🇸🇮 Slovenia
PrežgankaSlovenian browned flour soup
A Slovenian soup of flour browned in lard or butter, thinned with water or stock and seasoned with caraway, usually finished with a beaten egg and served with bread or croutons.
Origin and history
Prežganka (from prežganje, browned flour) is a Slovenian soup made from almost nothing: flour browned in fat, water, salt and caraway. The Pomurje Museum describes the simplest version as flour browned on lard with water added, and says it is often prepared even for breakfast. Slovenian Kitchen calls it a way to make something from almost nothing in hard times and notes that many European countries have a roux soup of their own.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 4 servings
- Total time
- 20 min
- Hands-on
- 20 min
Ingredients
- 30 g2 tbsp lard or butter, lard is the traditional fat
- 25 g3 tbsp plain flour
- 1 tsp caraway seeds, lightly crushed
- 1 l4 1/4 cups water, or light stock
- 2 eggs, beaten
- salt and black pepper, to taste
- bread croutons or slices of wholegrain bread, to serve
Method
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1. Melt the lard in a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat.
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2. Stir in the flour and caraway and cook, stirring constantly, for 4 to 6 minutes, until it turns light golden brown and smells nutty. Do not let it burn.
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3. Pour in the water a little at a time, stirring until smooth after each addition.
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4. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes, season with salt.
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5. Pour the beaten eggs slowly into the simmering soup, stirring, so they set in thin strands, and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
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6. Season with pepper and serve at once, with croutons or bread.
Notes
- The browning gives the soup its flavour: aim for a light golden brown, since a darker roux can turn bitter.
- Slovenian Kitchen says water was the traditional choice; stock gives a richer soup.
- Prežganka is flexible: according to the Pomurje museum, it can be thickened with buckwheat porridge, scrambled egg, mashed potato with sour cream or pasta, and a denser form becomes a main dish with wholegrain bread dipped in. It is often prepared even for breakfast.
- Slovenian Kitchen notes that spice choices vary by region (caraway, paprika, salt, pepper) and that the author's grandmother made it for sick grandchildren, as chicken soup is used elsewhere.
- Quantities: Svet24 gives 1 tbsp fat, 2 tbsp flour and 1 egg per litre; Slovenian Kitchen 30 g butter, 25 g flour and 2 eggs. This page uses Slovenian Kitchen's, with lard as the fat per the Pomurje museum. The egg is optional (Svet24).
Adapted from Svet24: Prežganka (recipe), Slovenian Kitchen: Slovenian roux soup (prežganka), and Pomurje Museum Murska Sobota: Soup made by browning flour on lard and adding water.
At the festivals
No festival we list has printed it on a menu yet.