NOMVEX food / World Atlas

Albania · main · English edition

Tavë kosi

Lamb baked under a thick yoghurt custard with egg and rice. Albania's national dish.

6 servings · 120 minutes (estimated)

Tavë kosi
Photo: MirelaAndoni · CC BY-SA 4.0 · image source

Ingredients

Quantities for 6 servings.

  • 1 kg Lamb, in pieces
  • 800 ml Thick yoghurt
  • 4 piece Eggs
  • 60 g Flour
  • 80 g Rice
  • 80 g Butter
  • 5 clove Garlic
  • 1 tbsp Dried oregano
  • to taste Salt and pepper

Method

  1. Rub the lamb with salt, pepper, garlic and oregano and roast it at 190 °C for forty minutes, dotted with butter.
  2. Parboil the rice for seven minutes and drain it.
  3. Melt the remaining butter, stir in the flour and cook two minutes to a nutty smell.
  4. Whisk the yoghurt with the eggs and salt, add the flour mixture and beat until completely smooth.
  5. Stir in the rice. It takes up some of the moisture and keeps the custard from splitting.
  6. Arrange the meat and its juices in a dish and pour the yoghurt mixture over.
  7. Bake at 180 °C for forty-five minutes, until the top colours and the centre still trembles slightly.
Recipe data adapted from UniTools, CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: page design, formatting and integration in NOMVEX Food. This adapted recipe text is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Image credit and its separate licence are shown below the photo, where available.