Mrs. Curin (Head of the U3A Department, of the Public Open Univeristy Zagreb) proposed to try and gather some of the old recipes that use old bread. In Croatia, as we imagine in Germany, we try not to throw away old bread but find another way of bringing life to it. And, on Sunday we got the first recipe that we hope you’ll like. The recipe, story and the photos are all by Mrs. Ljiljana Vezmar.

In Croatia, as probably in many other countries, we were raised never to throw away the bread. Even if it were old we would find the way to use it. So, this is a recipe of a meal my mother use to make to us when I was a little girl, and I make it still today. The name of the dish is popara but my grandchildren call this meal grandma and grandpa’s pizza.

Pour some water into the pan and add olive oil (not much). Cut old bread into the cubicles. When water boils add bread into it and stir well until the bread has soaked up all the water and then leave it for a few minutes so that it gets a crust. In the end grate some cheese on it (I usually use tilzit). My mother made it without the cheese because sometimes we just couldn’t afford it. If you want to you can add some cottage cheese but my husband and I, prefer it like this.

It’s a very simple and yet very delicious meal.

Greetings from Zagreb,

Ljiljana Vezmar (English conversation group)

Photo by Ljiljana Vezmar

U Hrvatskoj, kao vjerojatno i u mnogim drugim zemljama, odgojeni smo tako da nikada ne bacamo kruh. Čak i kada je star, pronađemo neki način kako ga iskoristiti.

Ovo je recept za jelo, kojega je moja mama znala raditi kada sam bila dijete, a ja ga radim još i danas. Jelo se zove popara, a moji unuci ovo jelo zovu bakina i djedova pizza.

Popara

U tavu naspite vodu i dodajte malo maslinova ulja. Narežite stari kruh na kockice. Kada voda u tavi prokuha dodajte kruh i stalno miješajte. Kada kruh upije vodu, ostavite ga još malo u tavi dok ne dobije koricu. Na kraju naribajte sir po vrhu (ja obično koristim tilzit). Moja majka je ovo jelo radila bez sira jer si nekada jednostavno nismo mogli priuštiti sir. Možete staviti i svježi sir, ako želite, ali moj suprug i ja više volimo ovako.

Ovo je jednostavno, a istovremeno jako ukusno jelo.

Pozdrav iz Zagreba,

Ljiljana Vezmar (polaznica pričaonice engleskog jezika)

Photo: Ljiljana Vezmar

 Slovene language

Popara je babičnina in dedkova pizza

Na Hrvaškem – verjetno je tako tudi drugod – so nas vzgojili tako, da kruha nikoli ne mečemo proč. Tudi če je kruh star in posušen, najdemo način, da ga uporabimo.

Ta recept je moja mama uporabljala, ko se jaz bila še majhna. Zdaj ga uporabljam tudi sama. Jed se imenuje popara, moji vnuki pa jo imenujejo kar babičina in dedkova pizza.

Takole gre. V posodo nalijte vode in malo olivnega olja. Star kruh narežite na kockice. Ko voda v posodi zavre, dodajte kruh in pri tem ves čas mešajte. Ko kruh vpije vodo, ga še malo pustite, da vpije preostalo vodo in pustite, da se naredi skorjica. Na koncu naribajte sir in ga potresite po kruhu. Mama je to jed delala brez sira, ker si nekoč sira nismo mogli privoščiti. Lahko uporabite tudi sveži sir, a midva z možem imava raje riban sir. Ta jed je preprosta, a zelo okusna.

Pozdrav iz Zagreba,

Ljiljana Vezmar (študentka angleške konverzacije na UTŽO Zagreb)