Kosovo is one of the newest countries in the world, and perhaps for this reason it has not yet developed a cuisine that it can call its own. Rather, Kosovar cuisine is an expression of Albanian cuisine, with other Balkan elements, particularly Serbian, seeping through. The lack of distinct Kosovar dishes led me to only make one dish from this region. While the dish that comes closest to being Kosovo's national dish is flija, a cake made out of multiple layers of crepes, I didn't want to make a dessert. I still hope I'll have the opportunity of tasting flija one day, however.

For my quick sojourn into Kosovar cuisine, this is the recipe I made:

Tavë Kosi

Baked Lamb with Rice and Yogurt

Dishes of lamb cooked with yogurt are widespread throughout the former Ottoman world and Central Asia and they might have very ancient origins. The Biblical proscription against eating a kid boiled in its mother's milk is probably prohibiting partaking in dishes exactly like this one. Indeed, I explored a similar concept when I made Jordanian mansaf. In this recipe, the lamb is cooked first and yogurt topping are made separately, and then combined and baked.

The results were pretty good - I did like the sour note that the yogurt added to the lamb - and the impossibly soft and silky texture of the lamb was amazing. That said, the proportions of meat to yogurt topping were off in the way I made it - with far too much of the latter. I hadn't realized, for one, that almost half of the lamb shoulder chops I'd bought were bones and fat that I had to discard. In the recipe below, I'm fixing the proportion of ingredients to make it make more sense.

I will note that I don't understand the role of the rice in this recipe. Both of the recipes I used as the base for this one had a very small quantity of rice - when it's made, you can barely notice the rice there. I'm not increasing it here, however, as the rice might be serving a purpose I don't quite understand.

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Baked Lamb with Rice and Yogurt Ingredients 2 lbs trimmed lamb shoulder, cubed 6 Tbsp flour, divided salt & pepper to taste 6 Tbsp butter, divided 1 Tbsp olive oil 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 Tbsp dried oregano 1/4 cup rice 2 cups plain Greek yogurt 2 eggs fresh nutmeg Directions Turn oven to 350°F. Transfer lamb to a baking dish. Toss the lamb cubes with 3 Tbsp flour and season generously with salt and pepper. Heat 3 Tbsp butter and the olive oil in a lidded pan or pot over medium high heat. Add the lamb cubes and cook, stirring occasionally, until it starts to brown, about 10 minutes. Add minced garlic, oregano, rice, salt and pepper to taste and 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil, cover, turn heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, melt the remaining 3 Tbsp butter over medium-high heat in a medium saucepan. Add the remaining 3 Tbsp flour and whisk constantly, creating a roux. Cook for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and whisk in the yogurt. Whisk in the eggs and season generously with salt and pepper. Transfer the lamb to an oven-safe casserole dish. Pour the yogurt sauce on top of the lamb. Grate nutmeg to taste on top. Bake for 40 minutes or until browned.

Adapted from a recipe at Balkan Recipes and Rick Stein's recipe at the BBC.

Related cuisines I've explored so far: Albanian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Dalmatian, Greek, Greek Jewish

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