Shopska Salad

This is one of Macedonia's most famous dishes especially on summer.


Ingredients:

• 3-4 tomatoes,
• 1 cucumber,
• 4-5 peppers,
• 1 Onion,
• 150g brined sheep's Cheese,
• parsley,
• vinegar,
• sunflower oil and
• salt

 Bake, peel and seed the peppers. Cut into small strips and add the diced tomatoes, cucumbers and Onion. Add salt, oil and vinegar, and mix. Serve in the shape of a pyramid, top with chopped parsley and grated Cheese.

Tavce Gravce

Tavce Gravce is a traditional Macedonian recipe which origins are from Macedonia and most of the Balkan countries have taken and changed the recipe by their needs. Many households in Macedonia make this dish by their own taste but this is the basic recipe, and to this you can add more vegetables or spices if you like. This is what you'll need:

500 gr. white beans
250 gr. white onion
meat (optional): bacon, sausages, smoked ribs etc.
1 clove of garlic
80 gr. sunflower oil
2 tablespoons of flour
1 tablespoon of red paprika (powder)
fresh mint, and parsley.
1 tablespoon vegeta (optional)
salt and pepper

First wash well the beans then place them in a pot and add water to cover well the beans (let the water be 5 cm over the beans), then put them to boil. When it comes to a boil, boil them about 1-2 minutes then pour the water and add new water to it. Chop the onion in big pieces and add it to the beans. Also you add the meat choped in a bitesize pieces. Boil the beans until they are ready, but be careful not to overboiled it. The beans must be whole and soft inside, not a mush. Then to a hot pan add the oil and the flour and mix it well until golden. Then add the paprika, mix fast and add this to the pot. Add the minced garlic and the choped mint. Add salt, pepper and vegeta. Stir well and cook for 2 minutes. turn off the heat and preheat the oven to 250 C. Add the beans to a terracota baking pan and put them into oven. Bake them until the beans have little liquid and over the beans have formed a thin crust. Sprinkle with finely chopped parsley.
If you want you can add tomato, or dried peppers, or some other vegetables.

Zelnik

Zelnik is a wonderful, traditional pastry or pie recipe from the Balkans. I grew up with Zelnik being made and savoured around special occasions like Christmas and Easter time as well as throughout the year. Everyone seems to make it in a similar way but it always tastes slightly different depending on whose hands have done the work.

Ingredients:
5 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. oil
1 egg
1 tsp. yeast
2 cups water

Put flour,salt in mixer. Dissolve yeast in warm water,add egg and oil, whisk. Add to flour mixture. With dough hook knead for 4 minutes. Put dough on floured surface and knead till not sticky. Dough should be soft. Divid into 10 pieces. Shape and pull slightly one at a time puttin crisco in between each piece. Make one stack of 6 and one of 4 pieces. press the edges of each stack together. Cover with towel for 25 minutes. Take one stack and roll out to 1/4 inch thick and put crisco over entire surface,turn dough half by in and other side in,then roll up and pinch. do same with other piece. Cover and let sit 25 minutes. Roll 6 layer first to fit a large buttered sheet pan,add filiing and sprinkle with butter.Put crisco around edge of dough. Roll other piece the same way. Cover filling. Roll up edges around the pan and brush with melted butter. Bake at 325 degrees and 45 to 50 minutes or until browned nicely.  Cheese filling;30 Oz. of Michigan Cottage Chesse or regular drained in a sieve,4 eggs.  Spinach filling; 2 frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed, i med. onion, chopped and sautee\'d. Add spinach and fry for 5 minutes with olive oil. Cool add 1 lb. cottage cheese and 3 eggs, salt to taste.
 There you have it, scrumptious zelnik. Enjoy :-)

Ajvar

Ajvar is a popular Macedonian appetizer or side dish made of roasted paprika (peppers) and eggplant. It is popular in many Balkan countries, with slightly varying recipes.

Ingredients

• * 8-12 fresh red paprika (mild or medium-hot, to taste)
• * 4 medium-size eggplants
• * 1/2 to 3/4 cup olive oil
• * 1 large onion, minced
• * 3 large garlic cloves, chopped
• * 1 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice (or 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar)
• * salt and pepper to taste
• * Chopped fresh parsley for garnish

How to make it

Roast the paprika and eggplants over charcoal or a gas flame, or bake them in a preheated 475 F oven, until the skin is blistered and darkened. Place the roasted vegetables in a paper bag and let them steam in their own heat for 10 minutes. Peel off and discard the burnt skin along with the stems and seeds. Mash the peppers and eggplant pulp together to form a slightly chunky mass. You can do this with a fork or in a food processor.Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet and saute the onion until very soft. Add garlic and cook for 2 more minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the pepper-eggplant pulp, mixing well. Slowly drizzle the remaining oil into the mixture, stirring constantly to incorporate all of the oil. Add lemon juice or vinegar, and salt and pepper, to taste. Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with parsley.Serve as an appetizer to spread on thick slices of country-style white bread or flat pita bread with chunks of feta cheese, or use as a side dish to accompany grilled or roasted meats.Yield: 6 to 8 servings, as an appetizer or side dish.

Stuffed peppers

• 8 medium green peppers
• 2 T butter
• 4 small onions, finely chopped
• 2 small green peppers, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 c chopped ham
• 1 can tomato puree
• salt and pepper
• 4 c fine bread crumbs
• 2 eggs

Cut a thin slice from steam end of each pepper. Remove seeds and wash. Drop peppers into boiling, salted water and boil 5 min. Drain thorouhgly. Melt butter in skillet. Add onions, garlic and chopped pepper and saute until limp. Add tomato puree, ham, salt, and pepper to taste. Simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in bread crumbs and eggs. Stuff mixture into pepper shells. Sprinkle tops with cracker crumbs. Bake in oven of 350 for about 25 min. or until stuffing is firm and delicately browned on top.

Turli Tava

This is a popular Macedonian dish, people's most favorite in the summer, and extremely delicious. Not very easy to make but sure it's worth it.

Recipe:
600 gr (or more) pork or beef meat (boneless) or chicken breasts or thighs (boneless). Cut it into medium sized pieces. (bigger than bitesize)
500 gr potatoes peeled and cutted into small cubes
500 gr tomatoes cutted into cubes
500 gr eggplant peeled and cutted into small cubes
500 gr bell pepper cutted into small pieces
4-5 okras cutted into circles
200 gr rice
1 large onion finely diced
water
oil
salt and 8-10 peppercorns
parsley

If you want this in vegetarian variation, leave out the meat and start with onions and potatoes.
Preheat the oven to 250 C degrees.
In a medium deep baking pan add the oil and the diced onion and stir. Lay the pieces of meat on top and bake this 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes stir everything and bake 5 minutes. After 5 minutes add the cubed potatoes and bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, stir everything and bake 5 more minutes. Then add the peppers and bake for 10 minutes. After that stir everything in the pan and bake 5 more minutes. Add the eggplant and the okras and bake 10 minutes. Than stir everything in the pan
and bake 5 minutes. Now add the tomatoes, rice, salt and peppercorns, parsley and stir everything. Add the water until the content of the pan is almost covered. Bake for 20-30 minutes more or until the rice is cooked.
The preparation is little boring but when you try this, you'll see that it's worth it.
Enjoy:-)