ottawa foodies

I wanted to share a few recipes from the former yugoslavia region, particularly Bosnia. The reason is that there are variations and I have tried the different ones and BIH do it best.

If you know a bit about the former yugoslavia, its accepted by most that the best Cevapcici(dish of grilled minced meat) and Burek(meat pie) are made in BIH(Bosnia), particularly in Sarajevo(the capital). People from the rest of the Balkans sometimes come specifically to try these two main foods. In the Former Yugoslavia, this is our pizza. There are specialized shops that just sell burek. And the same goes for the cevapcici.

We don't have many restaurants in Ottawa that sell yugoslavian food but New Dubrovnik is one. It's a Croatian restaurant. They have about three traditional dishes from the region. There is also Skela. It's a store with a small area where they sell cevape and burek. Unfortunatley though, at least the cevapcici are not good imo.

I'll start with Burek. Since I can speak the language, I got this recipe straight from one of the most famous and loved restaurants in Sarajevo.

It can also be as thin as this picture.

BUREK

What you need: 0.5kg mince meat, one onion, some black pepper, 1 tsp of butter (or you can use margarine), 0.5 a potato, oil, salt and flour for your dough.

Preparing: You need to stretch out the dough. Cut it. Bosnian burek is different from others in that its thin dough layers which are stuffed and then rolled and cut into spirals. Serbian Burek for example is made from layers of dough, alternating with layers of other fillings and than topped with a last layer of dough. I really don't like this version at all..it cooks differently and it just isn't Burek imo. Then you stuff with mince meat, onions and potatoes(in fairly small chunks) You can keep onions a bit bigger. Salt and pepper.

You will need about three dough.

When the pie is done you take a bigger cup of water that is boiled and salted and you add one teaspoon of peanut better into that. Then put this over your pie evenly...put it back into stove for a bit for the pie to absorb the fat and liquid.

When done well Burek will be between mid-to-soft consistency wise, have a nice balance of fat which gives you that craving, will be seasoned perfectly, and when you bite in the ingredients will deliciously explode in your mouth (it shouldn't taste bland like your just eating bread, thats why its a lot better than serbian burek or even those lebanese pies (though i like them too) You can actually taste the ingredients well.

The key is how you make the dough. Do not buy the layers at a store, it won't be the same, will be 75% worse.

I like that there's an exact amount in measuring the failure of store-bought dough.

There's a really good Burek place in the Covent Garden Market in London, the name of which escapes me.

iheartsamosa, can you eat it cold as well? I'm trying to think of new lunch ideas...

[quote]iheartsamosa, can you eat it cold as well? I'm trying to think of new lunch ideas...[/quote]

It's really at its best when its warm and fresh. So i'd suggest a little microwave time. I wouldn't suggest eating it cold, however, Burek does stay pretty well. If you have extra, you can easily put it infro the fridge, and when you re-heat it, it will still be pretty tasty for at least a 2-3 days.

And sorry, it should say "butter" not peanut butter. I have peanut butter in my head lol

Here is a pic of how they do burek in serbia usually.

The Bakery in the Greenbank Mall (just north of Hunt Club) also sells burek. I've certainly enjoyed it but I have no idea what a proper burek should taste like.

Wow. The two look fairly different. I suppose it's regionalism at it's finest. Which, is why you're better off ordering paella in Valencia, generally speaking.

iheartsamosa: looks so delicious! Do you have a recipe for Burek's dough?
What are popular Bosnian sweets? If you have some recipes, would you please share them? Thank you:)

I am fairly certain how its made but I'll first check with mom.

And yep, there is some good desserts. I love a dessert called "Hurmice". It's basically a bosnian cookie.

Dough
1 eggs
2dl crème fraîche
200 butter
1dl oil
1-2 tablespoons sugar
500g flour
1 teaspoon Baking powder

syrup
1l water
700g sugar

Directions:

1.Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
2.Beat in egg,crème fraîche and oil.Gradually beat in flour with baking powder.
3.Gather the dough into a ball..Roll each ball into a small roll, 7-10cm long.
4.Place rolls 1 inches apart in greased baking pan.Bake 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven( 190 degrees C),or until golden.
syrup
1.Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted.Simmer for about 20 minutes.
2.Remove Hurmasice from oven and immediately spoon syrup over it. Let cool..

Tomorrow I'll post a recipe of my other favorite, "Cupavci". That means basically "furry". Here is a pic. The "Hurmice' and this one are the two my mom always made and are my favs for sure. We make baklava too but i prefer these two.

I'll have to see if I can find Chevtanka's recipe for Bacalo I was given when I worked on Preston
I quite liked hers as it was nice and spicy