The cuisine of Montenegro, although influenced by Italian, Turkish, Hungarian and other cuisines, has its own national dishes. The Italian influence can be seen in the way meat, bread, sausages, crackers or cheese are prepared in the continental part of Montenegro or on the coast of the Adriatic Sea.
The influence of continental Europe is noticeable in the preparation of jams, cakes, donuts, and the great influence of Turkey is noticeable in the preparation of pies, bureks, kebabs, and baklava.
When preparing goulash, sataras, juvech or similar dishes, which are often found on the table in homes throughout Montenegro, the influence of Hungarian cuisine is noticeable, while on the coast, the influence of Mediterranean cuisine is most pronounced, which is noticeable in the usual preparation of seafood dishes.
The dishes served on the coast are significantly different from what you will be served if you are in the north of Montenegro or in its central part, but at every corner they will proudly point out that these are our national and traditional dishes. All types of national dishes are available throughout the territory of Montenegro, in restaurants with national cuisine or at home if you are visiting someone. There is a valid opinion that Montenegrins are kind and considerate hosts who, as a sign of welcome, open the door of their home wide to the guest, put him “at the head of the table” and offer the best food and drinks. Then on the table there is obligatory prosciutto, cheese, corn bread, crusts, boiled eggs… All this is like an appetizer until the main thing is baked or cooked.
If you travel by car in Montenegro, be sure to try traditional Montenegrin cuisine. It differs in each region, even if the dish is the same, but the process of preparation and adding ingredients can be completely different.
The most popular Montenegrin dishes:
Kačamak
Kachamak is a porridge-like dish made from wheat, buckwheat, barley or corn flour and served with cheese or sour milk. It is prepared differently in different parts of Montenegro.
Some housewives or owners, depending on who is cheating, add cheese, crust or onion to kachamak, and such a dish is called dipped kachamak. Kachamak made of potatoes and wheat flour, although the tastes are different, but it is probably the tastiest version of this dish.
To prepare this dish for 4 people, you need:
1 kg of white potatoes
500 grams of corn flour
250 grams of margarine
500 grams of low-fat raw
salt
Preparation:
Peel the potatoes, put to boil and salt to taste. When the potatoes are almost cooked, add flour without draining the water and cook for another 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
During this time, pour oil into another pan and add cheese so that it melts.
When the kachamak is cooked, the excess water is drained, the pan is removed from the stove, and the kachamal is beaten and stirred, returning it to the stove from time to time, until the potatoes and flour turn into a dough without any lumps. Then melted cheese or cake is placed in a hot kachamak and everything is mixed.
Served with sour milk.
Raštan
If rashtan is prepared in the traditional way, then it is boiled in a cauldron, on a hearth with fire.
Depending on which part of Montenegro it is prepared, it can be with flour sausages, lean meat or ribs, custard, bacon, pork leg, a little bit of everything.
To prepare this dish, you need:
• 500 g of rushtan leaves
• 500 g of Nyegu sausages, dry ribs, bacon – a little bit of everything
• 3 medium potatoes
• 2 large bulbs
• 2 medium carrots
• 4-5 cloves of garlic
If you also want to sprinkle:
• 1 tablespoon of fat
• 1 tablespoon of flour
• 1 teaspoon of ground paprika
Preparation:
Wash the leaves of rushan well and separate the hard part. Place them in a large pot of salted water for cooking. Cut the ribs, sausages and bacon into pieces and put them in a pressure cooker with water to boil separately.
When the rashtana leaves are half-cooked, strain, cool and finely chop, then add to the pot with the meat. If necessary, add the water in which the rashtan was cooked to the pan.
Finely chop the onion, carrot and potato and add to the pan. Close the pressure cooker and let it cook. When the pot boils, reduce the heat. After a little over an hour of cooking, completely remove the pan from the heat and let it cool.
If the rashtan is cooked longer, the potatoes will break down well and thicken the dish. In this case, the spray is not necessary, but we leave the choice to you.
Bokeljski brodet
Bokel cuisine was formed under the influence of sailors who sailed east and west, so on the tables of this part you can find dishes from Italy, Japan, the Middle East and Northern Europe.
Such specialty dishes as gnocchi, rashtan na chukal, brodet, fish, meat are very common, but the Bokel brodet stands out from all of them.
To prepare this dish, you need:
1 kg of various sea fish (eel, monkfish, perch, squid)
1 onion
1 clove of garlic 1
spoon of tomato puree
4 tablespoons of flour
2 dl of white wine
1 sprig of parsley
2 bay leaves
olive oil
pepper
salt
Preparation:
Fish and squid should be well cleaned, rinsed and dried. Then cut them, roll them in flour and briefly fry them in oil. Take them out of the oil and keep them warm, and in the same oil fry the chopped onion, add chopped and chopped garlic, chopped parsley and flour, then pour in a spoonful of hot water and wine. Add diluted tomato puree, bay leaf, salt, pepper and cook over low heat for about 5 minutes. Then we add fried fish, pour water so that it covers the fish, and cook on low heat for about half an hour.
Bamije na ulcinjski način
It is quite clear that in such a multi-ethnic environment as Ulcinj, the cuisine is colorful, which means a lot of smells and tastes of various dishes prepared in an oriental way, sometimes according to the recipes of ancient Montenegrins, then according to the latest recipes of world chefs.
An essential part of the Ulcinj menu is well-dried or oily cheese, roast lamb, veal, beef or beef, all fish dishes, Mediterranean dishes, seafood risotto, garnished lobster, shrimps… However, the taste of Ulcinj okra and the far-known specialty distinguish them from the full offer .
After stewing onions and meat, it was eaten together with other ingredients necessary for cooking, stewing over low heat for about half an hour.
To prepare this dish, you need:
• 600 g of thin veal
• 50 ml of oil
• 450 g of frozen okra
• 250 g of onion
• Mix 2 teaspoons of tomato sauce in 100 ml of water
• 2 cloves of garlic
• ½ teaspoon of pepper
• 1 teaspoon of salt
Preparation:
Peel and finely chop the onion, cut the meat into cubes. Heat 30 ml of oil and fry 200 g of onion in it until soft. Add the meat and simmer over low heat until it acquires a pleasant color. After that, add pepper, salt and tomato sauce, a little water and let it simmer for about 30 minutes.
During this time, pour the rest of the oil into another pan, heat and fry the rest of the onion until softened. Add the thawed okra and minced garlic and salt to taste, then stir-fry for about 10 minutes.
When it is ready, put the meat and okra in a ceramic dish and bake in an oven heated to 200 degrees for about 5 minutes. Serve them warm.
Jagnjetina u mlijeku
The entire space allotted for this column would be too small for all the dishes prepared from lamb throughout Montenegro and beyond. Roast lamb, lamb under the comb, stuffed leg of lamb, back of lamb, grilled lamb steak, leg of lamb with noodles, with vegetables… No matter how you cook it, the taste is fantastic, but due to the specific smell of lamb, many people avoid eating it.
Lamb in milk is distinguished by the fact that this method of cooking reduces the smell of meat, and the dish prepared in this way is a real signature dish.
Mostly lamb is cooked here, when you want to greet someone and entertain them in the best possible way. No matter how you cook it, it tastes fantastic. There are people who do not like lamb precisely because of its specific smell, or can eat it, but avoid it for the same reason.
Lamb in milk is special because the smell of lamb softens, and the dish itself is a real signature dish, and whoever tries lamb in milk at least once will be speechless (I speak from experience). The meat is soft, juicy, almost falling apart, and the vegetables are the tastiest you’ve ever tasted. If you want to surprise your loved one in the most pleasant way, cook lamb in milk.
To prepare this dish, you need:
• 1.5 kg lamb shoulder
• 1.5 liters of milk
• 4 large potatoes
• 6 carrots
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon of vegetables
• peppercorns
• salt
Preparation:
The meat is washed, cut into larger pieces, placed in a suitable pan, poured with milk, bay leaf and pepper are added and cooked for about 90 minutes at medium temperature. When cooked in milk, lamb loses its characteristic smell, and the meat itself becomes extremely soft and juicy.
While the lamb is cooking in milk, wash, peel and leave the carrots whole, peel the potatoes and cut them in half. Arrange the vegetables in a ceramic or clay pot with a lid or in an ovenproof baking dish.
When the meat is cooked, put the pieces of meat on top of the vegetables, sprinkle well with the vegetables and pour the milk left over after cooking.
Cover the baking dish and bake for about 60 minutes in an oven heated to 200 ̊C, then uncover and bake for another 30 minutes at maximum temperature. Lamb in milk is served warm. First, meat and vegetables are served on a plate, then they are poured with milk juice and sprinkled with chopped parsley.
PODGORIČKI KRAP SA SUVIM ŠLJIVAMA
To prepare this dish, you need:
• 1.5 kg of cleaned carp
• 1 kg of onion
• 150-300 g of prunes
• 150-200g of chopped quince
• 100-200g of pickled apples
• 1 large lemon
• bay leaf
• some pepper
• tomato puree
• a teaspoon of sugar
• peppercorns
• brandy glass of vinegar
• parsley
• celery root
• salt
Preparation:
Salt the fish, roll it in flour and fry it in oil so that it does not brown, then put it in a deep baking tray, sprinkle with peppercorns, spread lemon rings and a bay leaf on top.
Cut the onion into strips and fry in oil for a few minutes, then add pepper, 1.5-2 liters of water, prunes, quince, apples, celery, parsley, vinegar, tomato puree and sugar. Boil all this and fill the fish with the filling in a baking sheet and bake at a higher temperature for about 2 hours. During baking, do not stir the fish, but only occasionally press it with a spoon. When the fish is half-cooked, add the oil in which it was previously fried and fry until the mass is homogeneous.
Crnogorski japraci
Small leaves of rashtana, filled with meat and folded into a piece to fit. Lubricated with fat and seasoned with homemade bacon, Montenegrin yaprachi are a delicacy that is hard to resist. We congratulate and give gifts to friends in Yaprat, prepare them for holidays and joy and all those wonderful moments that we want to remember. With them, the Montenegrin table is richer and tastier, and the guests and hosts are happier, more satisfied, more satisfied.
To prepare this dish, you need:
500 g of minced meat
30 leaves of chopped cabbage
100 g of rice
2 carrots
1 head of red onion
1/2 head of garlic
1 bunch of parsley
100 ml of tomato sauce
3 eggs
1 spoon of ground sweet pepper
100 g of dry meat – prosciutto
Vegeta, salt, pepper,
butter
Preparation:
Separate fresh, healthy and young leaves from the stem and remove the thickened part of the leaf. Wash in cold water and boil (blanch) in boiling salted water for several minutes. When the leaves are blanched, remove them and immediately plunge them into cold water to preserve their natural color. Store them in cold water until use.
Peel, wash and finely chop the onion, then fry it in a pan in which fat has been preheated. After that, we add the previously separated meat from the bones, extra veins, fat and finely chopped meat to the pan and fry everything together for a few more minutes.
When the meat and onions are fried, add sifted, washed and well-drained rice and fry everything together.
Season the mass with a small amount of salt, ground pepper and parsley to taste.
When the mixture has cooled, put a little rasta on each sheet and roll it into a wreath. Put the resulting rolls in a pan, and between them a little dry meat, pour water and let it boil. Cook for 2 hours on low heat.
Finally, fry the flour and pepper in the melted fat and pour the parsley. Leave to cook for a few more minutes.
Serve with sour milk.
PAŠTICADA SA DOMAĆIM NJOKAMA
To prepare this dish, you need:
1 kg of beef leg
6 small onions
Olive oil
3 cloves
6 prunes
1.5 tablespoons of plum jam
1 cube of beef Podravka
salt
1 tablespoon of vegetables
3 dcl of red wine
Water (if necessary)
Preparation:
We season the meat with garlic, pancetta and carrots, put it in a bowl, pour wine and add chopped vegetables and spices. It should be completely covered with liquid and left to marinate for 24 hours, turning frequently. When the meat is marinated, it is fried in oil for a few minutes, as long as it takes to form a crust on all sides. After that, put the meat in a pan together with marinated vegetables and bake for about 60 minutes.
Put the remaining vegetables, soup and zest in a saucepan and cook. When the vegetables are cooked, rub them through a sieve and prepare a sauce from them.
Cut the fried meat into slices and put it in a saucepan with sauce, add sparkling wine and spices and cook everything together over low heat for another two hours.
During this time, boil the potatoes, peel them and immediately mash them, then add eggs, flour and oil. The mixture is mixed with a mixer and should not be hard. Form the mixture into small balls (gnocchi) and place them in a pot of boiling salted water. When they float to the surface, remove the gnocchi and discard them in a colander.
When everything is ready, put gnocchi, meat and sauce on a plate.
CICVARA
To prepare this dish, you need:
2 dl of water
2 dl of milk
300-400 g of cheese or cream
8 spoons of corn flour
1 tablespoon of unmelted fat (if you use cream, no need)
1 teaspoon of salt
Preparation:
Put the shell in a heated empty pan and stir until it completely turns into fat. When it turns into fat, gradually add flour and stir so that it does not burn and does not stick to the bottom of the pan. The contents are mixed until the flour is completely absorbed by the fat. More experienced housewives recommend stirring the tsitvara in a circle until it stops sticking to the spoon and to the walls inside the container in which it is prepared. When the cicvara begins to connect itself into a compact mass, the dish is ready to be served.
Served with sour milk.
POPARA SA SKORUPOM I SIROM
To prepare this dish, you need:
350 g of stale bread with a crust
100-150 g of feta cheese
3 eggs
200 ml of warm milk
1/2 teaspoon of salt 65
ml of sunflower oil
3 tablespoons of chopped onion or young cabbage
3 tablespoons of chopped parsley
2 cloves of garlic
200 g of grated Gouda
salt, pepper
Preparation:
Cut the bread together with the crust into cubes, finely chop the parsley, onion, head and garlic.
In a bowl, lightly beat the eggs with a whisk, add onion, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper, add chopped feta cheese (I put half of ricotta), oil and milk and mix everything well with a spatula.