Macedonian Cuisine for Vegans

 

Macedonian cuisine is a very popular cuisine worldwide. In fact, delicious meals of Macedonian cuisine are prepared in Macedonian homes and in the local restaurants. When preparing the meals, Macedonians tend to use more vegetables. For instance, for lunch, Macedonians usually enjoy some vegetable stews in a combination with some meat and salad.

Macedonians housewives really like to use some herbs and spices when cooking the food. Local Macedonian markets sell a variety of spices and herbs. Also, many Macedonian families like to plant the herbs and dry them in their homes. Along with the herbs and the spices, Macedonians enjoy growing their own vegetables. Most of the Macedonians grow tomatoes and peppers in their yards.  In addition to vegetable gardens, they grow fruit.  In many yards in Macedonia, you see that there are some apple trees, peach trees, apricot trees, cherry trees and so on.

 

Macedonian History

 

Home for Lunch to Enjoy Macedonian Cuisine

Traditionally, Macedonians stay at home during lunch in the afternoon. In fact, most enjoy lunch at home with their family.

Some of the Macedonian traditional food is also served in the local restaurants. Often, tourists enjoy the traditional food more than the local inhabitants do.

Macedonians love to have some meat on their plates for lunch or dinner. That does not mean that some really delicious vegan dishes cannot be found in the Macedonian cuisine. In fact, some traditional specialties appear frequently and vegans enjoy them immensely. Of course, other ones that include some meat can be modified in order to satisfy the taste of vegans.

 

Vegetables in the Macedonian cuisine

Most of the meals in Macedonia consist of boiled, fried and roasted vegetables. Potatoes and rice often appear on their plates, too.  However, they usually eat potatoes fried or boiled or with some other vegetables as a stew. When making roasted potatoes, Macedonians like to use a lot of spices and herbs that would give a different flavor to the potatoes. Most of the soups prepared in Macedonia utilize onions and garlic for flavor. An onion is not only used in stews, but also in salads and other dishes. When it comes to garlic, Macedonians want it in a combination with roasted peppers, oil, and vinegar. Macedonians usually serve this combination as an appetizer or for dinner with a piece of bread.

Most of the soups prepared in Macedonia utilize onions and garlic for flavor. However, onions also appear in salads and other dishes, too. When it comes to garlic, Macedonians want it in a combination with roasted peppers, oil, and vinegar. They serve this combination as an appetizer or for dinner with a piece of bread.

Vegetables Appear in Other Meals, too

In addition to the vegetables prepared for lunch, Macedonians want to have some salad. This might appear as an appetizer or in a combination with the lunch. For the salad, Macedonians usually use cabbage, cucumber, green peppers, and tomato. Traditional soups often contain beans and lens with a lot of spices. Sometimes they roast the beans in a pan, resulting in a very delicious meal.

Vegetables such as cabbage, tomato, peppers, and cucumbers grow well in the southeast part of the country. The climate and the soil provide a perfect environment for these vegetables to flourish. Therefore, these vegetables are part of many meals of the Macedonians. Peas, spinach, pickled cabbage leaves and carrots are also used for making some really delicious meals, often in combination with some rice or potatoes.

Fruit in Macedonian Cuisine

The geographic position and the soil of Macedonia provide a great environment for growing many types of fruits in Macedonia. Here you can find any fruit you want: apples, apricots, peaches, melons, watermelons, berries, plums, etc.  Macedonians usually consume fruit as a dessert after a meal. Macedonians like to sprinkle a bit of sugar on top of the fruit. They also make a fruit salad with a bit of honey in it for extra sweetness. Fruit pies containing such as cherries, strawberries, bananas, and others find their way to dessert, too.

Also, Macedonians like to make their own homemade marmalade and jam. This is the case with the people who have some fruit trees in their yards. What is more interesting is that Macedonians like to store some of the fruits for the winter. So, they usually combine the fruits with some sugar and water in a jar. Another alternative is combining fruits and sugar and boiling the mixture. As soon as the ingredients combine they place the mixture in jars and store them in order to be eaten in winter.

 

 

 

 

Macedonian traditional food

 

Vegans find many Macedonian dishes to enjoy. In fact, most consider Macedonian cuisine very delicious. Macedonians make them all the time at home such as macedonian cabbage rolls and stuffed cabbage rolls. Restaurants also serve them. We’ve included a few recipes of the best dishes for vegans in Macedonia.

 

 

 

 

• Polneti  piperki (Stuffed peppers)

As previously mentioned, peppers and rice are essential when it comes to Macedonian cuisine. So this dish is just a combination of it. The rice boils and some other spices and vegetables are added such as carrots, parsley, mint, etc. As soon as the rice is prepared, the peppers are filled with the mixture. Once filled, roasting for some time results in a mouth-watering dish.

 

• Turli tava

This dish consists of potatoes, rice, peas, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, and zucchini. It comes in a form of a stew. Also, include some spices and herbs. What is a characteristic for this meal is that if you make it in an earthenware pot, the flavor improves even more. Macedonians often cook this in summer when there are different types of vegetables available in the markets.

 

• Ajvar

Local Macedonians make the traditional Ajvar every year.  This spread consists of red peppers, eggplants. First, they roast the peppers and the eggplants and peel off the skin. After that, they grind them and fry the mixture until it becomes smooth. Macedonians make ajvar during the autumn and store it in jars for the winter.

• Sarma (Cabbage rolls)

Winter brings out a call for cabbage rolls or Sarma recipe Macedonian. However, this traditional dish might appear at other times, due to it’s popularity. Indeed, most Macedonians enjoy eating it. The local restaurants in Macedonia also serve sarma. Some people think that it is really difficult to make sarma. However, you will find it quite simple. To create, gather some cabbage leaves, rice, onion, chopped veggies, and soy or another meat substitute. You just need to mix the vegetables, boil them in order to become soft and to place them on the cabbage leaf. After that, you roll it and bake for some more time. And there you go! You can enjoy sarma – the traditional Macedonian dish!

Macedonian Cuisine, Based on Vegetables.

Many Macedonian families grow their own vegetables in their yards. Vegans enjoy Macedonian cuisine in part due to the vegetable stews. And most of the Macedonians really like to eat vegetable stews in a combination with some bread for lunch. Almost all local restaurants offer Macedonian traditional vegan food. Most of the tourists really like to sample the Macedonian vegan cuisine when they visit Macedonia.  And so, many restaurants serve the traditional Macedonian food, including vegan options.

If you have a chance to visit Macedonia, try the traditional food in a local restaurant. You can also make some of them at home just like the local inhabitants in Macedonia.

 

 

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