In Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia and Albania we will find many similar dishes with similar names. There are also dishes that are prepared in India, Pakistan, Iran and other distant countries.
The roots of the Balkan cuisine
The Balkan cuisine was almost half a century under the direct influence of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. Turkish chefs acquired knowledge throughout the Islamic world, and distributed them in the Balkans. They introduced spinach, yogurt, shish kebab and many other dishes.
Basically, cooking and using products in the Balkans can be characterized as follows: many lamb and lamb, poultry, pork are used, the meat is baked on a grill or on a spit, on an open fire. In addition to the grill, the meat is stewed with vegetables, often in clay jugs;preserved the tradition of cooking in a wood oven, in which the food takes on a special taste and smell of smoke.
Features of cooking in the Balkan cuisine
Since the Balkan states are coastal countries, there are much more fish on the menu than here. Many vegetables are used, both cooked and fresh, in salads. Used a lot of onions, garlic, tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, cabbage, beans.
Very often pumpkin, eggplant, pepper and other vegetables are filled with chopped, spicy meat and rice. The Turkish way of cooking uses a lot of mutton;Adding sugar, raisins and almonds to meat dishes "got" in the Bulgarian, Romanian, Greek, Yugoslav and Albanian cuisines.
Spices in Balkan cuisine
In the Balkans spices are used differently, not like we do. Here they like fresh, dried and pickled chilies, which are used either as part of a dish or salads, or else they eat "snack" as a garnish.
A typical smell and taste of Balkan cuisine is given by fresh and dried aromatic herbs: thyme, savory, mint, sage, tarragon, lyubovok, basil, celery, green onions and garlic, dill, fennel, coriander, marjoram. Other spices include bay leaf, spicy and sweet pepper, fenugreek, cloves, ginger and pepper fragrant.
Garnish and desserts
In all Balkan countries there is a high level of consumption of dairy products - yoghurts, goat cheese, sheep's milk and cow's milk. Garnish for meat and vegetable dishes, mainly, is white bread, rice, beans, potatoes, in Romania - hominy.
All Balkan peoples use too dense and very sweet desserts, popular in the Arab world.
In Turkey, dishes often have poetic fantasy names. For example, baked stuffed eggplants are called "Iman bayildi"( Iman's surprise).The Turks introduced vegetables stuffed with meat and rice, brought pilaf to Europe( a dish of rice, chicken and lamb, seasoned with bay leaf, cloves, curry, pepper and enriched with almonds and raisins) and adding walnuts and almonds to food. Turkish dishes, popular in the Balkans, are full of fat.