Main course Fasting
Turli tava (fasting)
Mixed summer vegetables baked slowly in an earthenware dish; the name is the Turkish *turli*, meaning mixed.
Recipe from Туѓино Јабано
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 1 hr 10 min
- Total
- 1 hr 40 min
- Fasting
- Suitable
Ingredients 12 ingredients
Method
- Slice the aubergines into rounds, salt them and leave in a colander for half an hour. The bitter liquid that comes out is why this step is not skipped.
- Rinse and pat them dry. Cut the courgettes, potatoes and peppers into pieces of a similar size so they cook evenly.
- Pile the vegetables into a wide earthenware dish mixed together rather than in layers — turli means mixed, and the mixing is what trades the flavours around.
- Grate two of the tomatoes and mix them with the oil, finely chopped garlic, paprika, salt and pepper. Pour this over the dish.
- Slice the remaining tomatoes into rounds and lay them over the top. Add about 200 ml of water down the side of the dish.
- Bake covered at 190 °C for about 45 minutes, then uncover and bake for another 20–25 minutes until the vegetables colour at their edges.
- Scatter with chopped parsley and let it stand for ten minutes. Eat it hot or at room temperature; it is better on the second day.
If you cannot find it
Substitutions that work outside Macedonia.
- Long Macedonian peppers
- Romano or ramiro peppers; bell peppers give more water and a milder flavour.
- Earthenware dish
- A large ceramic roasting dish or a deep tray — wide matters more than deep.
- Green beans
- Frozen green beans added straight from the bag, or jarred beans well drained.
