Albanian cuisine echo Turkish and Balkan classics. However, the locals skillfully adapted it to themselves. They love meat, fresh vegetables, fragrant spices. We will tell you what kind of food every tourist should try in Albania.
Tavë Kosi | Tavë Kozi
Albanians love meat and skillfully cook hearty homemade food. Order a tave goats at the local restaurant. You will be brought a pot or a ceramic dish, above which there is a golden hat made of eggs and yogurt. The food smells like herbs, because the cook added fresh garlic and a pinch of oregano to the casserole. Under the rosy air cushion hides milk lamb with spicy rice. Every piece of tava goat melts in your mouth. Only our grandmothers cooked simple meat dishes so emotionally. Be sure to try this food in Albania if you like lamb. Schumlek | Schumlek
Schumlek is too simple to be considered a delicacy. Stewed meat in Albania is classified as everyday food. The dish is prepared only from 2 ingredients - pieces of beef and onions. They are fried until blush and then stewed for 1.5-2 hours. Meat becomes unusually tender.. The dish seems too simple to conquer from the first spoon. But do not rush to conclusions - try the plague in Albania. Order young potatoes or stewed vegetables with him. A rare tourist remains disappointed. From non-standard food in Albania, you can try venison or roe deer plague.
Fërgesë Tirane | Fergesa Tirane
The recipe for a juicy tyrannical casserole flew around all the Balkans. In Albania, this dish can be tasted both in exquisite restaurants and inconspicuous eateries. To cook fërgesë, the cook first slightly frys juicy peppers and ripe tomatoes. Then throws the rosy ingredients into a ceramic pot and pour it with a delicate butter sauce based on homemade feta. The mixture is generously sprinkled with paprika and allspice. Spicy casserole is served as a side dish to meat or an independent vegetarian dish.
Qofte | Kefte
The Albanians turned the Turkish meatballs of the same name into plump sausages. If you haven't tried kefte before, remember the taste of homemade minced meat cutlets. If you pierce the crispy crust with a fork, appetizing meat juice will appear on the surface. Inside the sausage there is tender lamb, veal or chicken meat. It is customary to eat kefte with rice or vegetable stew. In Albania, it is worth trying running street food in the form of qofte with fresh vegetables in yogurt sauce. The appetizer is cooked in lavash or drink.
Speça me Gjize | Speça me Gjize Vegetarian dishes in Albania are worth trying stuffed peppers. In neighboring countries, vegetables are stuffed with chopped meat. In Albanian cuisine, it is customary - peppers put a mixture of spicy rice with brine cheese or homemade cottage cheese. Belly vegetables with a hearty filler are first baked in the oven. Then move it to a pan, pour chili and butter sauce, stew over low heat. Dip a crust of fresh bread in gravy, pick up pepper and filling on the fork at the same time - this is a sure way to get maximum pleasure from speça me gjize.
Kukurech | Kokorech
A rare tourist decides to try this street food in Albania when he hears the composition of the snack. But in ignorance, a juicy sandwich is intertwined with a sweet soul. Kokorech is made from sweet meat and lamb by-products. The cook shreds the base and places the filling in a natural shell. The giant "sausage" blushes on the spit. Then it is cut with a knife in the same way as when cutting chicken into shawarma. Ordering a coquer in a diner, you will receive a bun with meat filler, fried onions, fresh vegetables and fragrant herbs. You should try it at least for the sake of interest.
Byrek | Burek
Albanian street food, which is traded on every corner. Don't be afraid to buy Bureks in the nearest diner. Locals cook not only for tourists, but also eat pastries themselves, so they do not lie on the shelves. Under the thin dough of a weighty pie hides chopped meat, baked vegetables or homemade brine cheese. The rosy crust shines slightly with oil, because the burek is not baked, but fried. A refreshing company to a hearty snack is a glass of ayran. The drink will smooth out excess fat and emphasize the advantages of the storm. Peshku | Pawn soup
;Albania skillfully cook fish. Try fried or baked - you'll lick your fingers! Don't give up the Albanian fish soup Supë Peshku. Traditional fish soup is cooked from sea bass or sea bass with a generous portion of vegetables. The ear acquires an unusual sweet and refreshing taste, because Albanians put zucchini, celery root, carrots, leeks, greens in it. They don't like potatoes. Eat a fresh Albanian bun: wheat (bukë gruri) or corn (bukë misri).
Kabuni | Kabuni
For dessert in Albania, it is worth trying spicy rice pudding kabuni. Vegetarians, be careful - sweetness is often cooked on lamb broth or cooked with gelatin. Rice is pre-fried in butter. Then the golden groats are sent to a pot in the company of raisins. Boiled rice is generously sprinkled with sugar, cinnamon and cloves. Pudding is decorated with sweet crumbs and served only cold.
Shendetli | Shandetli
It is worth ordering this dessert for coffee in Albania. The cake is baked according to an old recipe. Fragrant, gentle, spicy - it rarely disappoints anyone. Outside Albania, you won't be able to eat the original shendetli. The cupcake looks like a wet honey sponge cake with gingerbread flavor. Instead of water or milk, coffee is poured into the dough and a generous portion of butter is added. Vanilla, crushed nuts, and sometimes candied fruits are added to the dough. Take a piece of sandetli with whipped cream for dessert. Complement with homemade jam from fruits or berries that grow in Albania: fig, blackberry, silky, white cherry.