Chicken Stew with Simple Dumplings (Obara) Istrian Style Recipe

This dish must be one of the most comforting foods ever. It is rustic, homely, authentic, it showcases true simplicity at its best, and best of all it is incredibly easy to make.

Onions, celery, carrots, and pieces or chunks of chicken are slowly cooked until the vegetables are completely soft and the chicken slightly browned. Then the water, fresh marjoram, and the seasoning are added, and the stew is then gently boiled for less than an hour. The simple dumplings are then cooked in the hot stew giving it a slightly thicker and velvety consistency.

This dish is part of the traditional Slovenian cuisine (known as Piščančja or Kokošja obara or simply known as Obara) and is very popular up and down the country, with a different regional variations along the way. An array of vegetables (peas, celeriac, cauliflower, leeks etc.) and herbs (thyme, bay leaf, parsley) can be added to the stew. It is cooked in households on a regular basis and can sometimes be found in rustic style restaurants, and then it is eaten as independent meal (main dish).

My paternal grandmother (nona Nada) and my maternal grandfather (deda Anton) made the very best, and they always took a great care and pride to cook one of the humblest peasant dishes.

They both told me that this stew was made from the old chickens that no longer laid the eggs – so everything was used, and nothing was wasted. The meat was quite hard, and tuff and it needed hours of cooking in order to become more tender, but it did provide a very flavoursome and tasty stew. It was then served with simple flour dumplings floating elegantly on top, and sometimes an egg would be added to the basic flour batter for extra richness (one of the variations on the dumplings recipe calls for semolina flour).

This stew is one of the top favourite dishes in the family, and here I am sharing the recipe of my grandparents from Slovenian Istra.

The recipe for the dumplings used for this stew are inspired and originated from Austrian style gnocchi called Nockerel (the batter is made with eggs and flour, then they are cooked in hot boiling water and eaten as a main dish with different sauces, beef goulash being the most common one).

This gastronomic influence will come as no surprise as Slovenia is geographically very close to Austria and was once also ruled by the Austro- Hungarian Empire.

Recipe

Ingredients for the stew

Serves 4-6

• 1 big onion (about 220g), peeled and finely chopped

• 1 carrot (about 100g), peeled and finely chopped or finely grated

• 1 celery stick (about 40g), finely chopped

• 2 Tbsp olive oil

• 700g roughly of chicken meat like tights, drumsticks, wings, breast

  (chicken pieces that you choose can be on the bone or without, with the skin or skinless, bear in mind that the skin will give the stew more flavour but can also make it too oily and greasy and potentially unpleasant to eat).

  For this recipe I used ½ of the whole chicken and cut it in smaller random sized chunks and removed most of the skin.

• 1 generous Tbsp fresh marjoram, very finely chopped (you can also use dry marjoram)

• 1 Tbsp white flour

• 2 litres of water

• sea salt

• black pepper

  Ingredients for the dumplings

• 200g white plain flour

• 150ml roughly water

• sea salt

Method

Place the olive oil in a stewing pan and add finely chopped onions, celery, finely grated carrots, and the chicken meat.

Season with sea salt and black pepper and cook altogether, very slowly on gentle heat, stirring quite frequently until the vegetables cook down completely and become soft and the chicken is lightly brown and caramelized on the outside. This could take up to 45 minutes, but it is crucial for the success of the dish.

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Sprinkle with flour and stir, then add the water, chopped marjoram, and bring to boil.

Turn the heat down, partially cover with the lid, and cook gently for about 45 minutes.

While the stew is cooking prepare the batter for the dumplings.

Put the flour in a bowl and add a pinch of sea salt.

Gradually start pouring the water and mix with the fork until you get the consistency of a quite thick pancake batter. Beat the batter until it gets quite stiff and lump free. Set aside and leave to rest until the chicken stew is cooked.

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Taste the stew and adjust the seasoning with sea salt and black pepper.

Remove the chicken pieces form the stew. Remove the skin and the bones.

To make the dumplings dip the spoon into the gentle boiling chicken stew (this should prevent the batter sticking to the spoon).

Simply scoop up with a side of a teaspoon a bit of batter and gently drop it in the stew (dipping the teaspoon into the hot stew will help the batter just slide off the spoon, if it does not, help yourself with another spoon).

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Repeat the process and drop the dumplings into the hot stew one by one until you finish all the batter.

Cook the dumplings for about 5 minutes in gently boiling stew (do not boil the stew aggressively).

Put back in the stew the pieces of chicken (free of bones and skin) and serve hot immediately.

Just a thought

This stew, like most stew and soups, is best made in advance.

You can keep cooked chicken stew in the fridge in an airtight container for about two days.

This dish freezes very well.

Dumplings can be made using buckwheat flour instead of white plain flour and the amount of water needs to be adjusted accordingly (different types of flour absorb different quantities of liquid).

Dumplings can also be made using the eggs. Crack one egg into a bowl and whisk gently. Add a pinch of sea salt, plain white flour and water as needed to obtain a fairly thick batter.

You can also use two eggs and white flour without the addition of water.

Wine suggestion

Alto Adige Pinot Grigio DOC "Porer" 2021 - Alois Lageder

Meat Patties Istrian Style Recipe

These comforting, satisfying and sinfully delicious meat patties are a real crowd pleaser; they are crunchy on the outside, moist, tender and juicy on the inside.

They have a rustic appearance and are made with minced beef and pork combined with stale pieces of bread previously soaked and softened in milk, and fresh parsley, marjoram, onions, garlic, sea salt and black pepper are added to flavour and season the meat mixture which is then shaped into patties and shallow fried.

These meat patties can be served as a starter or as a main meal, great as a sandwich filler and brilliant to take on picnics.

This recipe represents one of the most popular family dishes in Slovenia, made and enjoyed on a regular basis as a midweek meal or a weekend lunch or dinner and it is particularly loved by the children.

This is a staple dish along the coast of Slovenian Istra, it is called by the locals Polpete, a dialect word very clearly influenced by the neighbouring Italian Polpette, that have some regional variations from North to South of Italy (the meat mixture would almost always include some kind of grated cheese, Parmiggiano Reggiano and Grana Padano are the two types of cheeses most frequently used).

Istrian polpete distinguish themselves from other variations by using fresh or dry marjoram, a herb that very commonly grows and thrives along the Slovenian coast with its mild Mediterranean climate, and characterizes quite specifically many savoury dishes in Istrian cooking, offering distinctive flavour.

I am sharing here this simple but special recipe for this scrumptious meat polpete that have been made and enjoyed in my family for generations, as a child I could never had enough of them.

Some things in my family just never change...

Recipe

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 250g minced beef

• 250g minced pork

• 2 soft white baps or some stale bread (roughly 130g)

• 150ml milk

• 1 Tbsp fresh marjoram, finely chopped (can use dry marjoram)

• a handful of fresh flat leaf parsley (about 15g), finely chopped

• 1 onion (about 100g), peeled and very finely chopped

• 1 clove of garlic, peeled and pressed

• 1 medium egg

• sea salt

• black pepper

• white dry breadcrumbs for coating the patties (roughly 150-200g)

• oil for frying

Method

Cut or tear with your hands white baps (or any other type of stale bread you are using) into small pieces and put them into a bowl.

Pour over the milk, mix well and leave to soak for a few minutes until the bread is completely softened (if necessary, squeeze out gently with your hands excessive milk).

While the bread is soaking in milk, prepare the meat mixture.

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Put both minced beef and minced pork in a fairly large bowl. Add finely chopped onions, crushed garlic, finely chopped fresh parsley and marjoram, egg, generous pinch of sea salt, black pepper and softened pieces of bread.

With your hand mix very well all the ingredients, almost using a squeezing action, to thoroughly combine the mixture (if you end up with bigger bread pieces just break them with your fingers).

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Shape the mixture into patties (I ended up with thirteen meat patties).

Coat in breadcrumbs and press a bit so the breadcrumbs adhere well, shake off gently any excessive breadcrumbs.

Repeat the process until you have used all the meat patties.

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Pour the oil into a large frying pan, about 1 cm, enough to cover the bottom of the pan and heat it over a medium heat (how much oil you need will depend on how big your frying pan is).Cook breaded patties over a medium heat, turning once or twice, until crisp and golden brown.

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Transfer fried meat patties into a dish lined with kitchen paper to allow excess oil to be absorbed.

If the patties are lined in a layer, make sure you put a kitchen paper between each layer.

Serve hot, warm, at room temperature or cold with mashed or oven roasted potatoes, a side salad or a side vegetable dish of your choice.

Just a thought

You can store cooked patties in an airtight container in the fridge for about two days.

If you wish to prepare this dish in advance, it is a good idea to store the uncooked and not fried breaded meat patties in an airtight container in the fridge, and just before frying, “refresh” the breadcrumbs coating by covering the patties in breadcrumbs once again, this will give you a crunchy coating.

If you are not in a rush, it is a good idea to chill the meat mixture in the fridge for a bit, (about 30 minutes or more) this will make it easier to handle and to shape the patties.

Meat mixture or raw, uncooked breaded patties are suitable for freezing (safely defrost and refresh the breadcrumbs coating before shallow frying, this is done because the breadcrumb coating gets a bit wet and soggy when you defrost the patties).

Wine suggestion

Dolcetto d'Alba DOC "Barturot" 2021 - Ca' Viola

Chicken Goulash traditional Istrian Recipe

This hearty, comforting, succulent, and delicious meat dish, is as rustic or as elegant as you want to make it. It is made with only a few ingredients, fresh marjoram, being one of them, which gives this dish a distinguished flavour, very often found in Istrian cooking. 

Chicken goulash is one of the most representative dishes of Slovenian Istra, known in local dialect as Kakušji šugo  or in standard Slovenian Kokošji golaž, and it is a part of Istrian Žgvacet or Žvarcet, a collective term indicating traditional stew or goulash made with different kinds of meat like chicken, beef, venison, rabbit and then cooked in a sauce. 

Nowadays, chicken goulash is prepared in the households on a regular basis, but this certainly was not the case in the past, as my nona told me. When she was a child,  meat dishes were a rare sight on the dining table, and this particular dish was no exception, served exclusively to mark special occasion and during festivities. This may be a concept a bit difficult to grasp, as in today's world chicken meat is easily affordable and accessible for most people. 

My nona also told me that in the past, in more rural settings, on small land holdings, even if not a farm, chickens were a very common sight, and were most common animal around. They roamed freely around the courtyards of the farmhouses, and kept safe during night time in fenced spaces (called in local dialect Kapunere). They were fed exclusively on corn or scraps from home grown vegetables, which made the meat particularly tasty. This was the reason, my nona explained, why a long list of ingredients were not used for this dish, as you really want to taste, elevate and appreciate the flavour of the chicken meat of such high quality. 

Old chickens, no longer able to lay eggs would “disappear” from the courtyards and appeared in pots and pans in a slightly different form. Traditionally, for this recipe, the whole chicken is used, even the parts that have very little or no meat on them like ribs, but will truly add crucial flavour to the goulash and are removed and discarded when the dish is fully cooked. 

This once festive food was accompanied by home made potato gnocchi, polenta, typical Istrian home made fresh pasta like bleki, fuzi, pljukanci or bigoli, pan-fried potatoes with onions and pancetta, or simply with some crunchy bread to soak up the sauce. This recipe for Chicken goulash can be served with mashed potatoes or oven baked potatoes, although these alternatives are slightly a less traditional, but are still quite common side dishes. These days this dish is still enjoyed in this same way!  

I am sharing here my nona's recipe, a very simple but very special recipe, as it has been in the family for generations. My nona learned how to cook this dish from her nona, and as the story goes for most of the recipes, this one also has variations and ingredients like white wine, a bit of chopped fresh tomatoes or a tablespoon of tomato concentrate, crushed garlic and other fresh herbs like a bit of finely chopped fresh rosemary, sage, basil and parsley, few celery leaves finely chopped can be added to the basic recipe. 

Recipe 

Ingredients 

Serves 4-6 

• 1 whole chicken (roaster or cockerel) 1kg-1.5kg, skinned, jointed and cut into chunks (your butcher will be more than happy to do this for you) 

  You can use just chicken thighs or drumsticks on the bone (or boneless pieces) or a combination of the two, and some chicken wings. 

  If you skin yourself, make sure you remove most of the skin to avoid the dish becoming to oily and greasy, and potentially unpleasant to eat. 

• 2 Tbsp olive oil 

• 2 medium onions (about 240g) peeled and finely chopped 

• 1 Tbsp white all purpose plain flour 

• 1 Tbsp fresh marjoram, finely chopped  (can use dry marjoram) 

• sea salt 

• black pepper 

Method 

Put olive oil, finely chopped onions, and chunks of chicken in a fairly large shallow cast iron casserole dish or frying pan. 

Add salt and pepper, and cook on a gentle heat until the onions become soft and caramelized, and meat is golden brown in colour, stir occasionally. This process should take around 45 minutes. 

If it starts catching at the bottom, add a tiny bit of water. 

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Sprinkle flour and add finely chopped fresh marjoram (or dry if using), stir with a wooden spoon. 

Add water to the pan, about ¾ full, and scrap with a wooden spoon bits and pieces that attached to the bottom and the sides of the pan. 

Simmer for a few more minutes until the sauce thickens a bit. 

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The dish is fully cooked when the sauce becomes nice and velvety in consistency, it should not be either too thick nor to watery and too thin. 

If you are using whole jointed chicken, fish out and discard pieces that you are not going to serve, like knuckles and chunks of ribs for example. 

Taste and adjust seasoning with sea salt and black pepper. 

Serve hot with potato gnocchi , soft cooked or grilled polenta, typical Istrian home made fresh pasta like bleki, fuzi, pljukanci or bigoli, pan-fried potatoes with onions and pancetta , mashed or oven roasted potatoes or simply with some crunchy bread to soak up the sauce. 

Wine suggestion

Provincia di Pavia Pinot Nero IGT “Junior” 201 - Monsupello