The card system was supposed to regulate its shortages and control its distribution. In practice, however, even people with a significant allowance of 4 kg could not purchase the goods, and store shelves were empty. In addition, it did not mean that you could buy a whole chicken. The lion’s share of the allocation was meat of lower quality and its products. Therefore, it was normal for offal to be included in the broth: hearts or stomachs.
So, as in the Polish People’s Republic, we had to be creative. Pork chops were replaced with a Roman cutlet, i.e. a breaded piece of yellow cheese. One-pot dishes were popular, such as bigos or baked beans, where small amounts of sausage could be added to give the dish a meaty flavor.
Mostly, however, we had to settle for flour dishes: lazy dumplings, Russian dumplings and pancakes with cottage cheese. But if it stayed meat from Sunday brothit could be ground and prepared from it stuffing.
Today, many people throw away such leftovers, but in the past it was unthinkable. On Monday the meat from the broth was used for noodles, pâtés, and very often for stuffed cabbage rolls or pancakes.
In many homes, this dish has become a symbol of a simple, filling dinner. After all, it helped feed the whole family, and at the same time – it tasted so good that we still remember it with fondness. For many of us, it’s Monday pancakes are the taste of childhood. Delicate, thin dough, soft stuffing and the smell of spices they were supposed to give second life for meat after broth. This was the quintessence of Polish People’s Republic cuisine: nothing is wasted, everything can be transformed, and the food is, above all, supposed to fill you up.
Below we present a refreshed version of the iconic dish. The recipe remains true to the spirit of those times – simple, economical and delicious – but we decided to modernize the dish a bit to suit today’s tastes.
Ingredients for pancakes:
- 2 eggs,
- 150 ml of milk,
- 150 ml of water,
- 160 g of wheat flour,
- ½ teaspoon of sugar,
- ½ teaspoon of salt,
- clarified butter for frying.
Ingredients for the stuffing:
- 500 g of broth meat,
- 1 onion,
- 2 tablespoons of clarified butter,
- ½ teaspoon of marjoram,
- ½ teaspoon of thyme,
- ½ teaspoon of sweet paprika and a pinch for decoration,
- a pinch of chili,
- salt and pepper to taste,
- 50 g sera cheddar,
- 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley.
Preparation:
- First, mix all the ingredients for the pancakes to obtain a uniform dough. Fry the thin pancakes in a bit of well-heated clarified butter, making sure that they are elastic and do not brown excessively – then they roll up best.
- In the meantime, chop the onion finely and fry it in butter. Grind the broth meat and pass it through a grinder together with the onion, then season with herbs, paprika, chili, salt and pepper so that the stuffing regains its full flavor.
- Fill each pancake with a portion of stuffing and wrap it up. Place them in an ovenproof dish, sprinkle with grated cheddar and bake for 15 minutes at 180°C until the cheese melts and browns slightly. Serve hot, decorated with parsley and a pinch of pepper.
Although times have changed and meat is not a delicacy today, Monday stuffed pancakes with broth ingredients, they still have something special about them. They remind us that the cuisine of the Polish People’s Republic – despite the restrictions – was tasty and filling, so why not reach for it today?
Sources: Terazgotuje.pl
