Ćevapi Recipe
by Irina Janakievska
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Easy
Ćevapi, also known diminutively as ćevapčići (in Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian) and kebapčinja (in Macedonian) are the iconic skinless, finger-sized sausages loved across the entire region. Usually made from any mixture of minced meat (beef, lamb or pork, depending on where you are in the region and on religious preference).
They are considered the national dish of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but are eaten all over the region, always with Somun (see page 66) or lepinja. Some love them with ajvar or with kaymak. I grew up eating them very simply with freshly baked lepinja, sliced raw onion and a Bukovo pepper salt, always accompanied by chargrilled long sweet (or spicy) peppers and fresh shopska salad.
The secret is to use very good quality meat, ground very finely – either ask your butcher to grind your meat at least twice or use a meat grinder if you have one. The best cuts of meat to use for this are chuck or flank (for beef) or neck or breast (for lamb). I often make this the night before to allow the seasoning to penetrate the meat and for the onion to tenderise it. Any form of grilled meat in the Balkans would have traditionally been cooked over smokeless embers using the old wood from grape vines or olive trees, or fig leaves, giving it a very unique flavour.
Try Irina's recipe for Poppy seed milibrod or Chocolate baklava recipe.
This recipe is extracted from The Balkan Kitchen by Irina Janakievska (Hardie Grant, £27), Photography by Liz Seabrook
Ingredients for the Ćevapi
- 350 g very finely minced beef or veal (at least 10% fat)
- 150 g very finely minced lamb
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon vegetable bouillon powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 1 onion, minced or grated
- 1 teaspoon sunflower oil, plus extra for brushing
For the Bukovo Pepper Salt
- 1 tablespoon Bukovo pepper (or Aleppo pepper)
- 1 tablespoon smoked sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground celery seeds (optional)
How to make Ćevapi
- Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and knead with your hands for 5–6 minutes until well combined and soft. Place the meat mixture in a lightly oiled piping bag. Ideally, allow the mixture to rest overnight in the refrigerator, or for as long as you can, but you can use it straightaway if you don’t have time.
- When you are ready to cook, cut the end off the piping bag so you have a hole with a diameter of 1–1.5 cm. Pipe out the sausage mixture onto a clean tray or baking sheet and use kitchen scissors to cut it at intervals of 8–10 cm to create uniform sausages. Finish shaping them with your hands a little, if necessary. Brush the sausages with a little oil, then grill on a barbecue for 4–6 minutes until nicely browned and cooked through but still moist. Alternatively, grill the sausages under a hot grill or cook them in the oven at 200°C fan for 10–12 minutes, rotating them occasionally so that they brown evenly on all sides.
- Serve with somun, kajmak, ajvar or ljutenitsa, sliced onions and grilled peppers, and the Bukovo pepper salt on the side.
About the author
Irina Janakievska is a Macedonian-British food writer and recipe developer. Born in North Macedonia, she grew up in Kuwait and now resides in London. After a career in corporate law, she trained at Leiths School of Food and Wine and worked in the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen. Her debut cookbook, "The Balkan Kitchen," was published in October 2024.
