Poured Potatoes (Užljevak)

Užljevak is one of my favorite childhood foods. Due to it’s simplicity and the low cost, this was on our table at least once or twice a week. It’s a peasant food using only pantry ingredients and it’s quite forgiving when it comes to preparation.

This recipe is one of the simplest užljevak recipes I know but it’s definitely not the only one. My mother alone used a few different recipes and you’ll find probably every Bosnian family has another few. They all will taste similar though so trying one will give you an idea what you’re working with.

Ingredients

Quantities given are just for the orientation purpose and can be fudged quite a lot while still getting an excellent result.

• 600 g Russet potatoes (about 3 big ones)
• 300 g Flour (about 14 spoons)
• 1 Yellow onion
• 3 dcl Water
• 2 dcl Milk
• 1 dcl Oil
• 25 g Salt (1½ tablespoon)
• 1.5 g Black pepper (⅔ teaspoon)

Instructions

Peel potatoes and cut them into small square pieces (0.5 cm side). Leave them in a cold water for about 10 minutes and then drain the water to remove (some) starch. While potatoes are soaking, finely dice onion. The finer, the better.

Mix all the ingredients (including oil) together and you should end with a runny mixture similar to what you would use for crepes (a slightly less dense than a pancake mix). You can fine tune it by adding flour or water but the end result will be good as long as you are in a ballpark. Leave it alone for 10 minutes.

Use that time to preheat the oven to 220 °C (425 °F) with a well-oiled wide pan inside. You can also go with parchment paper but in that case preheat only pan and place parchment only when you are ready to pour.

Once oven is at temperature get the pan out (place parchment paper if that’s your groove) and pour the mixture into the hot pan. It should be about 2-3 cm in height. Be very careful as pan will be really hot. Once poured, get it immediately into the oven.

Bake for 1 hour and then turn on a broiler for another 5 minutes. Once browned, it’s ready to go out.

Let it rest for 10 minutes, cut it into square pieces, and enjoy it with some yogurt on side.

PS: Some would say the only way to eat užljevak iz with homemade sour milk. Getting yogurt is not quite the same taste but it’s definitely easier.