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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

40 recipes
Photograph Recipe Course Contributor Time Ingredients
Chicken with rice Chicken with rice The commonest Sunday lunch there is: chicken thighs over rice, baked until the rice has drunk all the stock. Main course Туѓино Јабано 1 hr 10 min 11
Chomlek (veal and onion stew) Chomlek (veal and onion stew) A slow winter stew of veal and whole small onions, made at New Year in Bitola and Prilep. Main course Туѓино Јабано 3 hr 50 min 15
Lamb under the sač Lamb under the sač Lamb and potatoes cooked slowly under a domed metal lid buried in embers, a shared Balkan Easter dish. Main course Туѓино Јабано 3 hr 30 min 13
Stuffed carp Stuffed carp A whole lake carp stuffed with onion and carrot and baked in white wine, eaten during the fast. Main course Fasting Туѓино Јабано 1 hr 45 min 11
Fried cironki Fried cironki Small lake fish rolled in flour and fried whole — fasting food from the shores of Ohrid and Dojran. Main course Fasting Туѓино Јабано 30 min 9
Lasagne (with minced meat) Lasagne (with minced meat) Lasagne as it is made in a Macedonian kitchen in Ontario — kashkaval instead of béchamel, and a test for when the sauce is thick enough. Main course Дијана Веселиновска 1 hr 10 min 11
Turkey with cabbage Turkey with cabbage The feast-day roast: a whole turkey on a bed of sauerkraut that takes up every drop of the fat. Main course Туѓино Јабано 3 hr 30 min 10
Kukurec Kukurec An Easter speciality of lamb offal wrapped in intestine and baked slowly in an earthenware pot. Main course Туѓино Јабано 3 hr 30 min 10
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
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
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
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

Cook something that is not here?

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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.