Welcome back!
Week 6 finally brought me to my home continent of Europe with Bosnia & Herzegovina. Due to a large slavic population in Vienna, partly due to geographic proximity, partly due to a large diaspora after the Yugoslav war in the 90s, many of these dishes are known to me and close to my heart. They do – however – vary between the different slavic nations, such as pork being less common in the majority Muslim country of Bosnia & Herzegovina, so I was excited to try the traditional way of making these dishes by consulting a food blog called “Hanuma Kocht”, which writes the recipes both in my native German and in Bosnian. Accordingly, the recipes are by Hanuma.
Figuring it out:
What was important to me was highlighting what each of the slavic countries was best known for among their shared and still different cuisine. And there’s no thing B&H is better known for than their Cevapi! The other dishes were mainly chosen to best complete a full meal of delicious Bosnian foods.
This week’s menu: (2025/5/4)
Starter:
Grah – Bosnian bean soup (Recipe)
This soup was so hearty and delicious – I made a huge pot and ate grah for almost an entire week!
Main & Side:
Cevapi with Lepinje and Ajvar (Recipe)
The star of the show – presenting Cevapi! These little meat cigars are made several hours ahead of time and mixed with various ingredients and kneaded very well to create a bouncy texture. Absolutely amazing, especially in combination with a fluffy, soft, chewy Lepinje – which admittedly I got from the local slavic bakery because they’ll do a much better job than me. Complimented by refreshing and slightly sweet and sour Ajvar this was so well balanced and delicious.
Burek – a crispy, rich pasty with meat and potatoes (Recipe)
Burek is a dish you’ll find everywhere – sometimes rolled into spirals, sometimes prepared like this, in lasagna-like layers stacked on top of each other.
Baklava – super sweet, super sticky dessert (Recipe)
Now there is a whole host of countries I could have chosen to make baklava for but Bosnia was right there and this blog has a bit of a first come, first serve kind of princriple. Also – there’s no reason for me not to repeat a recipe once or twice, I mean, I am doing about 200 countries in this series. Either way, the baklava came out delicious as expected, with more than enough to share among ravenous coworkers and friends.
All in all – really tasty, with a personal attachment to it, too. 4/5 ⭐️!
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