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

Starter Fasting

Malidzano

Туѓино Јабано

2 hr 11 ingredients
Main course Fasting

Kompir mandža

Туѓино Јабано

1 hr 10 ingredients
Sweet

Tulumbi

Туѓино Јабано

1 hr 10 min 9 ingredients
Sweet

Kozinjak

Дијана Веселиновска

3 hr 55 min 13 ingredients
Sweet

Skopje ravanija

Горица Јовчевска

1 hr 8 ingredients
Salad Fasting

Roasted pepper salad

Туѓино Јабано

1 hr 10 min 7 ingredients
Main course

Stuffed Ohrid trout

Туѓино Јабано

1 hr 10 min 11 ingredients
Starter Fasting

Lutenica

Туѓино Јабано

2 hr 30 min 9 ingredients
Main course Fasting

Anyone fasting? Come and have fish gjuveč!

Туѓино Јабано

1 hr 30 min 13 ingredients
Main course

Podvarok

Туѓино Јабано

2 hr 25 min 9 ingredients
Pastry & pies

Gjomleze

Туѓино Јабано

2 hr 30 min 6 ingredients
Starter Fasting

Turshija (pickled vegetables)

Туѓино Јабано

1 hr 15 min 14 ingredients
Main course

Kjoftinja (meatballs)

Туѓино Јабано

1 hr 40 min 15 ingredients
Starter

Stuffed aubergines

Мими

1 hr 15 min 6 ingredients
Main course

Pleskavica

Туѓино Јабано

4 hr 32 min 14 ingredients
Main course

Vegetarian musaka

Туѓино Јабано

1 hr 15 min 9 ingredients
Pastry & pies

Cheese burek

Туѓино Јабано

1 hr 20 min 9 ingredients
Sweet

Kadaif

Туѓино Јабано

1 hr 45 min 9 ingredients
Main course

Mixed grill

Туѓино Јабано

5 hr 5 min 13 ingredients
Main course

Chicken pan

Туѓино Јабано

1 hr 45 min 12 ingredients
Starter

Fried breaded kashkaval

Туѓино Јабано

55 min 9 ingredients
Starter

Baked sirenje

Туѓино Јабано

40 min 10 ingredients
Sweet

Tikvenik (pumpkin pie)

Туѓино Јабано

1 hr 45 min 10 ingredients
Main course

Roast veal

Гордана Мишковска-Колева

2 hr 55 min 13 ingredients

140 recipes
Recipe	Course	Contributor	Time	Ingredients
Malidzano A cold spread of roasted aubergine and green peppers, eaten with bread on any meze table.	Starter Fasting	Туѓино Јабано	2 hr	11
Kompir mandža Potatoes braised in onion and paprika — the plainest of the fasting dishes and the one most often cooked through Lent.	Main course Fasting	Туѓино Јабано	1 hr	10
Tulumbi Ridged fingers of cooked dough, fried hard and dropped into cold syrup. The rule is: hot into cold.	Sweet	Туѓино Јабано	1 hr 10 min	9
Kozinjak A plaited sweet bread for Easter and Christmas, with raisins steeped in milk and rum. The dough rises three times.	Sweet	Дијана Веселиновска	3 hr 55 min	13
Skopje ravanija Ravanija with walnuts and lemon zest. The rule here is the opposite of aravanija: syrup boiling hot, cake lukewarm.	Sweet	Горица Јовчевска	1 hr	8
Roasted pepper salad An autumn salad of roasted peppers with garlic and parsley that keeps in the fridge and improves for days.	Salad Fasting	Туѓино Јабано	1 hr 10 min	7
Stuffed Ohrid trout Lake trout stuffed with spinach, cheese and soured cream — a special-occasion dish from Ohrid and Struga.	Main course	Туѓино Јабано	1 hr 10 min	11
Lutenica A winter preserve of roasted peppers and tomatoes with carrot and chillies — sharper and looser than ajvar.	Starter Fasting	Туѓино Јабано	2 hr 30 min	9
Anyone fasting? Come and have fish gjuveč! River fish under an enormous quantity of onion, cooked until the onion disappears into the sauce entirely. Fasting food, written for the fas...	Main course Fasting	Туѓино Јабано	1 hr 30 min	13
Podvarok Sauerkraut baked slowly with pork ribs and smoked meat — a winter dish that asks for nothing but patience.	Main course	Туѓино Јабано	2 hr 25 min	9
Gjomleze A layered batter pie from the Ohrid and Struga lakeside, baked one thin ladleful at a time.	Pastry & pies	Туѓино Јабано	2 hr 30 min	6
Turshija (pickled vegetables) Autumn vegetables put down in brine and eaten right through the winter, beside beans, stews and bread.	Starter Fasting	Туѓино Јабано	1 hr 15 min	14
Kjoftinja (meatballs) Fried minced-meat patties, the ordinary weeknight supper in most Macedonian households, eaten with bread and salad.	Main course	Туѓино Јабано	1 hr 40 min	15
Stuffed aubergines Aubergines boiled, hollowed and filled with cheese lightened with whisked egg white. Served as a starter.	Starter	Мими	1 hr 15 min	6
Pleskavica A flat grilled meat patty eaten across the Balkans; the Macedonian favourite is stuffed with kashkaval.	Main course	Туѓино Јабано	4 hr 32 min	14
Vegetarian musaka Musaka without meat, where mushrooms take on the job of the mince. It is not fasting food — the sour cream and yolks see to that.	Main course	Туѓино Јабано	1 hr 15 min	9
Cheese burek The coiled cheese pie eaten for breakfast across the Balkans, and in Macedonia with a glass of yoghurt.	Pastry & pies	Туѓино Јабано	1 hr 20 min	9
Kadaif Shredded pastry baked with walnuts and steeped in lemon syrup, made across the Balkans for feast days.	Sweet	Туѓино Јабано	1 hr 45 min	9
Mixed grill A grill plate of kebapi, pleskavica and pork, shared across the Balkans and ordered for the whole table.	Main course	Туѓино Јабано	5 hr 5 min	13
Chicken pan Layers of poached chicken, mushrooms and kashkaval in an earthenware pan. It looks involved at first glance, but it is only stacking.	Main course	Туѓино Јабано	1 hr 45 min	12
Fried breaded kashkaval Slices of firm yellow cheese fried in breadcrumbs, ordered as meze in every Macedonian kafeana.	Starter	Туѓино Јабано	55 min	9
Baked sirenje White cheese baked in a clay dish with tomato and kashkaval, the favourite meze of Bitola.	Starter	Туѓино Јабано	40 min	10
Tikvenik (pumpkin pie) A coiled filo pastry of grated pumpkin, walnuts and cinnamon, made across Macedonia for Christmas Eve.	Sweet	Туѓино Јабано	1 hr 45 min	10
Roast veal A whole piece of veal with potatoes, celery and rosemary, roasted slowly for two and a half hours with butter and red wine.	Main course	Гордана Мишковска-Колева	2 hr 55 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