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

20 recipes
Photograph Recipe Course Contributor Time Ingredients
Ajvar Ajvar A slow-cooked roasted red pepper relish that families make together each autumn and jar for the winter. Starter Fasting Туѓино Јабано 4 hr 10 min 7
Pindjur Pindjur The softer cousin of ajvar: roasted peppers and aubergine with tomato, garlic and vinegar, for the end of summer. Starter Fasting Туѓино Јабано 2 hr 30 min 9
Malidzano Malidzano A cold spread of roasted aubergine and green peppers, eaten with bread on any meze table. Starter Fasting Туѓино Јабано 2 hr 11
Lutenica 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
Turshija (pickled vegetables) 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
Stuffed aubergines 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
Fried breaded kashkaval 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 Baked sirenje White cheese baked in a clay dish with tomato and kashkaval, the favourite meze of Bitola. Starter Туѓино Јабано 40 min 10
Veal pâté Veal pâté Boiled veal and vegetables put through the mincer and bound with mayonnaise. A homemade pâté you serve with a spoon. Starter Каролина Петковска 1 hr 55 min 9
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
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
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
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
Savoury pâté roll Savoury pâté roll A French loaf hollowed out and packed again with pâté, egg and carrot. Sliced into rounds like a salami. Starter Гордана Мишковска-Колева 55 min 5

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.