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(By Martina
Kocjan)
 S truklji
(pronounced as: SHTROOCLEE) are a "multi-purpose" dish:
they can be served as a side-dish with game or any dark meat with a heavy
sauce, as an independent course (usually with a salad) or as a dessert (with a
sweetened cream sauce or just dusted with sugar). There are over 60 different
kinds of struklji in Slovenia and obviously every cook has her or his
own secrets.
The dough is made either of
very fine-grain white flour or - what is even more typical (well, maybe not for
my region of the country - Primorska) - with buckwheat flour. My favorites are
the white flour struklji, but I will be nice this time and give you the
chance to disagree.
BUCKWHEAT DOUGH
Ingredients
- 1 liter buckwheat
flour
- 0.1 kg wheat ("white")
flour
- 1 liter boiling water,
slightly salted
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Directions
Scald the buckwheat
flour with boiling water, mixing with a wooden spoon; allow to cool just enough
that you can knead the dough with your hands. Knead in the wheat flour and roll
out the dough about ½ - 1 cm thick immediately; cut off any thicker or
crooked edges and spread the filling (see further). Roll
the dough and prepare for cooking (see further -
directly to Cooking). |
WHEAT DOUGH
 Since there are many
kinds and variations of struklji, I will although I try to give you a
"default", which would, with some imagination from your side, enable you not
only to make good traditional Slovenian struklji, but to make
struklji with your own favorite fillings, have to restrict myself to one
type of wheat dough struklji. Naturally it will be the one I like and
know best - the one prepared with baker's yeast.
The word yeast alone usually
scares me when I see it among the ingredients, because it often brings along so
much trouble. Old people say, you should prepare dough with yeast in a very hot
kitchen, otherwise the yeast or the dough may "catch cold" and it won't rise
properly.
But nowadays you can get
various kinds of yeast in powder, which are so much simpler to bake with and
most importantly the result is almost "surprise free". But please do not come
to the idea of using baking soda!
And there is one more reason
why to prepare the struklji in the more complicated way (if the mere
fact that they will taste better is not enough). The dough made with baker's
yeast for the struklji is practically the same one we use - and this
time I can speak about the majority of Slovenian loving moms and helpful
daughters, who make it -as basis for Potica. And Potica is the most famous and
typical Slovenian cake. Are you asking yourself why am I not giving you the
recipe for potica then? Well, simply because most typical does not necessarily
mean better, does it. And I have to save some assets for next time. But let us
get back to our struklji now.
Ingredients
- ½ kg "soft"
wheat flour
- 3 eggs
- 6 dag fresh baker's
yeast (or the appropriate quantity for ½ kg of flour of yeast in
powder), 2 Tbsp warm milk and 1 tsp Sugar
- Grated peel of 1
lemon (or 2 Tbsp lemon juice, when the lemon is not exactly organic)
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
or 10 dag softened butter
- 2.5 - 3 dl warm
milk
- Pinch of salt
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Directions
When struklji are
meant to become a dessert - my mom and most of the "chefs" from Primorska would
advise you to add some 10 dag of sugar too, but that would be considered
absolutely wrong not even 50 miles away, where they for unexplainable reasons
prefer to dust sugar on the top of the struklji. If you have time and
are especially keen on struklji, try both and absolutely let me know,
which one you like better. Again only, if struklji will be served as a
dessert, you may also add a little bit of vanilla.
Sift the flour into a
bowl (cover and set in a warm place). Crumb the yeast or pour the yeast in
powder into a large cup, add 2 Tbsp warm milk, 1 tsp sugar and mix; set the
yeast into a warm place to rise (the mixture should rise to at least twice its
original volume before usage). |
SALTY (SIDE-DISH) VERSION
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Directions
Mix the eggs,
oil/butter, lemon juice and salt and slowly add the warm (not hot!) milk. With
your hands (no machines!) form the dough out of the warm flour, yeast and the
milk mixture. Knead well until the dough is smooth.
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SWEET (DESERT) VERSION
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Directions
Mix butter, sugar and
egg-yolks (you can still use the whites for the filling) and beat until the
sugar is well dissolved and the mixture is frothy. Warm up the milk; mix in
salt, lemon peel and the butter mixture. Form the dough out of the warm flour,
yeast and the milk mixture.
The trick is not to
pour in all the milk mixture immediately: use about 3/4 to start with, then add
more as the dough forms (the quantity of milk you will need is not quite fixed
- it depends on the quality of the flour: with very fine-grain flour, use all 3
dl; but use less with inferior quality flour). Knead well until the dough is
smooth and separates easily from your hands and the working surface. Put the
dough in a bowl, if you haven't been preparing it in a bowl from the very
beginning, cover the bowl with a cloth and set the dough in a warm place to
rise. Before continuing, the dough should rise to twice its size, which
normally takes about 30 minutes
Roll out the dough just
to make it flat, and then continue stretching it using the backs of your hands;
the dough should be stretched to approximately 1 cm thick. Cut of the thick
edges, spread with filling and prepare for
cooking. |
SOME IDEAS FOR FILLINGS
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One rule only: Use your
imagination! I for instance love struklji as a side dish with a spinach
filling. The recipe for which does not really exist as I always adapt and
hopefully improve it. But I am sure you will think of many nice ingredients
that will make this recipe your own. Nevertheless, a few ideas just to get you
started.
Walnut: mix ½ kg freshly ground walnuts, 2
eggs, ¼ l heavy or whipping cream, 3 Tbsp dry bread-crumbs, ground
cinnamon, ground cloves, lemon zest (for desserts-to-be add 10 dag sugar)
Walnut and
honey: mix ½ kg freshly ground walnuts, 2 eggs, 6 Tbsp honey, 8
dag softened butter, 3 Tbsp dry bread-crumbs, ground cinnamon, ground cloves,
lemon zest;
Cottage
cheese: mix ½ kg fresh smooth unsalted cottage cheese with 1
egg-yolk, 4 Tbsp whipping cream, 10 dag melted unsalted butter and the juice of
½ lemon. For desserts only add one cup of raisins or sultanas, soaked in
dark rum or in my opinion even better, if soaked in wine (usually white, if you
want the taste to be smoother) and 15 dag sugar;
Tarragon: mix 6 Tbsp freshly chopped tarragon, 10
dag softened unsalted butter, 1 egg, 10 dag sugar; or 8 Tbsp freshly chopped
tarragon, 0.25 kg fresh unsalted cottage cheese, 2 egg-yolks, ¼ liter
whipping cream, 3 Tbsp dry bread-crumbs; if for dessert only, add 0.15 kg
sugar. A little confession - I have never ever made myself the tarragon
struklji. Probably because I do not really like tarragon. But, if you do
like it, this might be the think for you.
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COOKING
After spreading the filling on
the dough, roll the dough tightly, making sure that there are no air pockets in
the roll. Uncooked buckwheat roll should be about 5 cm thick, wheat up to 10
cm. Moisten a thin linen cloth, wringing out excess water; spread the cloth on
a flat surface and dust lightly with dry bread-crumbs or flour. Wrap the
struklji tightly with the cloth and tie both ends -- the cloth should
cover the struklji roll at least twice.
Bring 1 liter salted water
(as for pasta) to boil; drop the roll into boiling water and cook for
approximately ½ hour or until the struklji floats on the surface.
Remove immediately, unwrap and cut into serving pieces. Brown some bread-crumbs
on butter and pour over struklji; serve hot.
If served as a dessert
with cream sauce, serve the sauce separately (Cream sauce: mix equal volumes of
lightly whipped cream and sour cream, sugar lightly). Guests can add sugar to
taste and will definitively want to, if you have not prepared the dough with
sugar as we do in Primorska. If you want to prepare several rolls at a time,
but wish to re-warm them, do not unwrap; freeze the struklji uncooked in
their linen wrap, then, without unfreezing them, cook in slightly salted water
as described above - until they come floating on the surface of the water.
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