Turkish bean salad

Ingredients:

• 250g. beans
• 1,5dl. water
• 1 smaller onion
• 60g. olive
• 3 tbsp. lemon juice
• 4 tomatoes
• 50g. olives
• 2 hard boiled eggs
• salt and pepper

Pick over beans, wash, pour over cold water and leave to swell overnight, then cook in the same water and add peeled onion. When tender, drain and put into a deeper bowl. Remove onion.

For the marinade: mix well oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Pour over still warm beans, leave to cool about 30-40 minutes. Wash tomatoes peel remove stalk ends, cut into slices, remove slides. Halve olives. Shell eggs and also slice. Add tomatoes, olives and egg slices to the beans, mix carefully and leave to stand for at least 40-60 minutes. Turkish bean salad is ready for serving. Serve as an accompaniment to baked meat dishes or grills.

Caned beans can also be used for this salad, which should only be rinsed and drained. In that case the bean salad can be prepared quickly.

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• Turkish salad
• Bulgarian potato salad
• Albanian salad
  

Turkish bean salad

Stuffed peppers

Ingredients:

• 10-15 bigger paprikas/peppers
• 1-1.5dl. oil
• 2 onions
• 150g. rice
• 700g. mixed ground meat
• salt and pepper
• ground hot paprika
• tomato
  
• lukewarm water

Stuffed peppers, Punjena paprika (Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro), Polneti piperki (Macedonia), Pulnena paprika/Pulneni chushki (Bulgaria) or Ardei umpluti (Romania) is a famous Balkan dish consisting of paprikas/peppers filled with mixture of meat and rice. There are many variations of stuffed peppers across Balkan countries but here we present you the basic recipe that can you modify by taste:

Slice the tops off the peppers. Pull out the seeds and the cores. Dip them in warm water and leave to get soft.

Heat oil, add finely chopped onion, cook it slowly until sloghtly brown. Pick over rice, wash and cook in salted water, rise, drain and add to soft onion, then stirr in meat. Cook slowly together, add salt, pepper and ground paprika. Cool a little.

Place the pepper shells in a baking dish that will hold them snugly together. Spoon the filling into the peppers. Replace the tops with peace of tomato. Pour 3 tablespoons of water around the peppers and bake for about 30 minutes in the oven preheated to 175°C until filling is puffed and the peppers are soft. Serve warm or cold.

Stuffed peppers

Risotto with kidneys

Ingredients:

• 1 beef or 2 veal or pork kidneys
• 1 cup rice
• 2 cups meat broth or water
• 3 tbsp lard
• 3 onions
• 2 tbsp tomato sauce
• ½ tspn paprika
• salt and pepper, to taste
• a little sugar
• grated parmesan, to taste
• chopped parsley, for garnish

To prepare this recipe, first remove the outer membranes from the kidneys, split in half lengthwise, remove the interior fatty tissues and slice thinly. Set to boil starting with cold water. After it comes to a boil, drain and wash the kidneys with tepid water.
Finely chop the onion, fry in 2 tablespoons of lard until softened, add tomato sauce, paprika, one cup meat broth or water, salt, pepper, sugar and the kidneys. Simmer until the kidneys are done.

In the meantime, fry the rice in one tablespoon of lard, add a cup meat broth. Place the rice in a greased Bundt pan, cover and set into the oven to bake.
When the rice is done, turn onto a plate, spread some grated parmesan on top and place the kidneys and sauce in the middle hole.

Garnish with chopped parsley on top and serve hot.
This recipe (with modifications) is popular not only in Romania but also in many other Balkan countries.

Source: Freerecipes.8m.com

Risotto with kidneys

Serbian trout in kaymak

Ingredients:

• 1 trout of 1,5kg.
• 1 lemon
• 200g. kaymak
• 50g. white flour
• 1 small garlic
• 1dl. of wine vinegar
• salt

Clean fish, wash well, wipe, cut into bigger pieces, sprinkle with lemon juice and salt. Leave to stand like that about 30-40 minutes. Roll fish in flour, put into the frying pan in which kaymak has been melted (about 150g.). Fry at low heat. In the meantime peel the garlic, crush well with salt and chop, add wine vinegar and mix. When fish is fried nicely on both sides, take it out and place in a warmed dish. Each layer should be poured over with mixture of vinegar and garlic, and then pour the rest of kaymak over the whole dish.

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Serbian trout in kaymak

Bulgarian bird of paradise bread

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon instant active dry yeast (not rapid rise)
• 1/4 cup lukewarm water
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 6 tablespoons plain yogurt
• 4 large eggs plus 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 cup feta or brinza cheese, finely crumbled
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 thin slice kashkaval or Cheddar cheese, cut into 4 triangles
• 4 (1/2-inch-by-1 1/2-inch) rectangles of ham
• 4 pitted cured black olives
• 1 star-shaped piece of red bell pepper

"Bulgarian Bird of Paradise Bread" is a yeast bread that gets its name from the decorative placement of cheese, ham, olives and red pepper on the top.

In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine yeast, water and flour. Add yogurt, 4 eggs, salt and feta or brinza cheese. Switch to the dough hook and knead unil a soft, sticky, slightly lumpy (because of the cheese) dough forms, about 7 minutes.
Transfer dough to a greased bowl, cover with greased plastic, set in a warm place and let rise until doubled.
Punch down dough and place in a greased 8-inch springform pan that is 3 inches high. Brush liberally with remaining beaten egg mixed with milk.

To decorate, arrange kashkaval or Cheddar cheese triangles on top to form a square. Place ham and olives in between cheese and place the star of red pepper in the center. Let rise another 45 minutes.
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Bake bread 15 minutes then reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 30-40 minutes or until golden brown and an instant-read thermometer registers 190 degrees. Cool a few minutes in pan, then turn out of pan and cool completely on a wire rack.
Source: Easteuropeanfood.about.com
Adapted from "The Balkan Cookbook" by Trish Davies (Anness Publishing, 2000)

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Bulgarian bird of paradise bread