Tavče gravče ( mk, Тавче-гравче) is a traditional Macedonian dish. It is prepared with fresh beans and can be found in many restaurants in

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. It ...

. It is also commonly eaten by the

Macedonian diaspora The Macedonian diaspora ( mk, Македонска дијаспора, ''Makedonska dijaspora'') consists of ethnic Macedonian emigrants and their descendants in countries such as Australia, Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, New Zealand, Canada, ...

. This meal is baked and served in a traditional unglazed earthenware pot. The name of the dish may be translated as "beans on a ''

tava A tava(h) / tawa(h) (mainly on the Indian subcontinent), saj (in Arabic), sac (in Turkish) and other variations and combinations thereof, is a metal-made cooking utensil. The tawa is round and can be flat, but more commonly has a curved prof ...

''". Tavče gravče is considered the national dish of

. "Tavče gravče

Tetovo Tetovo ( mk, Тетово, , sq, Tetovë/Tetova) is a city in the northwestern part of North Macedonia, built on the foothills of Šar Mountain and divided by the Pena River. The municipality of Tetovo covers an area of at above sea level, w ...

style" is a popular regional variation.

Ingredients

The basic ingredients in tavče gravče are: * butter beans *

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onio ...

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

* dry red pepper * red and

black pepper Black pepper (''Piper nigrum'') is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, known as a peppercorn, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about in dia ...

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...

* parsley

Preparation

The beans are cleaned and then soaked in cold water – preferably overnight, but, if time is an issue, they may be soaked for several hours or until the beans have become soft. The water in which the beans have been soaked must be discarded and fresh water added, before the beans are brought slowly to the boil and then simmered in a covered pot on a very low flame for one hour. After the first boiling, the water is again discarded, the beans washed and yet more fresh water added before they are boiled for a second time. This changing of the water at several points in the cooking process makes the beans more digestible by leaching out of them some of the indigestible sugars that can often cause flatulence. A whole onion is then added to the boiling water with the beans. When the beans are boiled, the boiled onion is removed from the water, fried separately with a scoop of flour and a teaspoon of ground red paprika, and then returned to the boiled beans. Salt, black pepper, and/or the ubiquitous regional seasoning salt

Vegeta ( ), also referred as is a fictional character in the ''Dragon Ball'' franchise created by Akira Toriyama. Vegeta first appears in chapter #204 "Sayonara, Son Goku", published in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' magazine on November 7, 1988, seeking t ...

may be added to the soup. Some cooks may also add dried meats such as smoked pork, bacon or suho meso to the mix. When the beans are boiled and when all the ingredients have been added, they are put in an earthenware pot covered with a lid and baked in an oven at 220 °C. During the baking, the beans must be checked carefully from time to time to ensure that they do not become dry. The traditional earthenware pot not only gives the dish a pleasingly rustic appearance when it is served, piping hot, from the oven, but also keeps it hot and, if used regularly and kept in good condition, can even impart a special flavour to the dish – in much the same way that the traditional unglazed earthenware

cazuela Cazuela ( or ) is the common name given to a variety of dishes, especially from South America. It receives its name from the ''cazuela'' (Spanish for cooking pot) – traditionally, an often shallow pot made of unglazed earthenware used for c ...

(sometimes still used in

Spanish cuisine Spanish cuisine consists of the cooking traditions and practices from Spain. Olive oil (of which Spain is the world's largest producer) is heavily used in Spanish cuisine. It forms the base of many vegetable sauces (known in Spanish as ''sofrit ...

) can do.

References

Balkan cuisine Macedonian cuisine Baked beans National dishes {{NorthMacedonia-cuisine-stub

Ingredients

Preparation

See also

References