From the community’s kitchens

Macedonian Cuisine

A central collection of Macedonian recipes — begun by the home cooks of the Macedonian community in Ontario, and widened to the dishes cooked across Macedonia itself.

140 recipes

10 home cooks

48 fasting

6 courses

Main course Fasting

It’s Friday — tavče gravče day!

Туѓино Јабано

2 hr 50 min 10 ingredients
Starter Fasting

Ajvar

Туѓино Јабано

4 hr 10 min 7 ingredients
Salad

Shopska salad

Туѓино Јабано

20 min 9 ingredients
Main course

Master, a ten — with onion!

Туѓино Јабано

45 min 7 ingredients
Main course

Sarma

Весна Огњанова

1 hr 50 min 8 ingredients
Pastry & pies

Burek with meat

Мими

1 hr 15 min 8 ingredients
Main course

Musaka with minced meat

Туѓино Јабано

1 hr 35 min 11 ingredients
Main course

Pastrmajlija (Štip meat bread)

Туѓино Јабано

3 hr 12 ingredients
Main course

Stuffed peppers

Туѓино Јабано

2 hr 15 min 12 ingredients
Pastry & pies

Gibanica

Дијана Веселиновска

1 hr 15 min 9 ingredients
Sweet

Baklava

Дијана Веселиновска

1 hr 35 min 17 ingredients
Salad Fasting

Macedonian salad (roasted pepper)

Туѓино Јабано

1 hr 15 min 9 ingredients
Main course

Selsko meso

Туѓино Јабано

1 hr 40 min 10 ingredients
Main course Fasting

Turli tava (fasting)

Туѓино Јабано

1 hr 40 min 12 ingredients
Soups & chorba

Tarator

Туѓино Јабано

20 min 9 ingredients
Main course

Chicken gjuveč

Туѓино Јабано

1 hr 45 min 12 ingredients
Starter Fasting

Pindjur

Туѓино Јабано

2 hr 30 min 9 ingredients
Sweet

Time for sutlijaš

Туѓино Јабано

50 min 5 ingredients
Pastry & pies

Mekici

Туѓино Јабано

1 hr 50 min 9 ingredients
Pastry & pies

Zelnik

Туѓино Јабано

1 hr 25 min 11 ingredients
Pastry & pies

Pogača

Туѓино Јабано

2 hr 25 min 11 ingredients
Soups & chorba

Veal chorba

Туѓино Јабано

2 hr 25 min 17 ingredients
Soups & chorba

Tripe chorba

Туѓино Јабано

4 hr 30 min 18 ingredients
Soups & chorba

Chicken soup

Туѓино Јабано

2 hr 20 min 13 ingredients

140 recipes
Recipe	Course	Contributor	Time	Ingredients
It’s Friday — tavče gravče day! The national dish: Tetovo beans, a great deal of paprika, and an earthenware pan. It is fasting food by nature, which is why it is on every...	Main course Fasting	Туѓино Јабано	2 hr 50 min	10
Ajvar A slow-cooked roasted red pepper relish that families make together each autumn and jar for the winter.	Starter Fasting	Туѓино Јабано	4 hr 10 min	7
Shopska salad A chopped summer salad of tomato, cucumber and pepper under a thick snow of grated white cheese.	Salad	Туѓино Јабано	20 min	9
Master, a ten — with onion! Kebapi from two meats, minced at home and worked by hand — the way a grill cook who knows his trade makes them.	Main course	Туѓино Јабано	45 min	7
Sarma Sarma made rich with bacon on top, but with instructions for the fasting version too — walnuts in place of the meat.	Main course	Весна Огњанова	1 hr 50 min	8
Burek with meat Burek with veal and a soak of yoghurt and sparkling water — that soak is why the inside stays soft while the top sheet crackles.	Pastry & pies	Мими	1 hr 15 min	8
Musaka with minced meat Layers of thinly sliced potato and minced meat under a set custard of egg and yoghurt.	Main course	Туѓино Јабано	1 hr 35 min	11
Pastrmajlija (Štip meat bread) Štip's oval bread, baked under cubes of marinated pork and finished with an egg broken over the top.	Main course	Туѓино Јабано	3 hr	12
Stuffed peppers Sweet peppers filled with minced meat and rice, baked slowly in a light tomato sauce.	Main course	Туѓино Јабано	2 hr 15 min	12
Gibanica Pastry, meat and soured cream in layers. The recipe arrives with three variants — meat, cheese, and cheese with spinach.	Pastry & pies	Дијана Веселиновска	1 hr 15 min	9
Baklava Baklava with walnuts, raisins soaked in rum, and syrup poured over it straight from the oven. It has to stand overnight.	Sweet	Дијана Веселиновска	1 hr 35 min	17
Macedonian salad (roasted pepper) A late-summer salad of roasted peppers and tomato, dressed with oil and vinegar and eaten with bread.	Salad Fasting	Туѓино Јабано	1 hr 15 min	9
Selsko meso Pork with mushrooms and kashkaval baked in an earthenware dish — the thing every Macedonian tavern is remembered for.	Main course	Туѓино Јабано	1 hr 40 min	10
Turli tava (fasting) Mixed summer vegetables baked slowly in an earthenware dish; the name is the Turkish turli, meaning mixed.	Main course Fasting	Туѓино Јабано	1 hr 40 min	12
Tarator Cold summer soup of yoghurt, cucumber, garlic and walnuts — as much a salad as a soup, depending how far you let it down.	Soups & chorba	Туѓино Јабано	20 min	9
Chicken gjuveč Chicken and rice baked together with summer vegetables in a single dish, without a single stir.	Main course	Туѓино Јабано	1 hr 45 min	12
Pindjur The softer cousin of ajvar: roasted peppers and aubergine with tomato, garlic and vinegar, for the end of summer.	Starter Fasting	Туѓино Јабано	2 hr 30 min	9
Time for sutlijaš Rice in milk, stirred with patience and dusted with cinnamon. The gentlest dessert in this collection and the hardest to get wrong.	Sweet	Туѓино Јабано	50 min	5
Mekici Fried yeasted dough for breakfast, with white cheese or jam — what the house smells of on a Sunday morning.	Pastry & pies	Туѓино Јабано	1 hr 50 min	9
Zelnik A layered pie of thin pastry filled with leeks and white cheese, eaten warm for breakfast or supper.	Pastry & pies	Туѓино Јабано	1 hr 25 min	11
Pogača The round loaf broken by hand at Christmas Eve, at a slava, or at any table with something to mark.	Pastry & pies	Туѓино Јабано	2 hr 25 min	11
Veal chorba A thickened veal broth with root vegetables, sharpened with vinegar at the table — the standard kafeana soup.	Soups & chorba	Туѓино Јабано	2 hr 25 min	17
Tripe chorba Long-simmered tripe soup, thickened with a paprika roux and eaten late with garlic and vinegar.	Soups & chorba	Туѓино Јабано	4 hr 30 min	18
Chicken soup Clear chicken broth with root vegetables and tarana, finished off the heat with egg and lemon.	Soups & chorba	Туѓино Јабано	2 hr 20 min	13

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About the collection A cookbook written by a community

At the core of this collection are 32 recipes gathered from readers of Tugjino Jabano, a newspaper of the Macedonian community in Ontario. Each was written out by the cook herself, measured in cups and spoons, the way a dish is made at home.

The collection has been widened with dishes cooked across Macedonia.

The archive recipes keep their original substance; where the instructions were too brief to follow, clarifications have been added. The untouched 2005 text is preserved in the society’s archive. The photographs on these pages are modern illustrations made for the collection — the contributors’ own photographs stay in the archive beside their words.

The Fasting mark means the recipe as written contains no meat, dairy or eggs. This collection treats fish as permitted throughout the fasting periods; for the stricter days, check the ingredients yourself.

The cooks