Jota (pronounced »you-tha«) is a sauerkraut stew that is typical for the western part of Slovenia. There are different recipes and different variations; each one can adapt it to his own taste. For me, it is a dish from my childhood, but the one that “never left me”, and it is the food that we are preparing regularly, especially in the cooler months of the year.
I like this sauerkraut stew because it is tasty, is easy to make and id also very simple and inexpensive food. The basic ingredients that you will need are sauerkraut, potatoes, beans, onions, garlic, water and salt. The stew can be done with meat or without it. In general, they use smoked meat, pork ribs, sausages or similar.
Today I’m presenting you the “jota” recipe as we make it at our home. I don’t cook it with meat inside. For the “meaty part” I’m just adding a piece of pancetta (most often a skin of the pancetta that I’ve already used or eaten 😊) and if needed we cook some sausages separately and add it in the stew when serving.
- 0,5 kg sauerkraut
- 5 medium size potatoes
- piece of bacon/bacon skin/ cracklings
- 0,3 kg brown beans
- 1 onion
- 3 garlic
- salt
- water
- olive oil
I cook the sauerkraut separately. Just adding the water and cooking for 15 minutes, depending on the sauerkraut. If it is to sour or salty you can rinse it before cooking, it all depends on your taste.
In the first step I add some olive oil and pancetta skin, together with chopped onions. I gently roast the onions.
Its time to peel the potatoes and cut them into smaller pieces. Then I add them to the onions and cover all with water and cook till the potatoes are not tender.
I smash the potatoes. Then I add the brown beans. The brown beans are already cooked and I like to blend them with a mixer, so that I get a thick mixture with smaller pieces of beans. And I add this mixed bean to the stew. In this way the stew becomes denser.
Then it is time for the sauerkraut (pre-cooked), which is taken out of the water where it was cooked and added to the stew. The quantity of the sauerkraut is different, if you put it more, the stew will be denser.
In the last step I add the chopped garlic and adjust with salt. I leave all to cook gently for another 15-20 minutes and the stew is done.
In the end I serve it with freshly minced pepper, a great local sausage, and a piece of bread.
If you ask me, the stew is even better the next day, when all the flavours are mixed together.
I got hungry just writing this post. Luckily I have a jar of homemade sauerkraut in my fridge, and over the weekend I will make my favourite stew again.
Thanks for reading,
feel free to leave a comment, I will be glad to reply to.
Best regards, @miljo76
