The following highlights some of the popular Traditional Bosnian Foods. If you manage to be in an Bosnian restaurant or you are visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina, I recommend the following:
1. Roast Lamb
It is one of my favourite typical meals. It is a whole lamb, roasted on a spit over a fire. The cooking time varies, but it can take up to 8-10 hours. Although roast lamb is prepared in various parts of the country, the tradition comes from the mountain settlements in the southern part. When the lamb is roasted, it is usually served with sliced onions, spring onions or baby potatoes and a few slices of bread.
2. Burek
The ubiquitous snack in Balkan bakeries uses filo pastry with minced meat, spinach, cheese or potato fillings. You can buy Bosnian bureks in a single slice or in a large pie. The burek costs a few Bosnian marks, is delicious and will fill you up for hours.
3. Cevapi
Bosnia’s national dish, cevapi, looks like a short, thick sausage made from minced beef or lamb. You’ll find cevapi, the Bosnian kebab, in most restaurants and is often served in five to ten pieces with raw onions, sour cream and somun. Each restaurant cooks and seasons it differently, making each cevapi slightly different.
4. Grah
If you like soup, check out this Bosnian bean soup found in most traditional restaurants. Beans with onions, carrots, peppers and meat are simmered into a delicious and hearty soup.
5. Bosanski Lonac
Another national dish and another delicious stew-based delicacy, this stew is unique to Bosnia and uses a particular way of preparing the meal. Alternating layers of vegetables and meat are placed in the pot and stewed for hours to create a hearty meal in a flavoursome broth.
6. Baklava
Baklava is not traditionally a Bosnian food, but the sweet filled dessert is available throughout the country. As in the region, Baklava was introduced to Bosnia by the Ottomans. It is a dessert made from sheets of filo pastry. Bosnian Baklava looks like a small cake with layers of nuts, syrup and honey.
7. Somun
Somun is a type of Bosnian flatbread that resembles pita bread, which comes with a plate of cevapi. The chewy bread comes from the Ottomans who ruled Bosnia for five centuries. It is mostly served as an accompaniment to other dishes, the favourite being cevapi.
8. Sogan Dolma
Dolma is another dish found in the Balkans and the Mediterranean, Bosnia adds its own delicious twist. Vegetables, such as aubergine, peppers and courgette, are stuffed with meat or rice and seasonings. Bosnians serve hot meat dolma, often with a lemon-based sauce, and room-temperature rice dolma with a yoghurt-based garlic sauce. In Mostar, a regional speciality is Sogan Dolma which uses an onion as a vegetable base.
9. Begova Corba
Slow-cooked chicken mixed with vegetables is boiled into a creamy stew served in a clay pot with sour cream to form Begova Corba. This dish, also known as Bey Soup, is another Ottoman legacy. Bosnians often eat this food on special occasions and during festivities.
10. Klepe
The Balkans are very good at dumplings, Klepe being the Bosnian version. Imagine a dough filled with cheese or meat (lamb or beef) before being steamed to create a soft ravioli-like texture. Klepe comes with a yoghurt or garlic sauce and almost melts in your mouth.
If you found this list useful, here are some more Traditional European Foods to try out on my Pinterest channel.