My uncle bakes the best original proja I've ever tasted. Pyrotic thirst is incredibly soft and delicious and it's really hard to get corn dough with such a soft texture.
My mother still keeps the handwritten recipe as a souvenir and we all love this specialty of my uncle's served for dinner, with a cup of good yogurt. Pirotska proja, served with good cheese, or with thin slices of fat, is truly divine, especially if it is still hot!
This time I prepared for you a kind of very, very rustic recipe for proja. This recipe is from an old cookbook written by Serbian author Spasenija Pata Marković.
The recipe is very simple and is composed of traditional ingredients, which are not used very often nowadays, but the flavors are real and should be rediscovered.
This post would be very poor without pictures, so I went to the village to find corn left over from last year's harvest. I "stole" some leftover corn cobs from the wet ground, so this time the composition of my pictures is very rustic.
My advice is to serve it hot, or keep it hot, because it hardens quickly and the taste of corn is more intense when it is warm...
PYROTIC PROYA
For a tray with a diameter of 24 cm
- 250 ml of cold water
- 1 whole egg
- so
- 150 g of fine corn flour
- 50 g mixed flour for buckwheat polenta (corn and buckwheat)
- 1,5 teaspoons of lard
- fresh cow's cheese
Mix water, egg and salt in a bowl. Gradually add first the flour for the buckwheat polenta to the liquid, and then the corn flour. The mass should not be too thick.
Grease the baking tray well with cold lard and pour the proje mass so that it is the thickness of one finger. Add fresh cow's cheese on top and bake in an oven heated to 200°C. When the mass hardens a little, prick the surface with a fork and coat it with a little more fat.
Continue baking until the cheese and prosciutto are golden brown. If the cheese remains on the surface, it will brown faster, and the cheese will remain less brown.
Serve while warm, preferably with yogurt.
ENGLISH
PROJA FROM PIROT
For baking tray with diameter 24cm
- 250 ml of cold water
- 1 whole egg
- salt
- 150 g fine cornmeal
- 50 gr mixture for cornmeal and buckwheat mush
- 1,5 tablespoons of lard fat
- fresh cottage cheese
In the bowl mix water, egg and salt. Little-by-little add first the mixture for cornmeal and buckwheat mush and then the cornmeal. The mixture should not result too dense.
Grease the baking tray richly with the lard fat and add the cornmeal mixture into it to get one-finger high "proja". Add some cheese on top and bake in a preheated oven at 200°C. When it thickens a bit, make some holes with the fork and add some more lard fat on top of "proja".
Continue baking until golden brown. If the cheese remains on the top it will get colored first and the "proja" will remain less colored.
Serve it hot, it's perfect with yogurt.
ITALIAN
PROJA DI PIROTO
Per la teglia diameter 24cm
- 250 ml of cold water
- 1 whole egg
- sale
- 150 gr of fine corn flour
- 50 gr di polenta taragna (misto di polenta di mais e grano saraceno)
- 1,5 spoons of strutto
- formaggio fresco tipo fiocchi di latte o feta
In una coccella mescolare l'acqua, l'uovo ed il sale. Gradualmente aggiente nel liquido la polenta taragna e poi la farina di mais. L'impasto non deve risultare troppo denso.
Ungere bene la teglia con lo strutto e versare nella teglia l'impasto spesso un dito. Sulla superficie sistemare il formaggio (se usate il formaggio feta aggiunete meno sale nell'impasto!) and infornare a 200°C (nel forno già caldo). Quando l'impasto become solido praticare qualche foro con la forketta e spalmare la superficie dell'impasto con un altro po' di strutto.
Continuare la cottura fino a quando il formaggio e la "proja" diventeranno dorati. Se il formaggio rimane sulla superficie will become dorato prima della “proja” che risulterà meno colorata.
Serve caldo, preferably with yogurt.
Source: Aleksandra Gorek, blog Vanilla&Staubzucker, who owns the copyright. All copyrights reserved, All rights reserved
Prepared by Miodrag Ilić for the Recipes and cookbook online portal.
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