A couple notes: this recipe was more simplistic in ingredients so I apologize that there are less pictures than the previous recipe. Secondly, don't forget to follow me on #Instagram @scrappygidget to keep up in real time as this story develops and the exploration continues!
GidgetRoots - Episode 2: Podvarak
I had never heard of Podvarak before. I love the name, too; it reminds me of Aardvark the animal, you know the schmedium pig-like bear anteater looking mammal from Africa? No? Okay well, here is a sketch courtesy of Flicker.com for reference:
Podvarak (Serbian Cyrillic: подварак) is a traditional Serbian baked dish and is commonly made in large batches at Christmas or family gatherings. Podvarak is comprised of onion, sauerkraut, and meat, customarily chicken or turkey. It is popular across the Balkan region, which makes a lot of sense being there are so many versions and varieties of this dish in many different cultures (think if you will of German sauerkraut and bratwurst?).
As always part of this journey is to explore food and play with finding #healthyalternatives to these family treasures so I can continue enjoying my food heritage while keeping in line with my #weightlossjourney and life goals. There aren't a lot of 'bad' ingredients in the recipe as it stood, so we tried the recipe two ways:
1) Traditional way with pork, kraut, onion, rice
2) Healthier option of ground turkey, kraut, and onion. Although the original plan was to omit the rice for the 'healthier' option, the amount was so minimal we included it anyway. (If you were to try at home and wanted to omit the rice, I don't think you would be losing out on anything.) Other options to play with would be adding brown rice instead of white, or using cauliflower (I know I know I'm sorry but it is a common substitute!) Omitting the rice or using cauliflower would push this into #PCOSFriendly recipe, as well!
The journey to Serbian baked delicacy commenced as follows:
First, the easy part - chopped onion! The original recipe called for 1 onion, and we like onion, so it was easy to decide one chopped medium onion would be split between the two dishes. My great-aunt did a great job peeling and chopping that stinky boy up! (We didn't even have to shed tears!)
Second, the recipe calls for 5 lbs of pork (5 LBS!? What the French toast!? Oh yeah, big family... right). We definitely were not going to be eating 5 lbs of meat so we minimized the recipes we made to 1lb of each kind of meat, ground pork and ground turkey. The pork was "traditional" to our family recipe, whereas the turkey was our "healthy alternative" (although it is interesting to read through research that turkey was actually most common in the Balkan regions).
Now the fun part! We heated up the pans, adding about 1 Tbs of olive oil to the pan used to cook the turkey (since it was leaner it needed a little help from the oil to get started getting hot and steamy). We used a medium pot and my #PamperedChef #rockcrock for this for the two versions. (The rockcrock worked great for this recipe since I was able to move it from stove top to oven for the second part of the cook!) To each designated pan we added 1/2 chopped onion and the 1lb of ground meat and let them mingle over medium to medium high heat. You want the meat to brown up and get chunky, while still having some good size pieces (think of wedding soup size meat chunks versus taco meat).
The left photo is the "turkey" version, which we were excited to zhuzh up the seasonings! To it we added salt, pepper, heaping Tbs minced garlic (YUM), about 4 tsp smoked paprika, and roughly 2.5 - 3tsp marjoram. The photo to the right is the traditional/original pork version. We wanted to stay as true to the original as possible for comparison so it received a little love with good ol' salt and pepper. *Note: my great-aunt said my great-grandmother thought salt and pepper were exotic seasonings, makes me wonder if the #depression or location had anything to do with what was available at the time!)
Next ingredient: Sauerkraut (YUM!) Obviously if you don't like sauerkraut you won't enjoy this recipe, but maybe you will still enjoy reading of my experience with it. Our family recipe called for (and I quote) "4 packages (or jars) of sauerkraut". Hold on, I know what you are thinking. The same thing I was thinking. Well, how big are the packages? Are the packages in the store today the same as were available in the 30s and 40s? 16 or 32 oz? This was even more of a conundrum for me being we had already scaled back the 5lbs of meat to 1lb so the next question would be what is the correct amount to maintain the ratio of meat to kraut? Thankfully, I had my trusted friend Google to assist me. Thanks to Jas from all-thats-jas.com for her "Serbian Baked Sauerkraut" recipe, I found a 1lb recipe that used 32 oz of sauerkraut and the answer to our problem. After purchasing the 32oz jar, it definitely felt like the right amount for our recipe, too.
While the onions and meat were cooking we drained the sauerkraut. I also decided to try squeezing some of the extra liquid out as well. However, I don't think I will do that next time (we ended up adding water during the baking process, you will find later). Having the extra liquid that would have been part of the game had I not squeezed the juice out of it may have helped us from adding liquid and could also have changed the flavor profile a smidge, too.
We used a casserole-size baking dish for each version (had we done the original 5lbs of history here we would have had to break out the turkey roaster!) Into the casserole dishes went the sauerkraut. Once the meat was browned and onions cooked down we added our meat mixtures (again emphasizing that each one are SEPARATE! No contamination here people, come on!)
Mix together until well incorporated, cover with lids, and put in 350 degree oven. RICE!? WAIT! I forgot the rice! (well we didn't at the time but I almost forgot to mention it here! )
Finally, remember timing is everything. Well, that you actually have to set a time (or should) if you want to monitor the cooking process and not burn the dish (don't worry, no Podvaraks or Aardvarks for that matter were harmed during this process). I even said out loud "okay, I think maybe we should check in 15 minutes to see how it is doing and if we need to add liquid" then commenced the clean up and completely ignored myself. Lost in conversation it finally dawned on me - NO TIMER WAS SET! Lucky I had a rough idea of when we put it in the oven, so we guess-timated (yes, another Gidget word) how long the Podvarak had been in the oven.
We checked our dishes after about 15 minutes. Neither dish seemed to have enough liquid so we added about 1/4 - 1/2c. of water to each. I would say over the course of 45 min baking time we added approximately 1/2 - 1 c. water to each dish to help cook the rice, as we deemed necessary. Once I tested the rice and it was cooked through, it was time for the tasting battle once more!
In one corner we have the OGSP (Original Gangsta Serbian Podvarak) with pork, sauerkraut, and onion [lighter color Podvarak on the upper left]. In the opposite corner [lower right], looking as though it had tanned on the ranch with my great-grandfather we had the darker colored alternative Podvarak with turkey, onion, garlic, sauerkraut, and generous seasonings. FIGHT!
The taste test: I found both versions of this recipe were good to me. Although not heavily seasoned, the original recipe had a clean purity from the simplicity of the ingredients. Even though the turkey version had extra seasoning and was also delicious. I believe the consensus was as follows: if we added the additional flavor bombs to the pork version it would be best of all, thus far. Partly because turkey is a naturally insipid it really didn't bring that much extra intrigue to the dish. Especially compared to the powerhouse pork which is fattier and naturally packed with more porky flavor. Overall, both were yummy and I can see why (if you like sauerkraut) this is and has been a family favorite for generations.
The rest of the evening was full of laughs, good company, and great conversation.
NOTES: Other research I found bacon to be used, chopped finely and cooked with the meat and onion for added depth of flavor.
I also found several versions using smoked turkey or smoked chicken leg for the meat, rather than ground meat, cooked atop of the sauerkraut then chunked similar to the consistency of roast meat.
Also during my research I noticed this recipe almost always was served with some sort of dinner roll or bread. I made my favorite low-carb Almond Flour biscuits to serve along side our fun recipe, you know, for tradition and all that ☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️
NEXT 'EPISODE' / CHAPTER: "Hash" or as I want to deem it, "Hash Smash"
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ORIGINAL RECIPE:
GRANDPA M'S PUDVODIC*
This recipe makes a large roaster full
- 5 LBS coarse ground pork (the coarser the better)
- 1 large onion chopped very fine
- 1 cup rice
- 4 packages (or jars) or sauerkraut that have been drained
- Brown the pork with the onion, add salt and pepper. Drain away the grease. Empty the sauerkraut into a large roaster, add the rice. Mix in the cooked pork.
- Bake in 350 degree oven until the rice is tender, about 1 hour.
- Check the Pudvodic* several times as you might have to add some water to it, because the rice absorbs the liquid.
* the recipe is spelled incorrectly but is original to how it was handed down to me
This recipe is from my 2x great grandfather (who probably got it from his father ZM as he emigrated from Serbia/Yugoslavia).
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GIDGET'S LOW-CARB ALMOND FLOUR BISCUIT
- 2 cups blanched almond flour
- 2 tsp. gluten-free baking powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1/3 c. Butter (measured solid, then melted; can use ghee or coconut oil for dairy-free)
- Pre-heat the oven to 350F (177C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Stir in wet ingredients.
- Scoop Tablespoon-fulls of the dough onto the lined baking sheet (a cookie scoop is the fastest way). Form into rounded biscuit shapes and flatten slightly with your fingers.
- Bake for about 15 minutes until firm and golden. Cool on the baking sheet.
* for a fun twist add extra flavor with onion powder, garlic powder, or herbs of your choice
Nutrition facts : 164 cal | 1 g. sugar | 15g. fat | 5g protein | 4 g. total carbs | 2g. net carbs | 2 g. fiber
(facts for biscuits only and are per serving)
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