CHRISTMAS IN KOSOVO

Even though the whole expat community of Pristina escapes the city for Holiday season, someone has to stay and keep things rolling. Motivation to stay in Kosovo raised on one grey November day when I was searching for flights home. Pristina-Rovaniemi-Pristina tickets were around 800 euros per person.

The man who shares home with me and I decided to stay in here. This of course meant that we were going to miss mother's feast and had to cook Christmas dinner ourselves. When cooking for two (or three when Christmas Eve dinner guest is counted) persons, it is important to remember the actual consumption of the food. Many times I have had to through non-eaten food items into rubbish and we all know that it is one of the original sins.

We decided to include turkey, carrot casserole, potato casserole, brusselsprouts, cheese and some green veggies into our Christmas menu. However, the unbelievably crappy selection of potatoes in Albimall forced us to change the potato casserole to normal boiled potatoes.

I did not have a particular recipe for carrot casserole so I simply peeled and chopped 500 g of carrots. Next step is to bring them to boil until soft and then crush. Mix the carrot mash with rice porridge, add couple spoonfuls of syrup and a hint of salt. In case you have white pepper, add that as well. Cook in 175 degrees for an hour or so.

I bought frozen turkey so the first step is to melt it. I left it to room temperature over night and that was enough to melt the 4 kilo bird. I am not specialized in turkey stuffing so I skipped it and instead chopped couple of oranges inside the turkey to add some aroma. Otherwise I simply spread some butter-garlic-herb thing over the turkey to ensure that the meat is juicy from inside and crispy on the outside.

I used the instructions of my hero chef Jamie Oliver to cook the turkey. 180 degrees and 40 minutes per kilo. To prevent the bird from drying, cover it with folio wrap and spread the juices from pan on the meat every now and then. Remove the folio about 30 minutes before the meat is done so the skin will get a golden, crispy coat.

Unfortunately blackout came just as we were starting to eat and the mere candlelight was not enough to shoot decent photos. However, the feast tasted good and the company was refined as well. One of the best delicacies was smoked cheese from Kuusamo, which my darling mother sent me in her Christmas parcel. As a test she had posted a pack of cheese with the normal liquirice and Donald Duck comics. At least during the winter months cheese can travel safely and stay delicious on the way from Posio to Kosovo.

CHRISTMAS STARS AND GINGERBREAD

The introduction of this recipe shouldn't even be translated. However, in order for you to understand the next part regarding Nazis, let me tell you a short story. 

You know that country called Sweden? Yes, it is next to Finland and Finns are not from there. Anyway, the story is that the mighty people of Sweden have claimed that Finnish Christmas star shaped pies look like Nazi symbols. This is not true. End of story.

Therefore, since we all know how wrong the Swedes can be, the Academic Karelian pie Association wish to emphasize that our Christmas stars doesn't have anything to do with Nazis and don’t ever believe anything Swedes say about Finland. We have made our stars with pure love and with honor to Christmas traditions.

Furthermore, when it comes to gingerbread, we wish to highlight that these delicious cookies have been made with cultural sensitivity. That is, we made dude cookies which represent all local ethnicities. However, we weren't able to reach gender sensitivity since we couldn't find female figure cutters in Kosovo. This is something that wouldn't naturally happen in Finland. In Kosovo, on the other hand, besides dude cutters, there were only traditional gingerbread shape cutters, hearts, some boring squares and stars. We find this a clear indication of the status of women in the whole society.

First things first; before you get yourself busy with baking,
take some red wine and enjoy it with chocolate!

CHRISTMAS STARS (12 piece)

• 2 dl wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 125 g butter
• 125 g sour cream

Filling: plum marmalade

Measure flours, baking powder and butter to a bowl. Mix them with hand. Add sour cream and mix. Let the dough rest in fridge for 30 min.

Roll the dough with a rolling pin to a plate that is ½ cm thick. Use a pie cutter to make square shape pieces. The cutter will form the points of the stars as well. In case you don’t have this kind of pie cutter you can make squares also with knife.

Turn the points of the stars to the center of the square. Spread egg on top of the pies. Add plum marmalade to the center of the star at the end.

Bake in 225 Celsius for 10 min.

No Nazi pies in this corner of the world!

GINGERBREADS (50 pieces)

• ¾ dl syrup
• 1 dl sugar
• 125 g butter
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ginger powder
• 1 tsp clove
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp soda
• 4 dl wheat flour

First, go to Finland and buy yourself spices like ginger powder and clove.

Come back to Kosovo and measure the butter, syrup, sugar and spices to a saucepan. Let the mixture boil. Stir all the time.

Whisk the mixture until it cools down. Add egg.

Lastly, add soda and flours and pour the mixture to a plastic wrap. Put the wrap to a fridge and wait a day.

On the next day, roll the dough to a thin plate and use the gingerbread cutters to make different shapes. In case you have a wild imagination, do whatever shapes you can think of!

Bake in 200 Celsius for 5 min.

Santa's little helpers at work!

Ready!

HOMEMADE DELICACIES OF KOSOVO

Many of the best delicacies in Kosovo are homemade, almost without exception. Whenever you get the chance to savour super delicious cheese, absolutely divine wine ... you can be sure it's homemade and no money can buy you that. They're made by your colleague's neighbour, an acquaintance of your friend - once again, it's all about the connections in Kosovo. As all is made for only the producer's own consumption (and for that of her/his friends') there is no commercial market for many of the delights that Kosovo offers.

The Friday market of Dragash is one target for any gourmet lover (and therefore on the to do -list of the Academic Karelian Pie Association), as there one can purchase proper Sharr cheese. Here's however a pic of home made rakija and Kosovar white wine - a suggestion very suitable for the festive season upon us. (Naturally the rakija is in a water bottle..) 

Doesn't look like much, does it - but mmmh... Delicious!