Macedonian Kebabs (Kebapchinja)

Submitted by Witch Doctor

"When I first arrived in Skopje, Macedonia, my partner and I went out looking for a place for lunch. From the center of town, we went across an old stone bridge that had survived the major earthquake of 1986 and into a quaint shopping district. Macedonia had recently declared their independence from Yugoslavia and had adopted a constitution which Greece did not like and therefore illegally imposed an embargo upon anything going into or out of Macedonia. Needless to say there was nothing in the shops to purchase. What was there had two price tags, one in the Macedonian dinnars and the other in German Marks. This changed after the United States started pumping money into this little country. Their tags now show the dinnars but the other in American Dollars!! Anyway, my partner and I stumbled into this VERY SMALL café. It was packed! The front window was made into a bay window into which a grill was mounted. This way the sidewalk strollers could see the food cooking. The aroma was tremendous. The cook was making little sausages which looked like our little breakfast link sausages. This was the ONLY thing offered on their menu. You could order 5, 10, or 15 of these. They came with a huge green onion and some sort of bread (I didn’t get that recipe). We ordered up a batch of these with their version of beer. We switched to their version of cognac quickly. But the sausages were delicious!! We returned many a time for these delicacies."

 

• Ready In: 50mins
• Ingredients: 9
• Serves: 5-6

ingredients

• 1 3⁄4 lbs ground young beef (or veal)
• 1⁄2 lb ground mutton
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 1⁄2 tablespoons oil
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• salt and pepper
• oil, for brushing
• 1 pinch paprika
• 1 pinch mint

directions

1. Mix meat, knead thoroughly and leave in a cool place to sit for several hours.
2. Heat oil in a small saucepan and add onion. Cook slowly until it is soft and beginning to color. Add garlic and cook for another minute. Add onion and garlic mixture to meat, season with salt and pepper, paprika and mint.
3. Work all into a meat mixture, leave for a short while in a cool place, then shape into smaller kebapchinja (A shape similar to breakfast link sausages).
4. Grill at first on very hot grill. Brush with oil while grilling.
5. Serve with spring onions, tomatoes and small hot peppers.