SHKETO - TRADITIONAL LAMB STEW

Have you ever heard of "shketo"? Shketo is a traditional Macedonian lamb stew, I know it's been prepared in my hometown Bitola for ages. I'm not sure where the word "shketo" is derived from, I know it's a gastronomy term for a dish that is consisted of lots of parsley and a lamb meat, but I couldn't find a proper translation. Nevertheless, it's a tasty and healthy stew that you'll love it!


Ingredients:

• 500 g lamb meat, cut into larger pieces
• 1 bulb onion
• 2-3 pieces spring onions
• 1-3 ticks parsley
• 1 tablespoon of flour2 carrots
• 1 parsnip
• 1 celery root
• black pepper in the grain
• salt
• red pepper
• 2-3 tablespoons oil

Preparation:

1. Fry meat in a pot on strongly heated oil on all sides until reddened.
2. Finely chop the onions and add them to the meat. Fry until the onion is caramelized for about 10 minutes. Add the white parts of the spring onion, fry for another 5 minutes and at the end add the finely chopped green parts.
3. Add whole carrots, parsley and celery (later, when cooked, remove them. You can blend them and return to the stew later). Fry another 5 minutes.
4. Chop washed parsley and add to the frying pan.
5. Add water as much as to cover the meat. Boil on low heat until the meat is cooked (about 45 minutes).
6. Now prepare roux. Put 2-3 tablespoons of oil in pan, heat the oil and add a spoon of flour. Stir until it gets a beautiful yellow color and a pleasant smell and in the end, add half a tablespoon of red pepper.
7. Put the pan aside, add 200 ml of warm water, mix well and pour into the pot with the meat.
8. Add salt, pepper and let it boil until it thickens for about 5 minutes.
9. Traditionally, this meal is served with hot bread and sheep sour milk.

Enjoy!

"Shketo" has been mentioned in the book "Tunel" from Petre M.Andreevski, which inspired me to share the recipe