Canadian Macedonian Heritage Society Canadian Macedonian Heritage Society
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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

140 recipes
Photograph Recipe Course Contributor Time Ingredients
Shirden Shirden A Prilep speciality: lamb's stomach stuffed with chopped meat and spices, baked until the outside goes firm. Main course Туѓино Јабано 4 hr 10
Lasagne (with sausage and eggs) Lasagne (with sausage and eggs) A second lasagne from the same cook, this time with sausage, boiled eggs and three kinds of cheese. Main course Дијана Веселиновска 1 hr 15 min 11
Yogurtlija tava Yogurtlija tava Minced meat and rice under a yoghurt and egg custard that sets into a pale gold crust. An Easter dish. Main course Туѓино Јабано 1 hr 30 min 10
Chicken livers with onion Chicken livers with onion Twenty minutes from pan to table: livers over a high heat with a great deal of onion and a splash of vinegar at the end. Main course Туѓино Јабано 35 min 9
Kachamak Kachamak Cornmeal porridge stirred until it leaves the sides of the pot — mountain food, and fasting food when made with oil. Main course Fasting Туѓино Јабано 45 min 6
Pie or pizza? Pie or pizza? When the children want pizza and grandmother says pie, this is the truce. A pastry roll with salami, cheese and oregano. Pastry & pies Туѓино Јабано 55 min 7
Cabbage with rice Cabbage with rice Braised cabbage and rice in one pan — cheap, fasting food, and one of those dishes everybody remembers from home. Main course Fasting Туѓино Јабано 1 hr 5 min 10
Fried courgettes with yoghurt sauce Fried courgettes with yoghurt sauce Thin rounds of courgette fried to gold, served with a cold garlic and yoghurt sauce. Starter Туѓино Јабано 40 min 8
Roasted peppers with garlic Roasted peppers with garlic Three ingredients and a way of roasting that every Macedonian household knows by heart. Starter Fasting Туѓино Јабано 1 hr 10 min 6
Šar Mountain double Šar Mountain double Two things on one plate: a stuffed pork escalope and a meatball wrapped in bacon. Hence the ‘double’. Main course Донка Цапова 45 min 8
Makalo Makalo A thick garlic and dried pepper sauce for dipping bread — what went with the grill in every old tavern. Starter Fasting Туѓино Јабано 25 min 7
Piftija Piftija A winter aspic that sets by itself, without gelatine — the trotters give everything it needs. Starter Туѓино Јабано 4 hr 30 min 9
Stuffed eggs Stuffed eggs Boiled eggs halved and filled with their own seasoned yolks, a cold starter on every slava table. Starter Туѓино Јабано 1 hr 9
Little pillows of beef schnitzel Little pillows of beef schnitzel Thinly beaten schnitzels stuffed with rice and bacon, pinned shut and fried. Called pillows because that is what they look like. Main course Туѓино Јабано 1 hr 10
Homemade lukanka Homemade lukanka A flat air-dried sausage of pork and beef, Bulgarian in origin and cured in Macedonian households too. Starter Туѓино Јабано 25 hr 9
Seasoned soured milk Seasoned soured milk Thick soured milk beaten with garlic and salt under a slick of hot paprika oil, eaten with bread. Starter Туѓино Јабано 2 hr 33 min 8
Cironka with garlic and vinegar Cironka with garlic and vinegar Salted, sun-dried lake fish from Prespa, softened and dressed with garlic and vinegar for the fasting table. Starter Fasting Туѓино Јабано 1 hr 5 min 9
Potato starter Potato starter Baked potato halves hollowed into little bowls, each holding half a boiled egg and a knob of butter. Starter Донка Цапова 1 hr 10 min 7
Cabbage salad Cabbage salad Finely shredded white cabbage with vinegar and oil, the winter salad set beside tavče gravče. Salad Fasting Туѓино Јабано 45 min 9
Urnebes salad Urnebes salad A fierce cheese and chilli paste from southern Serbia, now standard beside grilled meat across Macedonia. Salad Туѓино Јабано 45 min 8
Cucumber and yoghurt salad Cucumber and yoghurt salad Cold cucumber, garlic and yoghurt salad eaten all summer beside grilled meat and beans. Salad Туѓино Јабано 40 min 9
Sandwich cake Sandwich cake A savoury cake of sliced bread, ham, tuna and cream cheese, iced and decorated like the real thing. So filling that no other meze is needed. Starter Горица Јовчевска 45 min 8
Beetroot salad Beetroot salad Sharp, sweet beetroot salad with garlic and walnuts, eaten through the winter and during fasts. Salad Fasting Туѓино Јабано 1 hr 25 min 10
Potato salad Potato salad Plain potato and onion salad, the standard fasting-day salad, most often served with fish. Salad Fasting Туѓино Јабано 1 hr 5 min 10

Cook something that is not here?

Send us the recipe as you make it at home. We read every one.

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Used only to ask you about the recipe. It is never published and never shared.

Every recipe on this site is published in all three languages. Write yours in whichever one you cook in — we will take care of the other two.

Is it fasting food?

Fasting means no meat, no dairy and no eggs. Fish is treated as permitted.

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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

The original page tugjinojabano.com/cuisine.php was created by Aco Lukaroski and donated to the Canadian Macedonian Heritage Society.