The most common feast days in Serbia are St. Nicolas /falling on December 19/, St. George (May 6, Djurdjevdan/, St. John the Baptist /January 20/, St. Demetrius /November 8/ and St. Michael /November 21/. Serbian Orthodox Church uses Julian calendar. Julian calendar remained in use until the 20th century as the national calendar, especially in the Orthodox countries, but it was changed into the new version of the Gregorian calendar. Still it is used in some national Orthodox churches amongst them is the Serbian Orthodox Church, The Holy Mount Athos in Greece and Berberi in the South Africa. In Serbia which used to respect Julian calendar as the official calendar according to the tradition of the Serbian Orthodox Church the New Year on the 31st December was first celebrated in 1919 when King Aleksandar Karadjordjevic accepted the Gregorian calendar as the national calendar.

BBC News Serb Families honour their saints with slava celebrations

Food preparation is a strong part and the pride of the Serbian family tradition and thus You will have exquisite gourmet experiences while traveling with PANACOMP.

Here are recipes for some exiting Serbian typical meals. Enjoy and "Prijatno" !

GIBANICA



Gibanica is Serbian traditional favorite phyllo pastry dish. Gibanica is usually prepared of several varieties of cheese and some kajmak. It is best if made of homemade thin layers of dough, although store-bought dough is as good. Other varieties and related dishes of gibanica can also be found in surrounding countries of the Balkans, most notably Macedonia and Bulgaria where it is usually called banitza as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and Croatia. Gibanica is one of the most popular and recognizable dishes in Serbia. Gibanica is prepared most often for festive occasions or simply as a comforting family snack. Gibanica is most commonly made with a variety of eggs and mild and strong cheeses, like cottage cheese, Feta cheese as well as kajmak. Other varieties of delicious Serbian brand - gibanica are made of spinach, meat or potatoes, nettles and onions.

PROJA is a Serbian national dish of corn /known as corn bread/



General recipe for proja :
5 cups corn flour
3 cups flour
3 eggs
3 cups oil
1 baking powder
1 cup yogurt
1 glass mineral water
1 big slice cheese - crushed
salt

Mix it all together and bake in greased pan /it should be 5 cm high/ until golden. Best served with kiseli kupus and pavlaka.

PIHTIJE

Pihtije are an aspic-like Serbian delicious dish. Pihtijas are generally made from low grade pork meat, such as the head, shank and/or hock. Some recipes also include smoked meat.
Pihtije are commonly just one component of a traditional Serbian meal (or an starter), although they can be served as a main dish. They are usually accompanied by cold rakija (strong plum brandy šljivovica or apricot brandy is nice, but quince brandy can do as well) and turšija (cold pickled vegetables, usually horse-radish, bell peppers, hot peppers, green tomatoes and cabbage/sauerkraut).The recipe calls for the meat to be cleaned, washed and then boiled for a short time, no longer than 5-10 minutes. Then the water is changed, and vegetables and spices are added (usually pepper, bay leaves, onion, carrots, celery). This is cooked until the meat begins to separate from the bones by itself; then, the bones are removed, the meat stock is filtered and the meat and stock are poured into shallow bowls. Garlic is added, as well as thin slices of carrots or green peppers, or something similar for decoration. It is left to sit in a cold spot, such as a fridge or outside in cold weather (this is a traditional winter dish). It congeals into jelly and can be cut into cubes (it is often said that good pihtijas are "cut like glass"). These cubes can be sprinkled with dried ground red paprika (aleva paprika), as desired, before serving.

CORN BREAD WITH NETTLES

Ingredients
300 gr of nettles
500 gr of corn flour
300 gr of young cheese
3 eggs
100 gr of oil
1 pack of baking powder
salt

Boil nettles for a while and then chopp them into small pieces. Put them together with corn flour, mashed chees, eggs, oil and baking powder and knead well. Use some mineral water if necessary to make it watery. Put a little oil in a pan and bake in oven on 220 C for about 30 minutes /until brown/. Serve it warm or cold /with yoghurt/.

AJVAR  /ayvar/


Ayvar - ajvar /ayvar/ is very tasteful Serbian relish eg. very popular roasted eggplant-sweet-pepper mixture made principally from red bell peppers, with eggplant, garlic and chile pepper. It is predominantly popular in the Balkans. Depending on content in bell peppers and the amount of added chile peppers, it can be sweet, piquant /the most common/ or very hot. Ajvar can be consumed as a bread spread, an addition in sandwiches, condiment /often used with grilled or roasted meat/, as an appetizer or salad. The name ajvar comes from Turkish havyar, which means salted roe. Preparation of ajvar is somewhat difficult, as it involves plenty of manual labor, especially for peeling. Traditionally, it is prepared in early autumn, when the bell peppers are most abundant, conserved in glass jars, and consumed throughout the year /although in most households stocks don't last up until spring, when fresh salads start to emerge anyway, so it's usually enjoyed as winter food/.
The peppers and eggplants are baked whole on a plate on open fire, plate of a wood stove, or in the oven. Baked peppers must briefly rest in a closed dish, so that they get cooler and the flesh sets apart from the skin. Then, the skin is carefully peeled off and seeds removed. So obtained pepper is ground in a mill or chopped in tiny pieces /this variant is often referred to as pinđur/. Finally, the mush is stewed for a couple of hours in large pots, with added sunflower oil and garlic, in order to condense and reduce the water, as well as to enhance later conservation. Salt and optional vinegar are added at the end and the hot mush is poured directly into glass jars which are immediately sealed. The best ajvar is produced domestically, as only the manual peeling and seed removal ensures clear taste without slightly bitter influence of the pepper skin. Industrial production is modest; reported annual Serbian production of ajvar is 640 tons.
Ayvar - photo recipe - photos of Ivo Danchev - Balcanicaucaso

KAJMAK


Kajmak /KAYMAK/ is Serbian autochtonous  creamy dairy product similar to clotted cream. Kajmak is produced all over the Middle East, Southeast Europe, Iran, Afghanistan, India and Turkey. Kajmak is made from milk of water buffaloes in East or cows in West. Kaymak is "must" in Serbia ate as starter or within the main dish. The traditional method of making kaymak is to boil the milk slowly, then simmer for two hours over a very low heat. After the heat source is shut off, the cream is skimmed and left to chill /and mildly ferment/ for several hours or days. It has a high percentage of milk fat, typically about 60%. Kajmak has thick, creamy consistence /but not entirely compact due to milk protein fibers/ and rich, mildly sour taste /depending on how long it matured/. Kaymak is traditionally eaten in Serbia as starter with smoked ham, pastries, preserves or honey or as a filling in pancakes. Kaymak is almost always produced in traditional way in households and can be bought only on open markets; industrial production of kajmak is low and not as good quality as homemade. The best brands of kajmak come from mountainous cattle farms. The most famous location of kajmak production in Serbia are Zlatibor Mountain and the area of the southwest Serbia.
Kajmak is usually enjoyed as an appetizer, but also as a condiment. The simplest recipe is lepinja sa kajmakom /fresh raw bread filled with kajmak/ consumed for breakfast or as fast food. Serbs, Montenegrins, Bosnians and Macedonians consider it a national meal. Other traditional dishes with kajmak include pljeskavica sa kajmakom /Serbian version of hamburger patty topped with melted kajmak/, as well as ribić u kajmaku /beef leg meat slowly simmered with kajmak/.

KULEN


Kulen is type of flavored sausage made of minced pork that is traditionally produced in Vojvodina and Slavonia. The meat is low-fat, and the flavor is rather spicy. The red paprika gives kulen aroma and color, and other spices used are black pepper and garlic. The meat is stuffed and pressed into bags made of swine intestine, and made into pieces that are usually around ten centimeters in diameter, and up to three times as long, weighing around a kilogram. The pieces of kulen are smoked for several months with only certain types of wood. After the smoking they are air-dried for several months. This process can last up to a year.
When the kulen meat is stuffed into the smaller intestine it is narrower and requires less smoking and drying, but it also gets done quicker. The traditional time of producing kulen is during the svinjokolj, the slaughtering of pigs, done every autumn by most of households in Serbia /if not all rural households/. The kulen matures during the coming winter and can be eaten even then /hundred, and has a pretty hot taste/ and is edible in the summer, remaining edible for up to two years.

SARMA


Sarma is the name of flavory grape leaf or cabbage leaf roll common to Southeastern Europe and adjacent areas. It is traditionally prepared in Armenia, Bulgaria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine, and in some other geographically and traditionally close countries. Sarma means "wrapping" or "rolling" in Turkish, and is similar to its cousin dolma. Minced meat /usually beef, pork, veal, or a combination thereof/, rice, onions, and various spices, including salt, pepper and various local herbs are mixed together and then rolled into large plant leaves, which may be cabbage, sauerkraut /most often in Serbia/, grape or broadleaf plantain leaves. The combination is then cooked together with few pieces of smoked meat or beacon in boiling water for few hours. While specific recipes vary across the region, it is uniformly recognized that the best cooking method is slow boiling in large clay pots. A special ingredient, flour browned in fat, is often added at the end of the process. Vegetarian variants as well as those made with fish exist.
Unlike other eastern European cultures, the peoples of Southeastern Europe overwhelmingly use sour cabbage /pickled cabbage/ as opposed to fresh cabbage. It gives sarma unique savory taste. At the end of the autumn, families traditionally prepare the sour cabbage /as whole cabbage, or as individual leaves for sarma-making but also shredded that is used for other traditional Serbian dishes, amongst them podvarak is most popular/. Pickled cabbage is one of autochtonous speciality in Serbia which is used as salad in starters or coocked in sarma as the main dish. Another kind of sarma are those rolled in /grape/ vine leaves — smaller and with slightly different taste. Sarma prepared with pickled cabbage is normally a heavy dish /though families are increasingly using healthier options such as olive oil or other oils instead of the traditional pork fat/. Thus it is usually eaten during winter. Traditionally sarma is served along with polenta or potatoes, which are sometimes mashed. Other optional add-ons include sour cream, yogurt and horseradish. Cabbage rolls served in tomato sauce, though common in North America, are much less common in Southeastern Europe. Unlike its Polish or Ukrainian equivalents, the filling of sarma in Serbia is predominately meat, as opposed to rice—in fact, it is only in recent times that rice has been added to sarma. Originally sarma was made with barley. It is virtually impossible to make sarma for a small number of people, unless they are willing to help themselves to huge servings. Traditionally, a pot filled with sarma /sarmale/ is usually prepared for an entire family. Sarma is very popular /favorite/ dish in Serbia and often served as a one of the main dishes during wedding ceremonies.

ĆEVAPI /ćevapčići/



Ćevapčići - ćevapi is the name of the very popular dish in the Balkans. They are small grilled rolls of minced meat (in Bosnia of beef and lamb; or pork and beef in Serbia and Macedonia). Cevapčići ase usually served on the plate or in lepinja in Serbia, or somun in Bosnia with chopped onions, kajmak, cottage cheese, etc. The name ćevapčići originates from the Turkish kebab.
It is believed that the best Serbian ćevapi /ćevapčići/ are made in the city of Leskovac, made from 100% beef, served in lepinja. They say that the only proper way of grilling ćevapčići is to use glowing coals beneath a grill, and the distance between the grooves must be exactly eight millimeters. The both expressions ćevapčići and ćevapi are common in Serbia. In other parts of Serbia cevapcici are often made of both pork and beef.
In Bosnia, Ćevapi is a dish commonly associated with the area comprising the former Yugoslavia. Bosnia and Herzegovina in particular is widely recognized as the republic most associated with Ottoman-influenced food such as ćevapi. Some of the locations in Bosnia known for their great ćevapi include the Baščaršija district in Sarajevo and Banja Luka. Banja Luka's ćevapi are multiple rolls /usually four/ joined together. Some prefer the Macedonian variant kebapi /since they're made of both pork and beef. The dish ćevapčići which usually comes in 5-10 pieces is served only with white bread, minced red pepper, salt and onions. The old turkish bazaars in Skopje, Bitola, as well as in the rest of Macedonia, are traditional locations to get a desetka /a 10 piece dish/.
In the '60s the word ćevapčići and the dish spread on the Adriatic coastline. Starting from '70s ćevapčići has also become a popular fast food, both in the Balkans, the United States and Europe.

PASULJ /SERBIAN BEANS/

SERBIAN SAUERKRAUT – BEEF AND CABBAGE CASSEROLE/with smoked meat/

DUVAN CVARCI - CRACKLINGS

CHICKEN STEW



5 chicken quarters, about 600 g each,
200 g onions, chopped
150 g sunflower oil or lard
150 g tomatoes, cut into wedges
150g bell peppers, cut into strips
400 g cream fraiche
30 g flour
1 tsp chili powder
1 garlic clove, crushed

Method of preparation of Chicken Stew :
Sauté the onions and garlic until golden brown. Add chilly powder, chicken and little water. Simmer on low heat. Bring to the boil. Add tomatoes and peppers. When the meat is done, remove from the pan, bone and keep warm. Strain the juices through the sieve and pour over the meat. Garnish with peppers and tomatoes. Serve with pasta or noodles.

STUFFED PEPPERS


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, and they are often on the menu.

12 red paprikas
1 small onion
1 - 2 carrots
few cut mushrooms
1 celery /cut in pieces/
2 cups of soya beens or 1 cup of rice
2 tomato
salt, pepper
oil
tomato juice or water

Clean paprika, take out seed from them and put in big oven. Bake onion, mushrooms, celery and carrots in greased pan until brown. Add soya beans or rice and afterward salt and pepper and join all to fill paprikas. Finish tops of paprikas with piece of tomato. Pour tomato juice or water over stuffed paprika and cook some half and hour on small temperature.

POTATO MOUSSAKA

Ingredients :
- 2 kg of potato,
- 500 g minced meat /mixture of beef and pork/
- 1 onion,
- 2 garlics,
- 1 carrot
- 50 g tomato concentrate,
- 3 dl of oil
- salt, pepper
- some muscat flavor and few parsley
Potato musaka cover :
- 4 eggs, 50 g flavor, 1 sour cream
- 1 dl milk, 1 dl mineral water

Although moussaka is regarded in EU countries to be the Greek dish it is usually prepared in the Balkans and the Near East. Bake onion and garlic in greased pan. Add meat and stir. When it is ready add salt, pepper, flavor and spices and continue stirring. Add tomato and some soup and continue cooking. Add muscat flavor and leave it on small temperature for 30 minutes. Prepare potato until sauce is cooked. Cut potato into round pieces. Bake it in oil until brown and take it out from oil. In large dish put one layer of potato and pour sauce over it. Put potato at the top and finish it with over of eggs and cream and water. Bake it in oven for 20 minutes. Cut it in pieces and turn back to oven for baking for 20 more minutes. When ready put parsley over moussaka and serve it warm with fresh salad.

BELMUŽ - THE MOUNTAINOUS WAY Recorded by Miroslav Mladenović, local ethnolog     

Belmuz is shephers' meal and delicious speciality from the Eastern Serbia. In the course of St George's Days /Djurđevdanski dani/, one day before the St George's Day /Đurđevština/ in the mountainous villages of Vlasotince and Crna Trava, they pick up flowers, make coronals, prepare belmuz and lambs stop sucking. On the day of Premlaz lambs stop sucking and milking of sheep starts. This date of shepherds in this region is celebrated on the very place of celebration of the St. George's Day by preparing belmuz from sheep milk and corn-flour in this way :
In groups of mountainous hamlets in the sheep are milked in evening and prepared in cheese. That non-salted chees is put into the kettle over the open fire and boiled while stirring with wooden spoon and adding white or corn-flour and salt. Belmuz is ready when water is evaporated. Such mushy mass - belmuž after coocking over fire is served on the meadow or on the table in the house. This is how the day of shepherds and beginning of milking sheep was celebrated until autumn.
This recepy is unique in the South Serbia and existed in villages of Zaplanje - the foothill of Suva Planina Mt.
It can be prepared in the same way on wood stoves. Put cheese in the pot with thick bottom and coock it on medium temperature while stirring until mass is melted. Add flour and stir until fat comes up to the surface. You will get mass similar to kacamak /palenta/ but more gentle. Eat at once while it is warm and spreads wonderful smells...
Serving
To prepare good belmuž you really need the first class white cheese which must not be older than 2 days... It is assumed in South Serbia that if male eats belmuz he becomes beautiful until old age when his hair is gray...
Ingredients : 1 kg of young, non-salted, cheese /best if sheep cheese used/, 400 gr of corn-flour, not palenta

Ancient Belmuz recipy - the way of Sredor village - recorded by Savic Aleksandra and Miroslav Mladenovic
Ingredients : 1 litar of milk, 200 gr of young cheese, 10 gr of solt. You put all into copper kettle over the fire and stir with wooden spoon. When mass is cooked add corn flour. When mass becomes mushy pour it into the copper pot and leave in cool place. When cold cut into pieces and serve together with other dishes. Performed by Savic Slavica (60 years) village of Sredor

Belmuz recipe - the way of Kalna village - recorded by Miroslav Mladenović local ethnologist
First you make soup of sremuš - wild garlic /found at the altitude over 800 meters/ and add solt. Add sheep milk and young cheese and corn-flour. Mix all thoroughly with the wooden spoon over the fire place until evaporated. Belmuz is eaten when cold. Belmuz can be prepared on wood stoves. Mountainous plant sremus that can be found at the altitude over 800 meters gives belmuz special flavor. Belmuz is prepared before the St George's Day in mountainous villages after which they start milking sheep and cows. Record from the village of Kalna - Crna Trava.

NOODLES FILLED WITH DRY PLUMS

This sweet is strongly connected with childhood and memories on our grandmothers that is not to be missed...

Ingredients :                                                                 

½ kg of potato
2 eggs
flour
oil or fat
bread crumb
sugar
Stir flour and scrambled eggs and cooked and smashed potato with some water to make dough. Thin pastry and cut it in pieces about 10 cm large. Fill noodles with dry pitted plum and roll it in small ball. Cook noodle-balls in salted water for 10 - 15 minutes and roll them in mixture of sugar and bread crumb. Serve and eat noodles with dry plums warm.

PUMPKIN PIE



Pastry ingredients and preparation of the Pumpkin Pie :
500 gr flour
1 egg
Salt

Knead the pastry of flour, egg and some water /if needed/, make 2 or 3 pieces and leave it to rest for some time. Knead the pastry again and make thin pastry peels, adding little oil.

Filling
500 gr pumpkin meat, cut into strings
250 gr sugar
2-3 spoons of sunflower oil or fat
Some vanilla and cinnamon powder
Some milk
300 gr cream fraise

Put the filling on every peel, adding some milk and oil. Roll it and put into greased baking pan. Dress with cream fraiche and bake until golden brown.

CHEESE LOAF

Ingredients for pastry :
- 10 gr of yeast
- 3 eggs yolks
- 200 gr of fat
- 1 spoon of sugar
- 1 small spoon of salt
- 3 dl of milk
- 500 gr flour

Fill:
salt filling :
- 500gr of young cheese
- salt
- 2-3 eggs
Sweet filling :
- 500gr of young cheese
- sugar
- dried grapes
Preparation :
Melt yeast in 1dcl of warm milk with sugar. When fermented mix it with flour, eggs yolks and fat to make gentle pastry. Cut pastry in 3 parts and thin them using rolling pin. Cover pastry with filling /it is important to do it instantly, before fermentation/. Put rolled pastry into pan fitted with baking paper. Leave loaf for about one hour to ferment and become twice larger. Bake loaf at the temperature of 180 C until brown.

VEGETABLES



Variety of colors and flavors, tomato, paprika, cabbage, gourds, onion, garlic... each one tells a different story, meaning and aroma.  Above all healthy content of vegetables, either fresh, cooked or fried have great importance in Serbian cuisine as main course or supplement.

PRESERVES - PICKLED VEGETABLES



In the Serbian households it is custom to prepare vegetables and fruits for winter period by thermic or other process adding special local spices. Localized and unavoidable, making pickled vegetables as the winter preserves is home made masterpiece with great taste and visual effect. Here you will enjoy eating pickled cabbage/sauerkraut, turšija - a mixture of pickled gherkins, peppers, green tomatoes, cauliflower and carrots, ayvar and other MEMORABLE delicacies.

FRUITS



Harmonic flavors of unbeatable fresh fruits are used in so many different ways : as delicious desert, natural fresh juice, sort of wine, brandy, extruded fruits but also as jam, marmalade or conserve.

CONSERVE - fruit jellies


Sladko-jellies can be made of any kind of fruits and represents the delicacy in Serbia. Above all sladko is exceptional hospitality custom in Serbia as a part of welcoming to someone's home. The word "sladko" refers to a number of special jams that belong to Balkan cooking as well as to Jewish cooking. Traditionally, these jams are served on a small glass plate together with a teaspoon and a glass of water. Sladko is different from the European type of jam, because when preparing Sladko, the sugar is first boiled to make a kind of syrup, and the fruit is only added later on.
In the preparation of Sladko, many ingredients are used that are not common in traditional European jam. For example, in Eastern Jewish cooking, there are variants where radish is boiled in honey. Sladko can also be made from carrots or beet roots. In Serbia sladko helps anyone starting the successful day !

 

RAKIJA - HOME MADE BRANDY


Fruits like plum, pear, quince, apple, apricot, peach, walnuts, grape-vine or other medicinal herbs that are grown for generations in private orchards of Serbian households, gain their special value in making the homemade brandy. Rakija /in Serbia usualy homemade/ is a strong spirit. Recipes for making rakija /homemade brandy/ are passed on for generations in Serbian families. Serving this kind of homemade brandy also represents the welcome in Serbian households. It should present the health elixir, but only if drinking with esteem and toast "Živeli" (live long ) or "uzdravlje" (in health). In Serbia it is common to drink rakija slowly from tiny glasses.

We always "serve" those original specialties and Serbian meals on our tours...