Istrian recipe: JOTA

INGREDIENTS:

870g (or similar) jar of white sauerkraut
500 g potatoes
chopped garlic
400 g Borlotti or similar beans (they are fine from a tin)
2 Polish or German style sausages (or one per person), sliced in thick pieces (ignore sausages if you prefer a vegetarian version)
salt, paper, olive oil, sweet paprika, flour


Jota (pronounced as ‘yota’) is a sauerkraut stew or a kind of minestrone. My mother usually cooks it on Mondays after a festive Sunday and she uses the remains of sauerkraut cooked with pieces of pork or beef. Her jota is always tastier than mine and the already cooked “posh” sauerkraut is more delicious than the one from a jar, but my jota is still pretty yummy.

HOW TO MAKE JOTA:

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and add rinsed sauerkraut (it needs to be washed under running water otherwise it is too sour). Add chopped garlic and let it boil for 25-30min. When the sauerkraut gets softer add cubed potatoes, sliced sausages (it works fine without sausages as well, perfect for vegetarians ) and season with salt and a spoon of Vegeta (a Croatian mixture of spices easily found in ethnic shops around London; otherwise do it without it). Let it boil for another 15 minutes and then add borlotti beans and stir.

In a frying pan make zaprska, a thickening sauce used in all Istrian manestras. Put 3 tablespoons of olive oil and when hot add a tablespoon of flour and a tablespoon of sweet paprika and stir it until it turns a nice brownish colour with thick consistency. Pour it into the sauerkraut and stir. With a spoon and fork mash some potato pieces in the stew to make it even thicker.

Serve it with a drop of olive oil, a sprinkle of pepper and a nice piece of bread.