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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

  • Baklava Sweet

    Baklava

    Дијана Веселиновска

    1 hr 35 min 17 ingredients

  • Time for sutlijaš Sweet

    Time for sutlijaš

    Туѓино Јабано

    50 min 5 ingredients

  • Tulumbi Sweet

    Tulumbi

    Туѓино Јабано

    1 hr 10 min 9 ingredients

  • Kozinjak Sweet

    Kozinjak

    Дијана Веселиновска

    3 hr 55 min 13 ingredients

  • Skopje ravanija Sweet

    Skopje ravanija

    Горица Јовчевска

    1 hr 8 ingredients

  • Kadaif Sweet

    Kadaif

    Туѓино Јабано

    1 hr 45 min 9 ingredients

  • Tikvenik (pumpkin pie) Sweet

    Tikvenik (pumpkin pie)

    Туѓино Јабано

    1 hr 45 min 10 ingredients

  • Semolina halva Sweet Fasting

    Semolina halva

    Туѓино Јабано

    40 min 8 ingredients

  • Gurabii (shortbread) Sweet

    Gurabii (shortbread)

    Туѓино Јабано

    55 min 8 ingredients

  • Vasa’s cake Sweet

    Vasa’s cake

    Марија Банишка

    1 hr 30 min 10 ingredients

  • Aravanija Sweet

    Aravanija

    Гордана Мишковска-Колева

    1 hr 5 min 8 ingredients

  • Walnut salami Sweet

    Walnut salami

    Гордана Мишковска-Колева

    20 min 7 ingredients

  • Susamčinja Sweet Fasting

    Susamčinja

    Горица Јовчевска

    35 min 3 ingredients

  • Apple pie Sweet

    Apple pie

    Туѓино Јабано

    1 hr 20 min 10 ingredients

  • Kruševo lokum Sweet Fasting

    Kruševo lokum

    Туѓино Јабано

    26 hr 10 min 10 ingredients

  • Oshav (dried fruit compote) Sweet Fasting

    Oshav (dried fruit compote)

    Туѓино Јабано

    12 hr 50 min 10 ingredients

  • Green fig preserve Sweet Fasting

    Green fig preserve

    Туѓино Јабано

    14 hr 5 ingredients

  • Vanilici Sweet

    Vanilici

    Туѓино Јабано

    55 min 11 ingredients

  • Kjelufki (Kruševo kisses) Sweet

    Kjelufki (Kruševo kisses)

    Туѓино Јабано

    55 min 5 ingredients

  • Tatlija Sweet

    Tatlija

    Туѓино Јабано

    5 hr 15 min 12 ingredients

  • Mlečnik Sweet

    Mlečnik

    Туѓино Јабано

    1 hr 15 min 9 ingredients

  • Krem pita Sweet

    Krem pita

    Туѓино Јабано

    1 hr 5 min 10 ingredients

  • Palačinki Sweet

    Palačinki

    Туѓино Јабано

    1 hr 9 ingredients

  • Eclairs Sweet

    Eclairs

    Туѓино Јабано

    1 hr 20 min 7 ingredients

26 recipes
Photograph Recipe Course Contributor Time Ingredients
Baklava 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
Time for sutlijaš 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
Tulumbi 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 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 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
Kadaif 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
Tikvenik (pumpkin pie) 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
Semolina halva Semolina halva Semolina fried in oil until it darkens, then drowned in hot syrup — a fasting sweet made for memorials and for Lent. Sweet Fasting Туѓино Јабано 40 min 8
Gurabii (shortbread) Gurabii (shortbread) Crumbly butter shortbreads under a heavy dusting of icing sugar, baked for Christmas, Easter and family celebrations. Sweet Туѓино Јабано 55 min 8
Vasa’s cake Vasa’s cake Walnuts, orange and dark chocolate under a cloak of meringue. A classic slava cake, with instructions on how to portion it for guests. Sweet Марија Банишка 1 hr 30 min 10
Aravanija Aravanija A semolina cake drenched in syrup. There is one rule: the cake cold, the syrup warm. Sweet Гордана Мишковска-Колева 1 hr 5 min 8
Walnut salami Walnut salami A sweet ‘salami’ that is never baked — rolled in parchment and left in the cold to set. Sweet Гордана Мишковска-Колева 20 min 7
Susamčinja Susamčinja Three ingredients and no baking: sesame, lokum and jelly sweets, rolled up and sliced. The shortest recipe in the archive. Sweet Fasting Горица Јовчевска 35 min 3
Apple pie Apple pie Rolls of thin pastry filled with grated apple and cinnamon, baked and buried in icing sugar. Sweet Туѓино Јабано 1 hr 20 min 10
Kruševo lokum Kruševo lokum The starch-set sweet Kruševo has made for a century, served in cubes beside coffee at weddings and christenings. Sweet Fasting Туѓино Јабано 26 hr 10 min 10
Oshav (dried fruit compote) Oshav (dried fruit compote) Dried fruit stewed in its own soaking water, drunk through the winter and set out on the Badnik table. Sweet Fasting Туѓино Јабано 12 hr 50 min 10
Green fig preserve Green fig preserve Small green figs boiled through nine changes of water, then set in syrup and offered to guests by the spoonful. Sweet Fasting Туѓино Јабано 14 hr 5
Vanilici Vanilici Small lard-and-butter biscuits turned hot in vanilla icing sugar, baked in every house at Christmas. Sweet Туѓино Јабано 55 min 11
Kjelufki (Kruševo kisses) Kjelufki (Kruševo kisses) Kruševo’s meringue kisses, egg white and sugar dried slowly in a low oven until crisp and still white. Sweet Туѓино Јабано 55 min 5
Tatlija Tatlija A tray of baked semolina dough cut into diamonds and drenched in syrup once it has cooled. Sweet Туѓино Јабано 5 hr 15 min 12
Mlečnik Mlečnik Pastry sheets soaked in milk and eggs that set in the oven into something between a pie and a custard. Sweet Туѓино Јабано 1 hr 15 min 9
Krem pita Krem pita Two sheets of puff pastry with a thick layer of cooked custard between them — the cake of every Macedonian pastry shop. Sweet Туѓино Јабано 1 hr 5 min 10
Palačinki Palačinki Thin pancakes with jam, walnuts or chocolate — the childhood dessert everyone learns to make for themselves first. Sweet Туѓино Јабано 1 hr 9
Eclairs Eclairs Baked choux filled with custard and coated in chocolate — a guest cake that looks harder than it is. Sweet Туѓино Јабано 1 hr 20 min 7

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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.