A Taste of the Balkans with the Balkan Kitchen – If, like me, you know rather little about the food of the former Yugoslavia, this fabulous new cookbook from Irina Janakievska is perfect. An incredible culinary and cultural journey The Balkan Kitchen is filled with stunning recipes that speak of the vast and varied cuisine of a region overshadowed by conflict in recent years. The book includes simple, but flavour-packed, dishes from North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Vojvodina, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia and Kosovo.
From Aubergine in Walnut Sauce and Stuffed and Baked Peppers to classic recipes including Sarajevo-style Burek, Cevapi and Chicken Paprikash, and of course sweet treats such as Bled Cream Cake, Chocolate Baklava and Slatko, the food is as vibrant and joyful as the stunning location photography and evocative essays. With cultural anecdotes, history and personal stories, The Balkan Kitchen is a book that will inspire you and delight those you cook for. It’s a love letter to Balkan cuisine – one of the most under-explored gastronomic crossroads in the world. It’s published by Hardie Grant at £27 for a beautifully photographed hardback.
Irina Janakievska is a food writer and recipe developer with a Balkan heart, a Middle Eastern palate and British curiosity. She was born in what is now North Macedonia, grew up in Kuwait, and now lives and works in London. Irina left a successful career in corporate and finance law to follow her passion for sharing her love of Balkan cuisine, the Balkans and its people. She completed the Essential Cooking Certificate at Leiths before working as a recipe developer in the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen and has also contributed to a range of media. The Balkan Kitchen was shortlisted for the Jane Grigson Trust Award in 2023.
Here are a couple of recipes to introduce you to Balkan cuisine and tempt you to buy a copy of the book.
Grandma’s Savoury Cake
This is the last recipe my grandma wrote down for me. In April 2011, as I was leaving for the airport to fly back to London, she pressed the piece of paper in my hand. Shortly after, she passed away suddenly. On the back of the recipe, she had written: ‘Grandma loves you. Don’t be scared, I’m sure you will succeed.’ I have always felt, and will always feel, that she was writing me more than just a recipe for savoury cake, but rather her last piece of advice to me – her recipe for the rest of my life.
This recipe is really a variant of the Balkan cornbread known variously as proja or projanica (in Serbia, Croatia and North Macedonia) or proha or uljevak in Bosnia and Herzegovina. There are hundreds (if not thousands) of variants of it across the Balkans, especially from areas across the region famous for growing local varieties of corn, such as the Sulova corn from Albania’s south- eastern regions (which is used to make pispili, a corn and spinach bread) or Kosovo white corn (which is used to make leqenik, which is similar to pispili). Many recipes are simply cornbread flavoured with local cheeses, but they can be more elaborate and enriched with various alliums and greens (especially courgettes/zucchini, spinach, nettles or leeks). Cornbread can be a meal on its own, accompanied by a variety of fresh salads, meze, preserves, pickles or serving boards of suvomesnati (dried, smoked or cured meats) and cheeses. Or, it is simply eaten in lieu of bread.
SERVES 8–10
INGREDIENTS
125 ml (4 fl oz/1/2 cup) sunflower oil, plus extra for greasing
1–2 boiled or steamed carrots (about 75 g/21/2 oz), finely chopped
1 sweet long green or red pepper (about 75 g/21/2 oz), finely chopped (or 1–2 celery stalks)
100 g (31/2 oz) smoked ham, finely chopped
100 g (31/2 oz) white cheese (or feta), crumbled
20 g (3/4 oz) fresh parsley, leaves picked and finely chopped
275 g (93/4 oz/scant 21/4 cups) self-raising (self-rising) flour, plus extra for dusting
3 medium eggs
150 ml (5 fl oz/scant 2/3 cup) kefir
100 g (31/2 oz/2/3 cup) finely ground cornmeal
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 190°C fan (400°F). Grease a 900 g (2 lb) loaf tin (pan) with a little oil, then coat in flour and tip out any excess or line with baking parchment.
Place the chopped carrots, pepper, ham, cheese and parsley in a medium bowl and mix well. Add 3 tablespoons of the self-raising flour to the savoury mixture and mix well to coat everything in flour.
Crack the eggs in a separate large bowl. Using an electric whisk, whisk the eggs for 2–3 minutes on high speed until they are well aerated, have doubled in size and are pale and frothy.
Add the kefir and oil and mix for 15–30 seconds to combine. Sift the rest of the flour, the cornmeal, salt and a good grind of black pepper into the wet mixture and fold it in with a spatula.
Next, fold in the vegetable mixture, ensuring that it is well distributed but do not overwork it.
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and distribute it evenly, making sure there are no air pockets, then bake in the oven for 60–75 minutes, turning around halfway through, until the top is golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Allow to cool in the tin for 10–15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing and serving.
Note – This mixture also works well as savoury muffins. Divide the mixture between 12 muffin cases and bake at 180°C fan (400°F) for 30–35 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and a skewer comes out clean. This keeps well in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days; after a day, warm it in the microwave for 10–15 seconds to freshen it up.
Tavče Gravče
(serves 4-6)
“Tava is the Turkish word for a baking dish or frying pan and grav means beans in Macedonian, hence the diminutive name of tavče gravče. These are thought of as the national dish of North Macedonia, though of course there are regional variations, for example in Serbia, where they are known as prebranac. Unlike prebranac, tavče gravče is flavoured with mint, and in my family we go overboard with it. The best beans for this come from Tetovo and the surrounding area and are known as Tetovo beans or Tetovac. The zaprška (a kind of Balkan roux) is best thickened with the bean cooking liquid and some of the crushed beans, though some people prefer to use flour. The beans are traditionally baked and served in an oval, unglazed earthenware pot. This dish can be vegan – simply top it with peppers or tomatoes – or you can add meat (typically slanina or smoked pork ribs for a Serbian-style prebranac) or sausages. My family’s favoured addition is Macedonian-style sujuk, a spicy, paprika-infused sausage, which is longer and thinner and closer to a Spanish chorizo than a Bosnian or Turkish-style sujuk. This is why I have recommended using chorizo.”
500 g (1 lb 2 oz/21/2 cups) dried Tetovo beans (or cannellini beans)
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
3 litres (1011/2 fl oz/121/2 cups) water
1 onion, quartered
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2–3 bay leaves
2 tablespoons dried mint
10 g (1/2 oz) fresh mint, leaves picked
FOR THE ZAPRŠKA
3 tablespoons olive or sunflower oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon sea salt flakes
3 tablespoons sweet paprika
1 teaspoon vegetable bouillon powder
OPTIONAL EXTRAS
1-2 long dried or fresh long red peppers, such as Vezenki or Pirot peppers (or Romano peppers) 4 cooking chorizo sausages (about 250 g/9 oz total), sliced in half lengthwise and skin scored diagonally 1 tomato, sliced
METHOD
The day before you want to cook the beans, put them into a large, heavy- based saucepan along with the bicarb and cover with 3 litres (1011/2 fl oz/ 121/2 cups) cold water. Cover and soak for 8 hours, or overnight.
The next day, drain and replace the water, then place the saucepan over a medium-high heat and bring to the boil. Boil for 10–15 minutes, after which time you should have a lot of froth and scum on the top. Drain the beans again and rinse them under running water. Return them to the saucepan, cover with the 3 litres (1011/2 fl oz/121/2 cups) fresh water and bring to the boil again. Add the onion, black pepper and bay leaves, reduce the heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 45–60 minutes, or until the beans are soft and cooked through but still retaining their shape. Transfer the beans to a 24 x 30 cm (91/2 x 12 inch) baking dish scooping out 150 ml (5 fl oz/scant 2/3 cup) of the liquid and a few beans for the zaprška. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Remove the onion, finely chop it and return it to the dish.
Preheat the oven to 170°C fan (375°F).
To make the zaprška, heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the onion and salt and fry for 10–12 minutes until soft and translucent. Reduce the heat, then add the paprika and cook for a minute. Add the bouillon and the beans and cooking liquid, then use a fork to gently crush the beans and mix everything together. Pour the zaprška into the beans and add the dried and fresh mint, then stir well to combine. Transfer to the oven and bake for 45–60 minutes, or until the beans are set but there is still some liquid and an even crust on top. At this point you can either serve the beans as they are, or add any of the optional extras, nestling the pepper or sausages among the beans or arranging the tomato slices on top.
Cook for a further 10–15 minutes (if adding the pepper or tomatoes) or until the sausages are cooked (if adding chorizo).
Serve warm.
The Seasoned Gastronome