Čomlek

About a month ago, I visited Gaga at her home and we decided to make this dish together (here is a photo of us peeling the onions ☺). Gaga is everything that I thought she would be. And more! We had a blast together and talked so much and the time flew ☺ My bus was leaving soon, so we had to speed the process a little - we baked it on higher heat and took the foil out earlier. That's why the meat looks a bit darker on photo ☺ But, it was still delicious! Highly recommended!

About the dish itself... Čomlek is mostly made in Macedonia and Albania. It is probably a form of Turkish Çömlek kebabı (earthenware bowl kebab) - kebabs in a casserole dish, a dish that was brought to this region by the Ottomans centuries ago. They say that the best Čomlek is Macedonian Ohrid Čomlek (made in a beautiful town Ohrid), but that's something to taste over there, soon I hope ☺ The recipe that I'll give you comes from Pavloska and it's so good! Turkish readers of this blog - if any of you has a good recipe for Çömlek kebabı I would love if you would send it to me and I'll prepare it and post about it.

Čomlek
(original recipe)

1 kg veal
1 kg tiny onions
7-9 cloves garlic
250 ml white wine
1 Tbsp saffron threads
oil
salt, ground black pepper
Vegeta seasoning
2 bay leaves

Cut meat into pieces that are size of onions, season with Vegeta and let it covered in the fridge covered overnight. The next day place whole onions and garlic cloves in a earthenware casserole dish, place meat on top, season, pour wine and oil over. Sprinkle with saffron. Cover the dish. If your dish doesn't have a lid than cover it with an aluminum foil. Bake in a preheated oven on 180°C for about two hours.