Main course
Ražnjići (skewers)
Cubes of pork threaded onto short skewers and grilled over coals, the simplest thing on any grill.
Recipe from Туѓино Јабано
- Prep
- 2 hr 30 min
- Cook
- 15 min
- Total
- 2 hr 45 min
- Fasting
- Not suitable
Ingredients 12 ingredients
Method
- Choose pork neck rather than loin. The neck carries enough fat through the muscle to survive a hot grill, while loin will be dry before it has taken any colour.
- Mix the oil, garlic, pepper, paprika and Bukovo flakes in a bowl, turn the pork through it and leave it covered in the fridge for at least two hours, or overnight.
- If you are using wooden skewers, soak them in water for half an hour so they do not burn through.
- Salt the meat only now, then thread it onto the skewers, alternating cubes of pork with squares of red and green pepper. Push the pieces together but not tight — meat packed hard steams instead of browning.
- Let the coals burn down to grey ash. Set the skewers over a medium-hot fire.
- Grill for about twelve minutes in all, turning every three minutes, until the pork is browned at the corners and just cooked through. Overcooking is the usual failure here.
- Rest the skewers on a warm plate for three or four minutes, then serve with raw onion, ajvar and warm lepinja.
If you cannot find it
Substitutions that work outside Macedonia.
- Ajvar
- Roast red peppers with one aubergine and blend with garlic, sunflower oil and red wine vinegar.
- Lepinja
- A thick Greek pitta or a plain naan, warmed over the dying coals.
- Bukovo pepper flakes
- Sweet paprika with a pinch of Aleppo pepper.
