Tag Archive for: albania
Albanian Byrek
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb baked peta
- 5 eggs
- 1 cup butter melted; scant
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp Greek yoghurt
- 3 cups milk
Instructions
- Mix together the eggs, salt, yoghurt and milk.
- Grease a large baking pan (traditionally byrek is baked in large, round, metal pans).
- Begin layering: cover the pan with peta, then the milk mixture, then drizzle butter/oil on
- Keep layering (peta, milk, butter) until you run out of ingredients.
- The top should be melted butter/oil.
- Bake for 40 minutes at 375 F.
- Remove from the oven. Cover the byrek with a wet dish towel. Let sit until cool.
- Remove the towel. Place a large pan upside down over the byrek pan. Flip over the byrek so that it comes out upside down onto the other pan. This will ensure that the top of your byrek is soft and not crunchy.
- Cut the byrek into small squares or diamonds and serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
Byrek is a delicious pie very common in Albania and other Balkan countries. "Peta" is not the same as "pita." Peta is a dry, baked, very thin, tortilla-like dough. It soaks up a lot of moisture in this byrek recipe. If you can't get baked peta, and you don't want to make your own (it is a very time-consuming process!), you can use phyllo dough. However, then you must cut down on the milk/egg mixture significantly because the phyllo does not absorb nearly as much liquid as the peta does.
Albanian Yogurt Casserole with Lamb
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 pounds lamb
- 4 1/2 cups plain yogurt
- 5 eggs
- 1/2 cup rice
- 3 tbsp flour
- 2/3 cup butter
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Boil the lamb meat with 4 cups of water for about 30 minutes.
- Remove the meat from the broth.
- In a bowl mix together the eggs, yogurt, salt, pepper and flour with some of the broth.
- Stir in the rice.
- Pour the rice mixture into a greased baking dish.
- Place the meat on the top.
- Cut the butter into small pieces and add to the top of the casserole.
- Bake for 20 minutes at 400° F, or until rice is done.
Traditional Albanian Cake
Ingredients
- 5 Eggs
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 1 1/3 cups thick plain yogurt
- 2/3 cup sunflower oil
- 2 cups flour
- + 2 Tbsp. flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ cup chopped nuts
- 1/3 cup raisins
- Vanilla extract
- 1 Tbsp. finely diced orange peel
- Powdered sugar
Instructions
- Beat together the eggs and sugar. Mix in the sunflower oil, yogurt and flour. Slowly add the baking soda.
- Fold in nuts, raisins, vanilla, and orange peel.
- Bake for 40 minutes at 350° F. Sprinkle cake with powdered sugar if desired.
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