Bosnian Recipes

Bosnians have a special way of cooking; traditional meals are very appreciated especially in the old town.

In the big cities like Sarajevo you can find restaurants with specific Mediterranean cuisine. A traditional Bosnian meal usually comes with meat, but there are a lot of vegetarian dishes
 Baklava is a traditional dessert which contains sweet nuts and honey in pastry.
In Bosnia, hamburgers are called pleskavica are made in a special type of bread named somun.

Bosnian salads are generally prepared with mixed tomatoes, lettuce,onion, pepper and cheese.
 In the Bosnian cuisine the salads are usually accompanying the main dish but it also can be eaten separated.The most frequent type of meat consumed is beef. They prefer smoked meat: smoked ribs, smoked neck or smoked sausages.

They serve smoked meat uncooked on a plateau or they fry it on a grill and serve it with boiled vegetables like beans, potatoes. But more common meat dishes are served with mashed or fried potatoes. Other important dishes that include meat are filovane paprika made of fried peppers stuffed with minced meat and spices, sarma which is cabbage rolls stuffed with or beef meat and rice.

Bosnian burek

Sve su pite pitice a burek je pitac!!!

(This means that burek-  meat-filled pastry is most important ) Burek is masculine, and all other pies are feminine- sirnica, zeljanica, krompirusa, tikvenjaca and so on.

Bosnian burek

In the former Yugoslavia, burek, also known as pita, is an extremely common dish.

It may be eaten for any meal of the day.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina a burek is a meat-filled pastry, traditionally rolled in a spiral and cut into sections for serving.

The same spiral filled with cottage cheese is called sirnica, with spinach and cheese zeljanica, with potatoes krompiruša, and all of them are generically referred to as pita. Eggs are used as a binding agent when making sirnica and zeljanica.

This kind of pastry is also popular in Croatia, where it was imported by Bosnian Croats, and is usually called rolani burek (rolled burek).

About Bosnian cuisine

Bosnian cuisine is balanced between Western and Eastern influences.  The food is closely related to Turkish,  Middle Eastern and other Mediterranean cuisines.  However, due to years of Austrian rule, there are also many culinary influences from Central Europe. Bosnian cuisine uses many spices, but usually in moderate quantities. Most dishes are light, as they are cooked in lots of water; the sauces are fully natural, consisting of little more than the natural juices of the vegetables in the dish.  Typical ingredients include tomatoes, potatoes,  onions, garlic, bell peppers, cucumbers, carrots,  cabbage, mushrooms, spinach, zucchini, dried and fresh beans, plums, milk, paprika  and cream called pavlaka and kajmak.  Typical meat dishes include primarily beef and lamb. Some local specialties are ćevapi,burek, dolma,  sarma, pilav (pilaf),  gulaš (goulash),  ajvar and a whole range of Eastern sweets.  The best local wines come from Herzegovina  where the climate is suitable for growing grapes. Plum or apple rakija, is produced in Bosnia. When you travel to Bosnia and Herzegovina, be sure that you enjoy traditional dishes. Food in Bosnia and Herzegovina puts a spin on Balkan entrees and has a little something for every traveler, whether you love a good steak or you’re strictly veggie. Wikipedia

Bosna je oduvijek bila raskrsnica između istoka i zapada, pa se zbog toga i u njenim jelima osjeti utjecaj kako istocne tako i zapadne kulture. Bosanska kuhinju je  slična turkoj, mediteranskoj kao i onoj sa srednjeg istoka.  Naravno ne smijemo zaboraviti kulinarski utjecaj sa zapada, zbog visegodisnje vladavine austrougarske na ovim prostorima. U bosanskim jelima se koisti mnogo zacina, međutim u malim kolicinama. Večina jela su lagana i zdrava, posto su kuhana u puno vode, saft je ukusan prepun hranjivih sastojaka i sokova iz kuhanog povrča. U pripremi jela obicno se koriste : paradajz, krumpir, bijeli luk ( ili kako se u hercegovini kaze “saramsek”) crveni luk, paprika,  krastavci, mrkva, kupus, gljive, špinat ili zelje, tikvice, grah, mohuna, šljive, pavlaka, kajmak i mogi drugi. Od mesa se načešće upotrebljava govedina, teletina i janjetina. Neki od prepoznatljivih domačih specijaliteta su: čevapi, burek, razne vrste dolmi , pilav, gulaš, ajvar i razne vrste poslastica. Najbolja domaca vina su hercegovacka vina, jer je hercegovina idealno mjesto za uzgoj grožđa. Nemožemo a da ne spomenemo i šljivovicu- poznatu bosansku rakiju napravljenu od organski uzgojenih sljiva. Najkvalitetnija rakija je svakako Ramska i Gradacacka  šljivovica.