JotaJota

Description

Today we are making a typical Slovenian dish. Jota is a warm thick soup. It is a typical dish of the western Slovenia. The name comes from the Friulian word »jota«, which comes from the Gaelic word for soup – »iutta«.

The basic ingredients are beans, potatoes, sauerkraut, dried pork meat, and spices (garlic, bay leaf, salt, and pepper). A proper jota must be thick. We achieve this by cooking beans and potatoes a long time until they start falling apart. In some places it is customary to tear the bread into small pieces, place it into a plate, cover it with jota, and drizzle it with olive-pomace olive oil.

Jota is served warm in winter and cold in summer.

RECIPE

Ingredients for 4 persons

500 g of sauerkraut

200 g of potatoes

300 g brown beans

1 teaspoon salt

2 bay leaves

5 grains of black pepper

20 g flour

1 onion

3 cloves garlic

2 sausages

Inspect the beans, wash them under running water, pour them in a big bowl and add enough cold water to cover the beans and have at least four fingers of water above the beans. Beans that do not sink to the bottom of the bowl get discarded. Soak the beans for at least 8 hours or overnight, which is the preferred method.

When they are done soaking, cook the beans for 15 minutes in the water in which they were soaking. Then change the water and cook the beans for another 30 minutes. The beans should remain a little hard, because they will be later added to the jota and should not overcook. We only add salt to the beans when they are cooked!

Put the sauerkraut in the pot, add the bay leaf, salt, and a few grains of black pepper. Add water and cook for about 50 minutes. Drain the cooked sauerkraut and save five tablespoons of the liquid.

Peel, wash, and cut the potatoes into small pieces. Put the potatoes in the pot, add cold water and salt and cook for 15 minutes. Drain the boiled potatoes.

In a large pot combine the cooked beans, water, drained potatoes, sauerkraut, and the saved liquid. Add salt if needed and cook for another ten minutes. Boil the water for the sausages and cook them in it for 15 minutes. Cut the sausages into rings. Peel and chop the onion and garlic. Fry the onion in a pan, sprinkle with flour, and add the sausage and garlic. Mix everything well. Stir the mixture into the already cooked jota and serve.

Intention

I come from the other end of Slovenia and when I moved in with my husband and his family 45 years ago, cooking jota was part of the challenges of getting used to a new household. For many years I left the cooking to my mother-in-law because I was afraid that the jota would not be good enough and also because it was easier that way. Now that my children are grown-ups and I also have a granddaughter, I enjoy cooking jota and I often make an updated, more modern and healthier version without flour. Jota is a very healthy, hearthy and filling dish as well as budget friendly. So we cook it many times, especially in winter. Maybe in a while I will change my mind and also make it in the summer as well. But for now, for me, it remains a typical winter dish. It would be nice to have a collection of as many as possible of similar healthy, affordable, and delicious recipes at the European level. Sharing good recipes is a good idea to connect and bring together people from different countries and different backgrounds.