Tavë kosi

Ingredients

• Lamb — in pieces1 kg
• Thick yoghurt800 ml
• Eggs4
• Flour60 g
• Rice80 g
• Butter80 g
• Garlic5 clove
• Dried oregano1 tbsp
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Rub the lamb with salt, pepper, garlic and oregano and roast it at 190 °C for forty minutes, dotted with butter.

   45 min

2. 2

   Parboil the rice for seven minutes and drain it.

   10 min

3. 3

   Melt the remaining butter, stir in the flour and cook two minutes to a nutty smell.

   5 min

4. 4

   Whisk the yoghurt with the eggs and salt, add the flour mixture and beat until completely smooth.

   8 min

5. 5

   Stir in the rice. It takes up some of the moisture and keeps the custard from splitting.

   3 min

6. 6

   Arrange the meat and its juices in a dish and pour the yoghurt mixture over.

   5 min

7. 7

   Bake at 180 °C for forty-five minutes, until the top colours and the centre still trembles slightly.

   48 min

About the dish

The yoghurt is stabilised with flour and eggs: without them it splits in the oven into whey and curds. The same trick as in Armenian spas, except that here it all goes into the oven.

The meat is boiled or roasted through before assembly. Raw lamb under the custard releases juice and thins it to a watery mass.

The top should brown in patches while the middle stays trembling, like a flan. Overbaked, tavë kosi turns dense and dry — the commonest mistake.

Worth knowing

• — The yoghurt has to be thick and full-fat. A low-fat one splits however much flour goes into it.
• — Let it stand fifteen minutes before serving: straight from the oven it does not cut, it spreads.
• — The lamb can be swapped for chicken — Albanians do that too, and it counts as a version rather than a shortcut.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

620 kcal

Protein

42 g

Fat

38 g

Carbs

24 g

More from Albania

• Byrek me spinaq — A pie of thin pastry layered with spinach and brined cheese, each layer soaked in oil.