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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

  • Burek with meat Pastry & pies

    Burek with meat

    Мими

    1 hr 15 min 8 ingredients

  • Gibanica Pastry & pies

    Gibanica

    Дијана Веселиновска

    1 hr 15 min 9 ingredients

  • Mekici Pastry & pies

    Mekici

    Туѓино Јабано

    1 hr 50 min 9 ingredients

  • Zelnik Pastry & pies

    Zelnik

    Туѓино Јабано

    1 hr 25 min 11 ingredients

  • Pogača Pastry & pies

    Pogača

    Туѓино Јабано

    2 hr 25 min 11 ingredients

  • Gjomleze Pastry & pies

    Gjomleze

    Туѓино Јабано

    2 hr 30 min 6 ingredients

  • Cheese burek Pastry & pies

    Cheese burek

    Туѓино Јабано

    1 hr 20 min 9 ingredients

  • Maznik Pastry & pies

    Maznik

    Туѓино Јабано

    2 hr 15 min 10 ingredients

  • Gjevrečinja Pastry & pies Fasting

    Gjevrečinja

    Кире Банишки

    1 hr 55 min 7 ingredients

  • Cheese kiflički Pastry & pies

    Cheese kiflički

    Дијана Веселиновска

    3 hr 10 ingredients

  • Piroshki Pastry & pies

    Piroshki

    Дијана Веселиновска

    2 hr 25 min 14 ingredients

  • Pie or pizza? Pastry & pies

    Pie or pizza?

    Туѓино Јабано

    55 min 7 ingredients

  • Leek pie Pastry & pies Fasting

    Leek pie

    Туѓино Јабано

    1 hr 45 min 11 ingredients

  • Nettle pie Pastry & pies Fasting

    Nettle pie

    Туѓино Јабано

    1 hr 20 min 10 ingredients

  • Tutmanik Pastry & pies

    Tutmanik

    Туѓино Јабано

    2 hr 15 min 12 ingredients

  • Simit Pastry & pies Fasting

    Simit

    Туѓино Јабано

    2 hr 5 min 9 ingredients

  • Proja (cornbread) Pastry & pies

    Proja (cornbread)

    Туѓино Јабано

    50 min 9 ingredients

  • Pitulici Pastry & pies

    Pitulici

    Туѓино Јабано

    1 hr 55 min 8 ingredients

  • Lepinja Pastry & pies Fasting

    Lepinja

    Туѓино Јабано

    1 hr 55 min 7 ingredients

  • Spinach burek Pastry & pies

    Spinach burek

    Туѓино Јабано

    1 hr 10 min 9 ingredients

  • Pumpkin zelnik Pastry & pies Fasting

    Pumpkin zelnik

    Туѓино Јабано

    2 hr 10 ingredients

  • Somun flatbread Pastry & pies Fasting

    Somun flatbread

    Туѓино Јабано

    1 hr 52 min 8 ingredients

22 recipes
Photograph Recipe Course Contributor Time Ingredients
Burek with meat 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
Gibanica 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
Mekici 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 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 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
Gjomleze 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
Cheese burek 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
Maznik Maznik Hand-stretched dough, oiled, folded and wound into a spiral — the pie that looks like a snail shell. Pastry & pies Туѓино Јабано 2 hr 15 min 10
Gjevrečinja Gjevrečinja Rings of dough boiled first in honeyed water, then rolled in sesame and baked. Suitable for fasting exactly as written. Pastry & pies Fasting Кире Банишки 1 hr 55 min 7
Cheese kiflički Cheese kiflički Yeasted dough divided into 12 balls, each cut into 12 triangles. A hundred and forty-four little rolls from one batch. Pastry & pies Дијана Веселиновска 3 hr 10
Piroshki Piroshki Fried half-moons of yeasted dough filled with kashkaval, mortadella and ketchup. Eaten hot or cold. Pastry & pies Дијана Веселиновска 2 hr 25 min 14
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
Leek pie Leek pie A coiled lenten pie of stewed leek and rice, made through the fasts and all winter long. Pastry & pies Fasting Туѓино Јабано 1 hr 45 min 11
Nettle pie Nettle pie A spring pie of blanched young nettles and rice, made in the weeks before the nettles flower. Pastry & pies Fasting Туѓино Јабано 1 hr 20 min 10
Tutmanik Tutmanik A yeasted bread rolled around white cheese and eaten warm for breakfast; Prilep calls it kopishmide. Pastry & pies Туѓино Јабано 2 hr 15 min 12
Simit Simit The sesame ring of the old Ottoman towns, known across Macedonia as gjevrek and eaten from the bag. Pastry & pies Fasting Туѓино Јабано 2 hr 5 min 9
Proja (cornbread) Proja (cornbread) A cornmeal bread baked in a tin, eaten warm with ajvar, soured milk or white cheese. Pastry & pies Туѓино Јабано 50 min 9
Pitulici Pitulici Rounds of yeasted dough fried in oil, eaten hot for breakfast with white cheese and soured milk. Pastry & pies Туѓино Јабано 1 hr 55 min 8
Lepinja Lepinja A soft, airy bakery flatbread, split for kebapi or torn alongside beans and ajvar. Pastry & pies Fasting Туѓино Јабано 1 hr 55 min 7
Spinach burek Spinach burek A coiled pastry of spinach and white cheese, bought hot from the bakery for breakfast. Pastry & pies Туѓино Јабано 1 hr 10 min 9
Pumpkin zelnik Pumpkin zelnik A layered pumpkin pie made through the autumn and during the fasts, when eggs and butter are set aside. Pastry & pies Fasting Туѓино Јабано 2 hr 10
Somun flatbread Somun flatbread A round bakery flatbread the size of a plate, torn warm at iftar or alongside grilled meat. Pastry & pies Fasting Туѓино Јабано 1 hr 52 min 8

Cook something that is not here?

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

Send us a recipe

Send us a recipe

Write it as you would tell a friend. Somebody will read it and write back before anything is published.

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.

One per line, with the quantity.

Leave a blank line between steps.

Optional. One per line, like “Ajvar — roasted red pepper paste”.

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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.