Our Albanian Meal
Albania is our second Gura Global Grub meal. The menu consisted of Tava Elbasani (Lamb Baked in Yogurt), Byrek ose Lakror (Leek Pie), Turli Perim (Albanian Vegetables), Albanian Cornbread and Llokume (Turkish Delight).
We think the yogurt in the Tava Elbasani was supposed to be a sauce but ours was like a Souffle. We will find a restaurant that serves it so we can see what it is supposed to look and taste like. I don’t do much baking so I was super excited when the Leek Pie crust was so brown and pretty. We both like onions so we really enjoyed the pie. The Albanian vegetables were onion, zucchini, summer squash, potatoes, tomatoes, and parsley simmered together. We grill squash and onions together fairly often so this is a combination we are used to. The additions of the potatoes, tomatoes, and parsley was really good! We plan to try grilling all these together.
The cornbread consisted of cornmeal, cottage cheese, egg, scallions, feta cheese, paprika and thyme. It was different for us to have scallions in cornbread but we liked it.
The Turkish Delight had Rosewater in it, which gave it an interesting flavor and texture. Neither of us have had Turkish Delight before so we weren’t sure what it was supposed to taste like. We had a hard time getting it to set up in the powdered sugar. It finally had a somewhat firm constancy. We were not big fans of the taste or the texture. We will be buying some to see how it differs from ours.
About Albania
Albania is in Southeast Europe in the Balkans region – named after the Balkan Mountains. It is on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas which are part of the Mediterranean Sea. Its landscape varies from mountain ranges in the Albanian Alps to beautiful beaches such as Ksamil and Himara Potam. An interesting fact we learned about Albania is that it was a communist country until 1991.
Our Dream Albanian Vacation
Albania looks gorgeous! It has beautiful mountains, castles, and beaches. We love exploring castles and Gjirokastra looks amazing. We would like to hike on Lake Bovilla Tirana, kayak in Osum Canyan and lay on the Gjipe, Himara Potam, and Ksamil beaches. We’d probably stay in the little beach town of Himare which is in the Albanian Rivera.
What about you?
Please post your comments below. We love hearing other’s experiences and thoughts!
Do you have a favorite meal, recipe or drink from Albania?
Do you have a favorite place that serves food from Albania?
Are you from Albania or have you ever visited?
Algeria is Up Next!
Our next meal will be from Algeria. Do you have a favorite meal, recipe or drink from Algeria?
Photos
- KreshnikToro, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/beautiful-12th-century-built-fortress-gjirokaster-1705279888
- “Gjipe Beach, Albania”, Pudelek, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Reisevogel, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Liridon, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Himara_Potam_Beach_%282%29.jpg
- Artur Malinowski – @Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/am1974/, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Pasztilla aka Attila Terbócs, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
References
Britannica, Country Reports, Geography Now, Global Table Adventures, The Travel Book, shutterstock, Viator and Wikipedia.
