SkipTheMid
Tavë Kosi
Elbasan, Albania
Albania's most beloved dish and the closest thing the country has to a national dish: chunks of lamb (sometimes chicken) baked in a tangy, billowing custard of strained yogurt, eggs, butter, and rice or flour, finished with a generous rain of dried oregano and paprika. The lamb is first browned with garlic, then submerged in the yogurt-egg mixture and slow-baked in an earthenware pan (the tavë) until the top sets into a golden, soufflé-like crust while the inside stays creamy and almost ricotta-soft. Originating in the central city of Elbasan (locals still call it Tavë Elbasani), it sits at the crossroads of Ottoman lamb traditions and Balkan dairy obsession. Every Albanian grandmother insists hers is the only correct version, and the dish was so culturally entrenched it survived four decades of communist food shortages largely because its ingredients are humble enough to scrape together from any village.
Ingredients
- 1 kglamb shoulder (cut into 4 cm cubes)
- 80 gunsalted butter
- 4 clovesgarlic (sliced)
- 100 gshort-grain rice
- 700 gstrained Greek yogurt (full fat)
- 4 largeeggs
- 3 tbspall-purpose flour
- 1 tspsweet paprika
- 1 tspdried oregano
- 1.5 tspsalt
- 0.5 tspground black pepper
Directions
- 1
Preheat the oven to 180C. Pat the lamb dry and season with salt and pepper.
- 2
Melt half the butter in a heavy oven-safe pan (an earthenware tave is traditional); brown the lamb on all sides over high heat with the sliced garlic.
- 3
Add 250 ml of water, cover, and braise in the oven for 40 minutes.
- 4
Stir in the rice and spread it evenly through the meat; return to the oven for 10 minutes uncovered.
- 5
In a bowl, whisk together the yogurt, eggs, flour, oregano, and a pinch of salt until smooth.
- 6
Pour the yogurt custard over the lamb; dot with the remaining butter and dust the top with paprika.
- 7
Bake uncovered for 30 to 40 minutes, until the top is golden, set, and lightly puffed.
- 8
Rest for 15 minutes before serving; the custard firms as it cools.