Zeljanica, a traditional recipe. This is my favorite vegetable pie, my mom still makes it today.
My mother was born in Herzegovina in Berkovići, she says that it was hard to live there. Eight other siblings grew up with her, my grandmother Ikonija and great-grandmother Anđa. In 1962, she came to Vojvodina to Stepanovićevo and took with her a part of her homeland, and after so many years of living in this area, she still speaks Jakavica. This is my favorite vegetable pie, my mom still makes it today. My mother's mother, Ikonija, made a slightly different version, there was no spinach and Swiss chard, but the tanner was chopped.
What is tanning?
Tanvelj is a plant that, like a weed, is present everywhere, but also on arable land. It is an invasive weed that spreads quickly and takes up a lot of space. It is a plant that has been used in folk medicine and gastronomy since ancient times. Tanner leaves have a pleasant, sour taste and appear in early spring.
Instead of white flour, they used corn flour, instead of sour cream, eggs were sometimes added when there were some, instead of sour yogurt, but that's why there was always plenty of cheese, both cow and sheep. Especially the cheese from the machine. Nothing was measured, they didn't even have a scale, everything was approximate and it always turned out great.
This is the version of my mother Mirjana's wish list, which she adapted to life in Vojvodina.
Vegetables, ingredients:
- 3 eggs,
- 1 cup of oil,
- 300 g of cheese,
- 2 dl sour cream,
- 300 g of Swiss chard or spinach,
- salt to taste
- 2 dl yogurt,
- 1/2 cube of yeast and
- enough flour so that the mixture is neither very thick nor thin (I put about 500 gr)
Vegetables, preparation:
- Chop Swiss chard, beat eggs, add sour cream, cheese, yogurt, salt, yeast and finally flour.
- Mix everything well, grease the pan, pour the mixture and bake in a heated oven, until nicely browned.
Verica Poznanović
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