Fish stew over fish stews

One of the most savoury fish stews is the one from the Bay of Kotor, though, contrary to the rules for preparing a fish stew, it is made exclusively from one kind of fish: sprat, anchovy or similar small blue fish. It originates from Muo, a fishing village in the Bay of Kotor: large fish sold better at the market so that fishermen left the small fish for themselves and thus sprats became a trade mark of fish stew from the Bay of Kotor.

Bay of Kotor fish stew

1 - 1,5 kg of sprat or anchovy cleaned, 0,5 - 1 kg of onions, fish stock, olive oil, white wine, celery, parsley, garlic, salt, pepper, prepared seasoning.
Chop onions and put in a slightly heated pan with 1 dl of olive oil. Add celery and parsley, prepared seasoning, red pepper and garlic. Put fish on it. Put the remaining onions, celery and other over fish. Pour over white wine or fish stock, add some more oil so that the pan is almost full. Leave to boil and then cook on low heat for minimum of 2 hours. The longer the better!

Shells boiled in wine

Mussels are most frequently prepared by putting into a pan, seasoned with parsley, garlic, bread crumbs and pepper and poured with wine and oil. Boiled on high heat they let out sauce in which they are boiled until the shells open.

Imam bajeldi

A story is told among the Muslims from Bar that a long time ago one imam (Muslim leader or, priest) tried a delicious meal made of braised vegetables and fainted with its beauty. To honor such an impression the meal was named imam bajeldi which in Turkish means imam fainted with beauty.
To prepare the meal, boil aubergines, cut along the length and put into a pan. Braise onions and garlic separately, add tomato, spices and vinegar. The aubergines are topped with the mixture and well baked.

Pasticada
1 kg of baby beef neck or shoulder joint, 150 gr of onions, 100 gr of well smoked bacon, 150 gr of carrots, 1 celery root, 2 garlic cloves, 1 dcl of red wine, 2 bay leaves, parsley, beef soup, 1 fresh tomato, tomato purée, salt, pepper, flour.

Fry in oil meat stuffed with bacon and carrots. Add onion, the remaining bacon and carrots, celery, garlic, bay leaves, beef soup and braise till the meat becomes tender. When the meat is almost cooked, add wine, tomato, tomato purée and braise for 15 more minutes. When the meat is tender, take it out, cut in pieces, put in a pan, pour the sauce over it and braise for a couple of minutes. It is served with makaruli.

Pastrovski makaruli (Macaroni from Pastrovici)

Wheaten black flour 500 gr, 1 spoon of oil, little salt, water.

Make a hole on a heap of sieved flour with a hand, add salt, a  little water and knead. While kneading sprinkle some flour so that it does not stick to the table or the board. The dough can be considered done only when it starts separating from hands and the table and its surface become smooth. It must not be either too hard nor too soft. When ready, leave it for half an hour. Then make makaruli with special needles. Leave them to dry. Boil in salted water till they become tender. Strain makaruli and serve in a pan, pour olive oil and cheese from brine on them.

Balsica tava (The pan of Balsici)

Veal with no bones 1 kg, 100 gr of carrots, 100 gr of onions, ½ bundle of parsley, 1 bay leaf, salt as needed, 3 eggs, 200 gr of sour cream, 5 dl of milk.

Cut meat into portions (2 pieces in a portion of 100 gr), boil with root vegetables, add salt according to taste and strain after boiling. Then put in a frying pan greased with butter and put to bake in the oven for 8 to 9 minutes. In the meantime make the topping (royal mass) of eggs, milk and cream, and pour over the meat until it is almost completely covered with the topping. Bake for another 5 minutes till it becomes reddish, take out of the oven, serve in bowls and decorate with parsley.

Bamijas prepared in the Ulcinj manner

Veal 140-160 gr for one portion. Choose leg or shoulder joint and cut into smaller pieces. Cut onions into small pieces and braise with the meat. Add salt as needed, as well as ground pepper, and a little of red pepper. Pour water over it and let it cook slowly; add some diced tomatoes and a lot of chopped parsley. Cook around 30 minutes.

Prepare bamijas in the meantime. Clean them, wash and braise, cook onions with spices (salt, ground pepper, a little of prepared seasonings). When bamijas are almost tender remove them from fire. Put meat into a ceramic pot with bamijas and cook for 5 more minutes in the oven at 200 degrees. Serve warm.

Carp in a frying pan

A carp weighing 2,5- 3 kg , 2 kg of onions, 250 gr of dried plums, 1 sour apple, 1 quince, 1 small spoon of red pepper, tomato purée, 125 gr, 1 spoon of sugar, 4 spoons of wine vinegar, 3 spoons of flour, 2 glasses of water, salt as needed, half a litre of oil.

Cut the carp on both sides, salt, and put to fry in oil. During that time, braise chopped onions in oil. After a while gradually 3 spoons of flour, 1 small spoon of pepper, tomato, 2 glasses of water, plums (dipped in hot water previously), chopped apple and quince, 1 spoon of sugar, 4 spoons of wine vinegar. Salt as needed. When the carp is fried pour this mixture over it and leave it to bake for half an hour until it is well fried.

Vasojevicki jardum is made from pure, not-boiled sheep milk, which is salted according to taste. It is cooked on moderate heat with continuous stirring, until the whole surface is covered with foam. Than it should immediately be removed from fire. When it cools down, this milk is very dense and tasty. It can be served at the end of the meal.

Trout in sour milk

4 trouts of 250- 300 gr, 2 litres of mild sour milk, 6-7 cloves of garlic chopped in tiny peaces, a little salt.

Clean the trouts, prepare a frying pan and fry the trout in lot of oil. Put the chopped garlic and a little salt in the mild sour milk and stir. In a deeper pan, pour the prepared sour milk over the warm fried trout, so that each piece of trout is covered with milk. Pour one spoon of oil in which the trout was fried over the surface. Pour some black pepper. Cover the pan with an aluminium foil and put into a fridge for 4-5 h.

Lamb in milk

1,5 kg of lamb shoulder joint or loin 1,5 liter of milk, 3 carrots, 2 bay leaves, 5-6 ungrounded peppers, 1 kg of potatoes, parsley, salt.

Wash the meat, put into a pot and pour milk over it, add one whole carrot, bay leaves, pepper and salt as needed. Boil peeled whole potatoes in another pot. When the meat is boiled, take it out of the pot, put into a deeper pot and add whole boiled potatoes and carrot. Pour in the strained milk in which the meat was boiled and garnish with parsley.

Cheese cake

400 gr of new cheese, 4 eggs, 80 gr of grated koroman (old rye Montenegrin bread), 80 gr of sugar, 1 pack of vanilla sugar, 1 pack of baking soda, 4 dl of milk, 4 dl of sour cream, peel of one home grown lemon.

Crush cheese, add eggs, grated rye bread (dipped in milk and sour cream), sugar, vanilla sugar, baking powder, lemon peel and pour all together onto hot grease. Bake in the baking pan until it becomes reddish.

Smocani kacamak (Fatty porridge)

One (1) kilo of peeled potatoes cooked in salty water - put as much salt as you like. When the potato is almost completely cooked, without pouring the water in which it was cooked off, add 3 – 4 handfuls of wheat or maize flour and continue cooking it. When you put the flour into the pot, make a hole in the middle of that pile with a tucanj or kacamaš (a specially designed big wooden spoon with a flat and wide lower part used for mashing kacamak) and cook it for about 30 to 40 minutes on a medium-high heat. When it is cooked, pour the remaining water off, remove the pot from the heat and start mashing the mixture with a kacamaš taking the pot back to heat from time to time until the potato becomes like a paste without any lumps. In another pot melt 3 - 4 spoons of skorup (cream skimmed from milk) and a crumbled block of cheese (do no melt these completely so that the lumps can be seen all over kacamak), pour it over the hot kacamak and stir it. When the mixture is stirred well, kacamak is ready to be served. The best thing to serve with it is kiselo mlijeko - yogurt.

Peppers in jardum

Wash peppers, take the stalks out, then put into a wooden vessel and leave for 2-3 days. Then pour lambs milk over it (jardum), put some salt and leave for 15-20 days. Should be served only after that period of time passes.

Japraci

1 kg of rastan (vegetable with hard green leaves), 400 gr of veal, 2 dl of oil, 150 gr of onions, 80 gr of rice, pepper and parsley as needed, 200 gr of dry meat as needed.

Separate fresh, good and young leaves of raštan from the stem and remove the thick part of the leaf. Wash in cold water and boil in boiling slated ( sour water ) for a couple of minutes. When the leaves are blanched, take them out and put immediately into cold water so as to preserve their natural colour. Keep in cold water till you use them again.

Separate veal neck or shoulder-joint from bones, surplus tough parts and fat and cut in small pieces. Clean onions, wash and chop. Clean and wash rice, and then strain well. If we add dry meat when preparing japraci, it must be cut and put so that one portion contains one piece. Fry on grease chopped onions in an adequate heated vessel. Add chopped meat to onions and fry all together. When onions and meat are fried add the prepared rice and fry all together. Season the mass with a little salt, ground pepper and parsley. Let the prepared stuffing cool. Put the stuffing in leaves and roll it. Boil rolls in pot for 2 hours. Serve with kiselo mlijeko – yogurt.

Malisorske priganice

In tepid, mildly salted water boil wheat dough, so that it is a little more compact than a mash. Put a little dough into well heated oil in a frying pan, so that it floats in grease. The dough should not rise. When the priganica is red on both sides, take it out of the pan and serve with honey.

Rastan prepared on smoked joint

Wash rastan well, remove the hard parts, then tear in pieces with hands and put in boiling water to cook . At the same time cook dry pork joint, a piece of dry bacon and a piece of pork head. When all this is cooked, put all together into a pot to cook on the hearth. When half boiled add several peeled halves of potatoes. Take care not to overcook the raštan and not to add too much salt as the meat itself is quite salte.

Cheese from oil

Cut dried cheese in pieces, put into a glass pot or a jar, pour a mixture of olive and sunflower oil, cover and put in a cold place (possibly in a refrigerator). Leave to mature for at least 60 days