Cevapi - Kebab from Croatia

Ćevapi is one of the most famous dishes in Croatia, it is Croatia's kebab. Kebab is an Arabic word that means roasted meat.

It looks a bit different from the Turkish-origin kebab; it is a kind of sausage made with minced meat that can be beef, pork, lamb, or a mix.

It is eaten in a pita-type bread called Somun or Lepinja and accompanied by a sauce made from sour cream.

This dish is also widely consumed in other Balkan countries.

Ingredients for the Somun/lepinja (4 pita breads):

- 250 g wheat flour.

- 5 g Salt.

- 3 g dry baker's yeast.

- 155 g cold water.

Ingredients for Cevapi

- 800 g ground meat (mixturebeef and pork).

- 5 g Salt.

- 8 cloves of garlic.

- 5 g paprika.

- 1 egg.

- parsley.

- pepper.

- 1 onion.

Ingredients for the sauce

- Sour cream.

- Salt.

- Pepper.

- Chives.

Method:

11- Let's start with the bread. Put the flour, salt, and yeast in a bowl and mix well.

22- Add water and mix well, Sure, once the dough is compact, knead for 5 minutes.

33- Cover the bowl with cling film and let stand for one and a half hour.

44- This is how the dough looks after the first fermentation. It should double its size; the time it takes to ferment depends on the room temperature. Ideally, it should be at 24-25 degrees, otherwise, it might need more time to ferment.

55- Divide the dough into 4 equal parts, shape them into balls, and cover them again to let them ferment for another hour.

6- Preheat the oven to 250 degrees Celsius with the fan on.

7- Flatten each ball with your hands, and make marks on the surface with a knife to create a pattern.

8- Cook in the oven for 3 minutes until you see the bread puff up. The time depends on the oven; for me, it took 10 minutes. Keep the bread covered with a cloth while we prepare the rest.

9- Since sour cream is hard to find, I’m leaving a link to my blog where I explain how to make it: Sour Cream.

Put the sour cream in a jar and add the pepper, salt, and finely chopped chives. Stir well and keep it in the fridge.

10- Combine in a bowl the egg, pepper,paprika, salt, grated         garlic and parsley.

11- Add the meat and mix well.

12- Put some oil in your palms, take some ground meat to make sausages the size a finger. Put the sausages on a dish into the fridge until it is time to cook them.

13- Take a frying pan and fry the sausages, take the bread and cut in the middle as you see in the picture.

14- Add a few spoonfuls of the sauce, place the sausages in, and add the onion. If, like me, you find raw onion too strong, you can boil it in water for 15 minutes to reduce the acidity."

Receta en Español

You can also watch the recipe at my Youtube Channel:

Here you have a link to my favourite cooking tools where you can find my spices grinder:  

Favourite cooking tools

Croacia

Bandera:
De Nightstallion, Elephantus, Neoneo13, Denelson83, Rainman, R-41, Minestrone, Lupo, Zscout370,MaGa (based on Decision of the Parliament) - http://www.sabor.hr/Default.aspx?sec=4317, Dominio público, Enlace

Zikoko ntrede from Comoros

Zikoko ntrede, kokontede, vikokote or visheti is a typical dessert from Comoros and Tanzania.

They are little cakes eaten at religious holidays like Aïd (feast of the lamb).

My cakes turned out to be bigger than the original ones, they grew a lot during the process of frying. The taste is original and very good. Eat them accompanied by a cup of milk, coffee or tea, this way the taste of the cakes is enhanced.

Ingredients for the cakes:

- 500 grams of wheat flour.

- 250 ml of whole milk.

- 70 grams of butter or ghee.

- 1 tablespoon of chemical yeast.

- 2 tablespoon ground cardamon.

- One pinch of salt.

- 3 to 4 tablespoon of sugar.

Ingredients for the syrup:

- 200 grams of sugar.

- 250 ml of water.

- 1 tablespoon of ground cardamon.

Method:

1- Put inside a bowl the flour, yeast,salt, sugar and cardamon. Mix well.

2- Add hot butter or ghee and milk, mix well and knead until the dough is uniform. Divide the dough in two parts, knead into a cilinder shape as you see in the pictures.

3- Cut the cakes in the same shape that you see at the picture.:

 4- Press the cakes using an object like the one you see in the picture to decorate the cake.

5- Use hot oil to fry the cakes until they get golden. Place the cakes on absorbent paper to get rid of the oil.

6- For the syrup, mix all the ingredients and put on a medium heat until the syrup reaches a sticky point:

7- Bath the cakes into the syrup, then let the cakes get cold. And you can eat them!!

Receta en Español

You can also watch the recipe at my Youtube Channel:

Comoros

Couscouma - Comores

Receta en Español

Couscouma or Mardouf is the typical bread from Comores, it is made from wheat flour and butter or ghee.

The recipe I present today is the traditional one adding grated cheese and chive.

This bread is eaten daily and at big feasts like weddings and during Ramadam

Ingredients:

- 500 gr wheat flour.

- 200 gr butter or ghee.

- 1 glass of water.

- Salt.

- Grated cheese.

- Chive.

Method:

1- Sieve the flour and put it in a bowl, add water and mix well, add a table spoon of melted butter and mix well, knead for 10 minutes until the dough is not sticky.

2- Divide the dough into 6 parts, shape them like little balls.

Let them stand for 10 minutes, cover the bowl.

3- Take one ball of dough and use a rolling pin to flatten it.

4- Add some melted butter on the surface.

5- Add grated cheese and chopped chive.

6- Put the dough in the shape of a cilinder ,as you see in the pictures:

7 - Put the cilinder in the shape of two spirals.

8 - Add some melted butter.

9 - Put one spiral on top of the other, flatten with the help of a rolling pin.

10 - Add more melted butter on the surface.

11 - Put on a frying pan with the surface that has the butter upside down. Fry for 1 minute.

12 - Put some melted butter on the other surface and flip down, Cook until it is sligtly brown.

 Receta en Español

You can also watch the recipe at my Youtube Channel:

Comores