Popara (Cyrillic: Попара) (Greek: Παπάρα[1], Turkish: papara[2]), is a meal made with left over or fresh bread. It is mostly made in Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia, Macedonia and Montenegro. Popara is also used as a last name. Person who made Popara got it and spread it by generations.
Contents |
One- or two-day-old or fresh bread (with a thick crust), milk, water or tea (chai), butter, a teaspoon of sugar, and kajmak or sirene.
Boil the milk or water. Cut the bread into cubes, then mix with the boiling milk or water. Cook for only few minutes until the bread gets moist, but make sure it doesn't burn. Warm a spoonful of pork lard or kajmak and pour over the popara.
Another popular variant substitutes kajmak for Feta cheese, which is spread over the top and allowed to melt on the hot bread.
Making popara Bulgarian style does not require boiling the bread. To make popara Bulgarian style,
1. mix the bread with the white cheese(sirene) (if you prefer it sweet, add the sugar at this stage) in a large bowl,
2. pour the hot water or milk over (the liquid needs to be only enough to thoroughly moist the bread; do not make it soupy),
3. cover with a lid and leave it to steam for about 5 minutes.
4. Finally add a knob of butter.
Popara is a traditional kids' breakfast meal.
Making popara in Serbian style:
- Boil milk, in which you add some salt, and some kajmak.
- Add bread previously cut in to smaller pieces.
- Cook for few more minutes until it turns in thick paste. Be careful not to burn it.
- Serve on a plate and dig in!
- Day-old bread, cut in chunks
- Feta cheese, crumbled
- Green onion, chopped
- Parsley, chopped
- Beef broth or stock, hot
Place the bread slices in a bowl. Sprinkle the green onion, parsley and feta cheese on top. Pour some hot beef broth and wait until the bread soaks it in, then pour the rest. The bread shouldn't be dry or juicy. If needed, add some salt and pepper.
Tirit is a Turkish dish made from old bread so it doesn't have to be thrown away.