SHIRDEN - A RARE DELICACY FROM MACEDONIA

Who came to Prilep and has not tried shirden - it's like one has not been in Prilep. Širden is one of the rare delicacies in the contemporary Macedonian cuisine. For those who don't know, shirden is the lining of the stomach of a lamb. To prepare this specialty, you'll need to spend little more time, but believe me, it's definitely worth it.
The širden is prepared in this way: the elastic muscle organ, abomasum, of sheep or lamb is well cleaned and stuffed with a filling of 3 kinds of chopped meat, onions and paprika and seasoned with black pepper, pimento and salt. A little water is added and the opening is sewn with a needle and a thread. It is baked with lard in an earthen casserole.

Ingredients:

• 500 g veal
• 500 g pork
• 500 g lamb
• 4-5 pieces of shirden
• 1 onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 4-5 dried peppers
• ½ tablespoon paprika
• spices: salt, pepper, pimento
• 150 g rice
• 150 g of olive oil
• 250 ml water
• 100 ml beer

Preparation:

1. Clean each shirden thoroughly, scrape and so they are ready for charging.
2. Cut meat in small pieces (1,5 cm) and wash with water. Put some oil in a pot, add meat and fry for about 30 min. Before the end of frying, add finely chopped onion and fry another 5 minutes. Then add finely chopped dried peppers, finely chopped garlic, salt, pepper, paprika and pimento. Remove the pot from fire and add washed rice.
3. Put two handfuls of the mixture in each shirden and some liquid from the pot where the meat fried.
4. 
5. Close each shirden with a toothpick. Arrange in an earthenware pot, pour beer and halfway water. Put a little red pepper, pour oil and pierce each shirden with toothpick couple of times so they won't crack during baking.
6. 
7. Bake in an oven at 180 C for 90 min. When you get a beautiful red color, invert them, and wait to get color from this side too. If necessary, cover with baking paper to avoid burning above.Serve topped with a rich sauce from the pot and red wine.

Enjoy!