Country 22: Bosnia and Herzegovina - Zeljanica & Sataras

A VERY delayed blog post, I think I burnt out a little bit and had a few days break where I didn't cook or blog, and therefore this post comes about 4 days late. 

Finally, a country where I have spent more than 24 hours in.

I visited Bosnia and Herzegovina in the European summer of 2017, during a 3.5 month backpack around Europe. I thought it was an absolutely spectacular country. There is a devastating recent history of the Bosnian War in the 1990s, which is still visible in Sarajevo which was under siege from April 1992 until February 1996. But the people are friendly, the landscape is stunning, and the food was delicious. 

In actual fact, I hated Bosnia when I first arrived. I had taken a long-haul bus from Ljubljana, Slovenia, down to Banja Luka in northern Bosnia. This meant moving from a capital city of an EU country where I had data service, a common currency, and where conveniently a lot of people spoke a lot of English, to a country that was not part of the EU, in a city that is not particularly frequented by tourists. This meant I had no data on my phone, no money, nobody spoke English at the bus station which was 2km away from town, and no map - therefore no way of knowing where the heck I was going. 

Thankfully a taxi driver saved the day, accepting my Euros, and taking me to my hostel in the centre. Yet the hostel was also awful, and I soon discovered that Banja Luka didn't have that much going for it in the way of tourism. A few shops, a mosque, and that was really about it. I cancelled my second night of accommodation there and left the following day, willing the rest of the country to be prettier, more interesting, and more tourist-friendly than Banja Luka. 

Well, a week and a half later when I entered Croatia, I was devastated to be leaving Bosnia. It had been a spectacular time. I had met fantastic people, learned about the war (a subject which I had very little knowledge about), explored stunning scenery, and feasted on all sorts of food. 

To this day, Bosnia and Herzegovina holds a special place in my heart. Sarajevo is possibly my favourite city I've been to. It was utterly fabulous. 

Anyway, I was excited to cook something from Bosnia and Herzegovina. I still ate meat when I had visited so I was looking forward to trying something else from their cuisine that I would eat now if I went back. 

It took me a little while to think about what I was going to cook, but I decided to go for zeljanica, the Bosnian version of Greek spanakopita, and sataras which is a onion and red pepper (capsicum) stew. I was very nervous about the zeljanica as I made it, thinking it may turn out like a cross between my Armenian spas as my Albanian burek. Thankfully, it ended up like neither of them. I thought it was absolutely delicious. Creamy, tangy, and the pastry was absolutely fabulous (possibly because I used so much of it!). The sataras was juicy and the herbs in it added a nice addition. I thought they worked perfectly together as well. I actually finished my meal and announced "that was bang on!" And it was. 

 

I am grateful to my flatmates who I lived with for about a month right before lockdown - they are originally from Bosnia and they were the ones who gave me a recipe for sataras, and approved my recipe for zeljanica I found online. The recipes below are adaptations of each. 

Zeljanica - Bosnian Spinach and Yogurt Pie

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

• 4 bags spinach
• 200g ricotta (quark or cottage cheese is fine as well)
• 2 eggs
• 100g sour cream
• 100g Greek yogurt
• 200g feta cheese, cut into small crumbles
• Handful of grated cheese
• 1 pack of filo pastry
• Oil and water, mixed together

Instructions

1. Place spinach in a colander and pour boiling water over it to wilt. Then rinse with cold water. Squeeze excess water out, place on a tea-towel and use that to squeeze out as much water as possible. Leave to air-dry. 
2. Heat oven to 220 C.
3. Mix eggs in a big bowl, add ricotta, sour cream, yogurt, feta, and grated cheese. Mix well before adding the spinach.
4. Oil your ovenproof dish and place a layer of the filo pastry on the bottom and sides of the dish. Brush with oil-water mix and another two layers, each time brushing them with the oil. 
5. Tip the spinach mixture into the dish and level it before adding another layer of filo pastry on the top. Brush with oil-water mix and repeat with remaining sheets. Cut off the excess pastry and fold in the rim. 
6. Bake for 30 minutes on the bottom shelf. Reduce the heat after 10 minutes to 180 C. 

Sataras - Tomato and Pepper Stew

Serves 2-3 as a side dish

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 orange or red peppers (capsicum), chopped
• 3-4 tomatoes, diced
• 1 small red chilli pepper
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Fresh dill (optional)
• Dried parsley and/or thyme (optional)

Instructions

1. Over a medium-high heat, add oil to a saucepan and then add chilli pepper to infuse the oil for 3-4 minutes. Add onion and saute until transluscent.
2. Add peppers (capsicums) to the onions and simmer for about 10 minutes, then add the tomatoes, garlic, salt and pepper. Cover, reduce the heat to low and cook for 20-25 minutes until the liquid evaporates.
3. Just before serving, add herbs as desired. 
4. Serve! (If you're making this as a stand alone dish, serve with rice, mashed potato, or toasted bread).