Last month Croatia set the Guinness World Record for the world’s longest sarma when a whopping 1,320-metre sarma was made at the Zeljarijada festival in Vidovec in the northern Croatian Varaždin County.
Now Bosnia and Herzegovina has joined in on the act. In the city of Tuzla today a huge meat burek, weighing 650 kilograms was revealed which they hope will earn them a place in the Guinness Book of Records.
Besides the massive burek, they also produced a gigantic portion of ćevapi, 1,500 pieces on a huge lepinja. They also hope that makes the Guinness Book of Records also.
“The dimension of the burek is 6 meters x 6 meters. 14 people took part in preparing it with the pastry measuring 1,500 meters in length,” Omer Isović, one of the organizers of the Tuzla Gastro Show.
This post originally appeared on : http://www.jamieoliver.com
We’ve reached the slightly flat stage of the World Cup where some teams are playing their final game, already knowing they are going home. Bosnia-Herzegovina is one such team, taking on World Cup favourites Argentina – let’s hope they can leave Brazil on a high, just like our Foodie World Cup is going to.
When I started to think around Bosnia-Herzegovia as a “virtual” destination for this month, I was intrigued to learn more about the kinds of cuisine found there. Bosnia-Herzegovia is pretty much landlocked, except for a tiny piece of coastline along the Adriatic Sea. As with much of the cuisine of Eastern Europe, centuries of changing rulers and borders have resulted in a flavourful mix of culinary influence – Turkish, Austrian, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean – as well as similarities with Romanian and Bulgarian kitchens, too.
Beef, lamb, pork and veal will very often find their way into kebabs called Ćevapi, or into soups and stews such as goulash, loaded up with onions, garlic, tomatoes and other vegetables. The food isn’t so much spicy as robust, often full of peppers and paprika. You’ll also find smaller bites you will recognise, such as stuffed grape leaves with rice (dolma) and flaky pastry filled with meat, cheese, spinach or potatoes (burek). There’s plenty of local, village-made cheese to be found, and good wines. For sweet treats, you’ll be served stewed fruits, filled doughnuts, and the absolutely delicious baklava, which are bite-sized flaky pastry layers lusciously combined with honey and nuts.
For a fitting football snack, I was keen to try my hand at Pljeskavica burgers, because every host should serve a plate of good burgers for guests watching the footy! The word “pljesak” means “to clap the hands”, which is what you do to flatten these particular patties. Some say these burgers are the Serbian national dish (known as the Serbian hamburger), while others refer to them as Bosnian burgers (particularly US chains, oddly!) or Balkan burgers.
The burgers are traditionally thrown onto charcoals to cook – an outside BBQ would be ideal – and sandwiched inside a flatbread (traditionally a thick pita called lepinja). They will need to be prepped before the guests arrive but, because the Balkan burger is thin, it cooks through quickly and will be ready in no time.
You can serve the burgers with pickled vegetables, known as Turšija, or fresh onions, tomatoes and bell peppers, also typical of the region. If you have the time, you could quickly make some of these easy flatbreads to go with them.
Pljeskavica – Balkan / Bosnian burger recipe
Ingredients:
250g minced beef
250g minced pork (optional – otherwise use 500g beef)
250g minced veal
1 onion, very finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon paprika
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Flatbread to serve
A little oil if you are cooking on a griddle pan
Method
In a large bowl, combine the beef, pork and veal (you could use lamb, instead) and add the onions, garlic, paprika and salt and pepper. Mix everything together really well with your hands. Cover with clingfilm and leave in the fridge for a couple of hours.
When you are ready to make the burgers, keep a bowl of water to your side to dip your hands into – moist hands will prevent the meat from becoming too sticky. Take a large, palm-sized portion of meat and form a flat burger, about the size of a small side plate and around 0.5cm in thickness. You could also place the meat between two sheets of clingfilm to form and flatten the burgers out – I found this to be the easiest way.
Repeat until all the meat is used up then place the burgers onto a tray, cover with clingfilm and leave them in the fridge for a further hour or so.
To cook, heat the barbecue or a large, oiled griddle pan. The burgers will cook in around five minutes – flip occasionally so that both sides are equally cooked.
Serve with warmed flat bread, cut in half horizontally, along with pickles, onions and peppers.
1 handful okra (cut into rounds if it’s not Balkan okra)
1 tsp seasoned salt
2 tbsp flour
(Optional) 1 egg yolk
(Optional) 1 teaspoon sour cream
INSTRUCTIONS
Prep okra ahead of time by boiling it in water and lemon juice for an hour or soaking it in the same.
Place the chicken, carrots, celery sticks (root), ¼ bunch parsley, okra, salt and pepper in a pot, cover with 6-7 cups of water, and cook on high heat until it boils. Lower to medium heat and cook for another 70-80 minutes. Occasionally replenish with (warm) water so that the level of water is about the same throughout cooking.
Take the chicken, celery, and parsley out. Remove chicken skin and bones, dice the meat, and then return it to the pot. (You can also take the carrot out and cut it up into even smaller pieces, or mash it up and return to the liquid.)
Place the flour and some water in a smaller cup, then mix well so there are no bubbles. Add the mix to the soup so that it thickens it. Let it simmer on high for 5-10 minutes.
Dice the remaining, fresh parsley and also add to soup.
(Optional) Mix egg yolk and sour cream in a cup, and then pour into the soup, and simmer another 5 min.
Prepare the dough according to the dough for the baklava recipe.
Place the dough pieces on each other on a wooden board.
Cut these pieces according to the size of the tray where they will be cooked.
Grease the tray lightly and place one layer of dough over.
Pour ½ tablespoon melted margarine evenly over the dough.
Place only half of the pieces of dough on the tray so that there is one layer of dough and margarine over that.
When half of the dough is used up, sprinkle ground walnuts over.
Over the walnuts place another layer of dough, spread some margarine, then another layer of dough, continue until all the pieces of dough are used.
Cut the pieces of dough into the shape of baklava, place in a moderately heated oven and cook for an hour until the color of the baklavas turns golden brown.
Put granulated sugar, water, and lemon juice into a pan, melt the Sugar over moderate heat and boil for about 15 minutes until the mixture becomes syrup.
Remove from heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes, brush with butter.
