Gastro

Žganci – Cornmeal as Poor Man's Feast

Same as the rest of the world, the citizens of Zagreb are confined to their homes and have to eat in, trying to maintain a balanced diet for who knows how long.

Fresh supplies are limited and we are forced to reach for those ingredients that are accessible, universal and have a long shelf life. If combined with traditional recipes and the wisdom of our grandmas, they can provide your family with a lot of tasty, filling and comforting meals. A pinch of creativity is also welcome. Good old polenta is one such ingredient. It played an important role in the lives of our ancestors, so let's give it a warm welcome back to our everyday lives.

“Yellow gold – a tray of freshly cooked polenta.” Image credit: Taste of Croatia

In and around Zagreb, polenta is called žganci, coming from an old verb žgati, which means something like „to burn, to heat over a fire“. In the coastal areas, it is palenta – borrowed from Italian language, of course. Some people argue that žganci and polenta are not the same – žganci are more coarsely ground corn. But, regardless of the texture of your cornmeal, in the end you'll get a creamy and versatile porridge or mush. Especially if you can find the real stuff, local cornmeal produced through stone-grinding. Unlike a package of instant polenta available from supermarkets, the preparation of traditional žganci cornmeal includes a lot of patience and physical work – basically, you have to cook it slowly and mix continuously until you can't feel your arm anymore.

“Corn is first dried and then ground into cornmeal – stages before becoming polenta.” Image credit: Taste of Croatia

Polenta is often eaten as a side dish with thick meat or fish based stews like a brodetto or goulash. But let's focus on easier ways of enjoying žganci at home, without any fancy recipes. The simplest version is what mothers used to give, and still do, to their children for dinner – plain žganci with yogurt or milk. When you find your preferred style, formed in the tender childhood days, you stick to it the rest of your life. I'm definitely team yogurt. Our elders needed a lot of energy for a whole day of hard work, so they had to enhance a portion of žganci. They would sauté cooked polenta on lard or clarified butter briefly, and add things like bacon, onion, cream, paprika. Anything to spice things up and add some more calories. One typical but probably forgotten old Zagreb dish with coarse cornmeal is called žganci s tropom – polenta with trop. What is trop? Well, it's hard to find the matching English word. Croatian dictionary defines it as „sediment left after melting kajmak or producing drawn butter“. In this case, it means boiling and mixing double cream until it turns to golden-brown lumps, which are then poured over cooked polenta.

“Humble zlevanka cake upgraded with poppy seeds.” Image credit: Taste of Croatia

Zlevanka, one of the iconic traditional poor man's desserts from northern Croatia, is based on cornmeal. With just a little bit of creativity and additional ingredients like apple, cherry or poppy seeds, such simple recipes can be upgraded into wonderful cakes. And in cases when you have leftover polenta, which might come handy these days, consider yourself lucky. Let it cool in a baking tray or a loaf pan, and when it's firm, cut it up, generously season as you like, and grill it. Put some cheese, veggies or/and herbs on top – sky’s the limit. At the moment, when our situation requires improvisation, žganci or polenta is your perfect improvisation material.

“Don’t be afraid to improvise, polenta is a well suited material.” Image credit: Taste of Croatia

Header image credit: Taste of Croatia

Author: Taste of Croatia, Morana Zibar