Ajvar i gibanica

                  Ajvar is a type of relish, made of red bell peppers with garlic. It may also contain eggplant and chilli peppers. It originates in the Serbian cuisine, and was therefore long called 'Serbian salad'. It became a popular side dish throughout Yugoslavia after World War II and is nowadays popular in the Balkans.
                 Original homemade ajvar is made of roasted peppers, while some industrial producers use cooked peppers, which leads to a lower quality. Ajvar can be sweet, piquant or very hot. It is consumed as a bread spread or as a side dish.
                 The preparation of ajvar is sometimes difficult, as it involves a big amount of manual labour, especially when it comes to peeling the roasted peppers. It is traditionally prepared in mid-autumn, conserved in jars and consumed throughout the year. Although it is usually enjoyed as a winter food, because fresh salads emerge in the spring and replace ajvar.
Often the whole families and neighbors gather to bake the bell peppers, peel them and cook them.

                 The bell pepper and aubergines are roasted on a plate on an open fire, a plate of wood in a stove, or in an oven. The baked peppers rest in a closed dish to cool and to separate the flesh from the skin. Next, the skin and seeds are carefully removed. The peppers are then ground in a mill or chopped in tiny pieces. Finally, the mush is stewed for a couple of hours in large pots, with sunflower oil and garlic added, in order to condense and reduce the water. Salt is added in the end and the hot mush is poured directly into jars which are immediately sealed.

                   Gibanica is a traditional pastry dish from Serbia, popular all over the Balkans. It is usually made with white cheese and eggs. It is traditionally served for breakfast with plain yogurt. Gibanica can be found worldwide in restaurants serving Serbian cuisine. It is one of the most popular and recognizable pastry dishes from the Balkans, whether served on festive occasions, or as a family snack. In Serbia, this dish is consumed at traditional events such as Christmas, Easter and other festivities. 

               Gibanica is round - shaped with crispy golden - brown  crust. The original recipe for gibanica included traditionally homemade phyllo dough and cow's milk cheese. The pie is usually made as ''gužvara'' (crumpled pie), so the phyllo dough in the middle is crumpled and filled. Besides cheese, it contains eggs, milk, kajmak, lard, salt and water. Also, stuffing can include spinach, meat, nettle, potato and onion. Instead of lard, sunflower oil or olive oil can be used. 

           Different recipes for gibanica can be found in the national cuisines of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia, Greece and Bulgaria, where it is usually called 'banitsa'.

According to the Serbian media, the largest gibanica ever made was in the town of Mionica in 2007. It weighed over 1000 kg, and was applied for the Guinness Book of Records.

                     

Kajmak

       Kajmak, creamy milk product with its rich flavor is an infallible part of Serbian traditional cuisine. People usually eat it with grilled meat and roasted paprika, but kajmak is also a perfect sandwich spread. The word kajmak has Central Asian origins, possibly formed from the verb kayl-mak, which means melt and molding of metal in Mongolian.

          The traditional method of making it consists of separating the upper layer of fat from cooked raw milk. First, milk needs to boil slowly, then to simmer for two hours over a very low heat. After the heat source is shut off, the cream is skimmed and left to chill for several hours or days. Finally, people put it in wooden vessels and salt it layer by layer. Kajmak has a high percentage of milk fat, typically about 60%. It has a thick, creamy consistency and a rich taste. It can be made of cow, goat or sheep milk.

      The main ingredient of kajmak is water, but it also contains proteins, minerals and vitamins. The best kajmak is the one that has around 65% of milk fat. The most expensive kajmak is the freshest one which is only a day or two old. It can be kept for weeks in the fridge but it becomes hardened and not as tasty as the fresh kajmak. It can also be matured in dried animal skin sacks and this type is called ''skorup''. Kajmak can also represent the creamy foam in the traditional black Turkish coffee in Balkan.

         It is usualy enjoyed as an appetizer, but also as a condiment. The simplest recipe is ''lepinja sa kajmakom'' (bun bread filled with kajmak in Serbia) eaten for breakfast or as fast food. Other traditional dishes with kajmak include ''pljeskavica sa kajmakom'' (the Balkan version of a hamburger patty topped with melted kajmak), as well as ''ribić u kajmaku'' (beef shank, simmered with kajmak).