and sprinkle it down the middle of the filo. (Don’t put the potatoes right on the edges; leave about an inch on each side empty.) How much you want to put on your filo sheet is up to you, but in general, it’s better if you don’t over-stuff it, so if you just use a handful, that should be fine.
Then you fold the filo sheet in half and roll it into a snake shape if you like. If you prefer, you can just leave it rolled without the snake shape. Click here to see a 1-minute video that will show you how to stuff and roll your pita. The pita that’s being made in the video is meat pita (burek). She made her dough from scratch…something I still haven’t tried yet. Anyway, you make stuff and roll the potato pita by using the same technique shown in the video. You can see how easy it is.
Now, place the stuffed and rolled pita into the greased baking pan.
Repeat the process, sprinkling the potato mixture on the remaining filo dough sheet and then roll them like you did the first one.
When you’ve finished, brush the tops of all the filo dough with melted butter.
Bake covered for about 30 minutes.
Then uncover and cook until the filo pastry is golden brown.
While the potato pita is baking uncovered, you want to occasionally moisten it so it doesn’t dry out. I use a plastic water bottle that’s used for misting plants. Fill the bottle with water, and then mist the pita by spraying a little water on it. If you don’t have a plastic spray bottle, just sprinkle a little water on it with your fingers.
When the pita is golden brown, remove it from the oven and let it cool for about 15 minutes. Then cut the pita and enjoy either warm or cold.

Sampita

Sheila — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:48:12 +0000

Sampita (pronounced sham-pee-tah) is a popular cake in Yugoslavian cuisine. Kemal said his mother used to make it, and it was his favorite cake. He hasn’t had it since he came to the United States so I wanted to make it for him. It was easy to make and it certainly is delicious.

I will pass along the recipe to you, but please do keep in mind that this Yugoslavian cake is made with raw egg whites.

Disclaimer: There is a risk of Salmonella food poisoning when consuming raw eggs or undercooked eggs, and that risk may be higher in children, the elderly, people with compromised immune systems, pregnant women, or nursing mothers. If you are concerned about using raw egg products because of the risk of Salmonella poisoning, please do not prepare this cake (or any other recipe) with raw eggs. You can use meringue powder or dried egg white powder instead.

Sampita (Recipe Source: Coolinarika.com)

Cake Ingredients:

10 egg yolks
10 tbsp. sugar
1 pkg. vanilla sugar (If you don’t have vanilla sugar, just add a tbsp. of vanilla and an extra tbsp. of sugar)
5 tbsp. milk
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
8 tbsp. flour
2 tsp. baking powder

Cream Ingredients:

10 egg whites (to avoid any risk of Salmonella food poisoning, you can use meringue powder or dried egg white powder)
pinch of salt
4 cups sugar
1 pkg. vanilla sugar (you can substitute with a tbsp. of vanilla if you don’t have vanilla sugar on hand)
water (small amount)

Step One: Making the Cake:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Separate your eggs, putting your egg yolks in a large mixing bowl.
Put your egg whites aside in a glass or stainless steel bowl and let them come to room temperature for about 20 minutes (the egg whites will foam higher if they’re not extremely cold)
With an electric mixer, mix the egg yolks and both sugars together.
Add the milk and oil to the egg yolks and sugar, mixing together on a very low speed.
Mix the flour and baking powder together in a small bowl.
Add the flour and baking powder, one spoon at a time to the eggs/sugar/milk/oil mixture, mixing on a slow speed.
Oil and flour your baking pan. I used a 10-inch springform pan.
Pour the batter in your springform pan and bake it until it’s golden brown.

Step Two: Making the Cream Topping

Beat the egg whites, along with the pinch of salt, until the egg whites are firm.
When that’s done, set your egg whites aside and make a syrupy mixture (sugar and water) that you’ll add to the egg whites. If you have someone to help you, you can beat the egg whites while your assistant makes the syrupy mixture.
Put in a small sauce pan the 4 cups of sugar and a little water…barely enough to cover the sugar. Cook that until the sugar dissolves (about 5-6 minutes). It should the consistency of syrup when it’s warm.
Take your hot sugar/water mixture that you just made and slowly pour a little of it in your beaten egg whites.
Beat the egg whites and sugar water.
While you’re continuing to beat the mixture, add more of the syrupy mixture to the egg whites, beating constantly. If you have someone to help you, you can ask your assistant to the pour the syrupy mixture into the egg whites while you beat.
After you’ve added all the sugar/water mixture to the egg whites, keep beating the egg white cream until it becomes cooler…closer to room temperature.
You will know you’re done beating when you can take a spoon of the egg white cream, turn it upside down, and it doesn’t fall off the spoon or drip off the spoon.
When the cream is done, pour it over the cooled cake and spread it out evenly over the cake.
Refrigerate for 8 to 24 hours. The cake will be very moist.
Optional Step: You can decorate the top of the cake with sugar sprinkles, chocolate sprinkles, or cinnamon. We decorated the top of ours with a European drinking chocolate…Moroccan Spice.

Here’s a picture of the cake we made after it sat in the refrigerator for about 13 hours. Note: The recipe will make two cakes like this. We actually cut the recipe above in half because we only need a small cake for the two of us. This cake is actually way too big for the two of us. I have no idea how we’re going to eat it all! I think we will try to freeze part of it so we can enjoy the rest of the cake in a week or two.

As far as texture is concerned, it’s a light and airy cake that very moist. It’s sweet, but I don’t find it heavy on my stomach. Of course, I didn’t eat a lot of it at once. Now that’s not to say I didn’t want to…I had to resist the temptation to eat too much of it. It’s very delicious, and I’m certainly looking forward to making it again.

Moussaka (Greek version)

Sheila — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:28:55 +0000

Moussaka is a popular meal in the Middle East and the Balkans. It’s basically a vegetable casserole that’s layered like a lasagna but isn’t made with pasta but rather vegetables instead. I’ve tried many moussaka recipes, all of which were meatless; however, some recipes I’ve seen call for ground lamb or ground beef.

My husband, Kemal, a native of the former Yugoslavia, introduced me to this wonderful vegetable entree many years ago. The recipe varies from region to region, but regardless of how it’s made, I never met a moussaka I didn’t love!

The Yugoslavian version of moussaka that my husband and I make is a little different from the Greek version that we prepared last week. The Yugoslavian version that my husband makes is prepared with potatoes, zucchini, tomatoes, and eggs, while the Greek version is made with eggplant, chickpeas, lentils, feta cheese, and yogurt.

Even the regional recipes vary. Some Greek versions of moussaka are made with lamb and eggplant and are prepared without legumes, and the Yugoslavian versions are also prepared in different ways as well. Whenever I think about all the different recipes for moussaka, I think about chili and how chili is made many different ways and has different ingredients, depending on who makes it.

Here’s a picture Kemal took last week right after it came out of the oven. It makes a huge pan, and makes about six to eight servings.

Vegetable Moussaka (Adapted from: “The Complete Book of Greek Cooking” by Rena Salaman & Jan Cutler, page 174, Anness Publishing Ltd. 2005, 2008)

Djuvec (Baked Vegetable Casserole)

Sheila — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 05:29:34 +0000

Djuvec is a popular Yugoslavian entree which can be made with or without meat. My friend, Vesna, made this the other night at dinner, and it was so delicious that I asked her for the recipe so I could make it at home. She made hers without meat, and so did I since both Kemal and I prefer more beans and vegetables and don’t really eat that much meat.

Besides being incredibly nutritious, djuvec also tastes wonderful! You can eat it as the main course, or you can also serve it as an accompaniment to a meat dish. Either way, you’re going to love it!

Djuvec (Baked Vegetable Casserole)

Ingredients:

1 onion
1 carrot
2 celery stalks
3 bell peppers, each a different color (you can use all the same color, but it’s more visually appealing with all the different colors. I used yellow, red, and orange peppers.)
2 medium-size zucchini
3 potatoes
1 can diced petite tomatoes (or you can use fresh cherry tomatoes instead like I did.
1/2 cup rice
1-2 tbsp. olive oil
Vegeta (you can use other spices of your preference if you don’t have Vegeta.)
water
parsley
black pepper
Optional: eggplant

Note: If you make this with eggplant, soak the eggplant in salt water for about 15 minutes so it’s less bitter.

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan with olive oil.
Clean all your vegetables.
Slice the carrots into thin rounds. You can peel the carrots if you like, but I prefer to eat the skins since they’re so nutritious.
Dice the onion, and cut your peppers into strips about 4 cm. long.
Cut the celery into small pieces (about 1 1/2 cm. long)
Put 1 to 2 tbsp. of olive oil in a large pan or pot. (I used 2 tbsp while Vesna used just 1 tbsp. It all depends what you prefer.)
Take all the vegetables you just sliced and cut and put them in the pan for about 10 to 15 minutes on medium well heat. If you make your djuvec with eggplant, add the eggplant with the other veggies.
Reduce the heat to medium after 5 minutes and stir frequently.
While the veggies are cooking in the pan, dice the potatoes into small pieces. You can peel the potatoes first if you like, but I don’t because the skins are so nutritious.
Add the potatoes to the pan/pot after the carrots/onion/peppers/celery have cooked for 15 minutes.
Add some water and your diced or fresh tomatoes. I added about a cup of water, but you can a little more or less. Cook for 15 minutes.
Slice the zucchini into thin slices while the veggies are on the stove, and then add the rice and zucchini after the veggies have cooked for 15 minutes.
Add more water as necessary, and cook for another 15 minutes.
Add Vegeta, parsley, and pepper to taste.
Pour the mixture into the greased 9 x 13 inch pan, adding a little water (maybe 1/2 cup to 1 cup).

Here’s what my djuvec looked like when the vegetables were cooked and ready to be baked. The potatoes were about half cooked.

Bake on 350 degrees approximately 45 minutes or until the water evaporates.

Note: I baked my djuvec 1 1/2 hours and the water still wasn’t evaporated. Apparently I added too much water, so I just used a ladle to remove some of the juice after I took it out of the oven. I kept the juice I removed and then added it back the next day after it sat in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

We’re still enjoying the leftover djuvec, and I’ll definitely make this again. Kemal said that he would like to have more potatoes in it when I make it again, so I’ll probably make it with five potatoes next time. I also made some rosemary flat bread to go along with the djuvec, and it matches perfectly, especially when you dip it in the juices of the djuvec. Yummmmmmmm!