1. Macedonia: Tavče Gravče

This is the dish that gave me the idea for this blog. I was looking at random international cuisines on Wikipedia and it struck me that I knew nothing about what Macedonians like to eat. I went there, and this dish was at the top of the page with a caption that said something like "The national dish of Macedonia." And voila, a blog is born.


Wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tav%C4%8De_Grav%C4%8De
Recipe followed: http://www.mymacedoniankitchen.com/?p=428

About Macedonia

Capital City: Skopje
Population: 2,114,550
Language: Macedonian

Official Name: Republic of Macedonia (Република Македонија)

"Balkan chili" is a good Saturday afternoon dish, particularly if you're using dry beans that need to soak or boil for a good two hours.

I did in fact use dry beans, so I boiled them with onions, bay leaves and a dry ancho pepper for a couple of hours. I wasn't sure what to do with the ancho, so half an hour before I took the beans off the heat, I removed the ancho and chopped it, mixing most of the pulp back into the beans and onions. The recipe calls for a dried red pepper, and settling for the dried poblano (which is what I had on-hand) was probably a mistake. It gave the resulting dish a different flavor than was probably intended.

As it turns out, great northern beans need to boil for a bit longer than what the recipe says. Were I to do this again, I would keep adding 1/2 cup water and stirring until the beans are at the desired consistency. And DON'T rely on the 30+ minutes of baking to soften your beans more. They really find their softness in the boil, and not in the bake.

A fun first dish, though, and one that I'll probably make again at some point, if only to fix my mistakes and taste Balkan chili as it's meant to be tasted!

And don't add the spices until the oil is ready! I mistakenly threw everything into the oil well before it was ready to release the flavor, and I'm pretty sure the blandness of the resulting dish has this step to blame. Sunflower seed oil, which is what I used, has a MUCH higher smoking point. My poor spice mixture didn't get the full treatment it deserved!

Next country: Turkmenistan. Should be interesting.