Begin this week a colleague was so kind to bring a dish from her homeland (and surrounding countries if I have understood correctly). This dish is called Zapekanka and she made it herself.
Looking around on the internet it shows that Zapekanka originates to the Ukraine and Russia (and most likely some more countries in that area). I found English names for this dish as “Cottage Cheese Cake” and “Farmer Cheese Coffee Cake”. But I was told not to refer to it as cake. So I won’t. *grin*
Anyway, more about this later on in this article.
When I tasted the Zapekanka, among the many very nice tastes, there was one flavor I recognized, but I could not place right away where I knew it from. It triggered a memory from long ago, so to say. But still I could not pinpoint it down!
Curious about this dish, I looked up a recipe on the Internet and I even found one in Dutch. And looking at that recipe it suddenly hit me like a bolt out of the blue: “griesmeel” (semolina).
When I was a young boy my mother often made “griesmeel pap” (semolina pudding). And I have to admit that over then I disliked it. But tasting it now so many years later the taste is rather interesting, to say the least.
Funny that a taste can stay that long in your memory!
But back to the Zapekanka… It seems that it is very popular in the countries of its origin.
One thing is very clear when you search the Internet, Zapekanka can be made in many ways and variations, but as far I can see now it is always prepared in an oven and egg is always an ingredient.
I saw variations with eggplant, mushrooms and fruit. And that makes it very interesting to experiment with.
Yes, I surely will try to make Zapekanka myself.
I really love these dishes from other countries and specially when they taste as good as Zapekanka *thumbs*
I have “Googled” Zapekanka. Very interesting. I will surely will prepare it as well. There are enough recipes out there.
Thanks Rob.