Albanian Food

 Albanian Food

Greece is to the south and if you know Greek food from Greece or Greek restaurants or Greek owned patisseries or Greek-Cypriot places you will recognize some of these dishes, such as baklava. 

Easy, similar words are soup, and salad and carrot.

Main dishes

• Tasqebap – A traditional Albanian stew made of lamb fricassee, tomatoes and onions. Some sort of hearty stew is generally included in Albanian dinners. These stews are easy to make, and flexible with ingredients, like potatoes, onion, rice, etc.
• Paçe Koke – A stew made from the head (kokë) of a lamb or a goat.
• Paçe Plenci – Same as before, but made from intestines. However, the smell of cooking it can be off-putting.
• Fërgesë – Baked cheese, vegetables and eggs; originating from the capital of Albania, Tirana.
• Tavë dheu – Fërgesë with the addition of liver. Sometimes referred to as Fërgesë me melçi.
• (Mish) Tavë kosi – A baked dish of lamb and rice, together with a yogurt sauce. It is sometimes referred to as a national dish in Albania. Similarily, further such baked dishes exist; like Burani me Spinaq dhe Mish or just Mish Burani Spinaq with meat and spinach.
• Pllaqi – Oven-baked beans with tomatoes sauce and herbs.
• Mish me Bizele – Beans and meat.
• Mish me Bamje – Ocra and meat, made in the late summer and fall when Ocra is harvested. Vegetarians can instead enjoy Bamje pa Mish.
• Byrek – Found everywhere, and made in different ways. Byrek Shqipëtar me perime (with spinach and feta cheese) is often considered the national dish. Another type sold everywhere is Byrek me mish (with ground meat and onions). Everywhere in the country one piece of pie costs around 30 lek, so in many places bakers don't even bother writing down the price. Two byreks and an ayran is a very common breakfast, so try it to understand why. This is also the reason why you should buy in the morning, when it is still freshly baked.
• Qifqi – Served predominately around Gjirokastër, a vegetarian dish of fried rice balls.
• Fli(ja) – A stack of layered hearty pancakes, brushed with cream and served together with sour cream. Also, a famous dish in Kosovo.
• Shapkat – A traditional corn pie casserole originally from Gjirokastër, filled with feta cheese, dill, and spinach, but many variations exist.
• Pastiche – Like a quiche, spaghetti cooked in milk, butter and white cheese.
• Imam Bajalldi – Baked eggplants with a mix of vegetables and sometimes cheese ontop.
• Japrak – Wrapped vine leaves with minced lamb, rice and herbs, cooked until tender. The vegetarian version (dolma) is also highly recommended.

Expect lamb (qengji/qingji) to be the main meat (mish) in many places. Lamb is naturally fed, and does not have any Odor like it does in North America for example. However, also veal (viçi) and chicken (pule) meat is common. Various types of meat dishes exist:

• Fileto, biftek and bërxollë (chopped) are different ways to prepare the meat, besides zgare (grilled) or pjekur (baked).
• Qofte – Meatballs, comes in different versions and is traditionally served as lunch or dinner together with salad, bread or rice. Sometimes they are declared to be homemade (shtëpie).
• Qofte (të) fërguara – Fried meatballs but with feta cheese inside. Again, traditionally served with fried potatoes or rice.
• Fileto Pule Me Panna Dhe Kerpudha – Grilled chicken breast served with mushrooms and cream sauce. Similar or even the same dish Pule me qull, just written in short.
• Paidhaqe Giçi – Pork Ribs
• (Mikse) Mish Zgare – Literally (mixed) grill meat.
• Kukurec – Strongly inspired by Turkey, grilled intestines and liver, sometimes served inside a bread like shawarma.
• Të brendshme – More intestines
• Mëlçi - Liver
• (Pulë me) Përshesh – Originally from Elbasan, chicken with bread and walnuts. But you will barely find it on restaurant menues, it is mostly cooked at home.
• (Pulë me) Rosnica – Similar to the one before, chicken boiled, onion and tomatoes added, and then baked together with small and fried dough or bread pieces. Also seldomly found in any restaurant.

Sallatë (salad), usually made with fresh tomato and onion, but you have all different kinds of vegetable (perime) dishes:

• Perime Zgare/Në Scarë – Grilled vegetables; eggplants, zucchini, peppers, onions, tomatoes, and/or mushrooms.
• Perime të Ziera – Boiled vegetables
• Perime Furre – Baked vegetables
• Fshati – Village salad
• Rukola – Rukola
• Mikse – Mixed (salad)
• Turshi – Pickles
• Lakër – Cabbage
• Karrotë – Carrot
• Ullinj – Olives
• Djathë i bardhë – White cheese
• Djathë Kaçkavall – Hard cheese

As add-on to salads and meat:

• Kos – Just yoghurt as an add-on to salads (baked), stews or meat.
• Salce Kosi – Like the Greek tzatziki, best as a dip for grilled meat.

More:

• Speca me gjizë / Speca me djathë – Peppers with (cottage) cheese as casserole
• Speca te mbushura – Peppers stuffed with cheese
• Djathë I Bardhë – Baked cheese

• Tarator – A cold cucumber "soup" made with (lots of) yoghurt, cucumber and dill.

• Supë (soup):

• Perime – Vegetables
• Krem pule – Chicken cream
• Pasha Qofte – Meatballs
• Krem Brokoli – Brokkoli cream
• (Jani me) Fasule – White bean soup, varying from clear to creamy, sometimes served with meat.

• Fish and seafood – Can be found everywhere around the coast and lakes, but there are also many restaurants in Tirana serving such dishes. You will find all the usual, and Ohrid trout around the lakes.

• Omletë (me Djathë dhe Proshutë) or Vezë syze – Omelets (with cheese and ham) or fried eggs

Dairy products[edit]

• Djathë i bardhë (young cheese) – There are lots of different types but mostly young cheese (white and soft feta-like). In village shops, cheese may be kept at a lower standard of hygiene than in supermarkets, but it's worth a try as it's usually fresh and delicious. Such cheese is sold for a very good price (600-800 lek/kg; try the higher-priced ones first), which in the rest of Europe can't be bought for less than €15/kg.

• djathë lope (cow cheese) – 400 lek/kg
• djathë dele (sheep cheese) – 800 lek/kg
• djathë dhie (goat cheese) – 700 lek/kg

• The "Gjirofarm" feta cheese is similar to Greek feta cheese, although a bit more expensive. However, most of the restaurants, especially in Tirana and the southern part of the country, use this cheese. It's very delicious, and it's one of the few cheeses that is exported from Albania.
• Kaçkavalli (hard cheese) – It's of good quality is not easy to find. It is advised to look for products imported from Italy.
• Gjizë (cottage cheese) – A type of dry curded cheese, made from yogurt and citric acid (200 lek/kg).

Bread[edit]

Most Albanian people make their own bread, but going out for meals is very common. And bread is often served with meals, especially with salads, stews and soups.

• Kulac – Firm and dense, also known as "soda bread"
• Bukë – Buns

Desserts and snacks

Check out the many pastry shops (pastiçeri) offering a wide variety of tasty pastry including delicious cakes. Find a shop that is frequented regularly, not seldomly the pastry lies around several days in some shops and is often dry and not delicious anymore.

• Baklava – A popular dessert and is always made as a dessert during New Year's Eve.
• Petulla – Often included in traditional home's breakfast, fried dough balls usually dipped in fig jam, honey, or feta.
• Oshaf – A fig and sheep's milk pudding.
• Qumështor – Baked custard
• Hasude – Baked cornstarch pudding with nuts
• Shëndetli – Nut cake with honey
• Sultjash – A pudding of rice, milk, vanilla, cardamom and cinnamon.
• Kabuni – Similarily to the previous dish, sweet fried rice with raisins, ground clover and cinnamon.
• Ballokume Elbasani – A traditional biscuit originating from Elbasan and usually prepared on Dita e Verës, a pagan holiday. The roads along Elbasan are doted with sellers of this biscuit.

Fruits and vegetables

Albania is a perfect place to try fresh local produce from local farmers. You get cheaper and higher-quality produce when buying in green-groceries or farmers on the street, so don't even bother buying greenery in the supermarket.

Since Albania is a very mountainous country, these mountains have scattered olive trees that influence Albanian cuisine.

• Grilled corn – In many cities you may find portable grills, where a freshly grilled corn is sold for 50 lek.

Vegetables and greens:

• pepper (piper, spec) – 70 lek/kg
• tomato (domatja) – 50-100 lek/kg
• okra or bamia (bamje) – 200-300 lek/kg

  

  Okra

• onion (qepa)
• potato (patatja, patate) – 45 lek/kg
• aubergine (patëllxhani) – 70-100 lek/ kg
• cabbage (lakër) – 30 lek/kg

Fruits:

• figs – 200 lek/kg
• pomegranates (shegët) – 100 lek/kg
• watermelon (shalqi) – 15 lek/kg
• melon (pjepër) – 80-100 lek/kg
• grapes (rrushi) – 100-120 lek/kg
• persimmon (hurmë) – 70 lek/kg

I am looking for Albanian restaurants in the UK and Singapore and elsewhere. Tripadvisor has one in the UK and some in London. Singapore seems to have one. 

Useful Websites

Wikitravel

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